I made a small batch of sauerkraut in October using preshredded coleslaw mix. It worked well, but was kind of expensive (a one-pound bag is only 14 ounces.) I ate it a week ago and it was really good. So a few days ago I bought a big head of cabbage (3.5#) and sliced it up to make a larger batch. I have some 4L and 6L round Cambro food service containers, and I mix it up in the 6L which it almost filled at first, then transferred to a 4L. When I packed it down I was surprised how little room it took, about 1.5L, so I bought 2 more heads of cabbage yesterday and cut up another one, salted it, and packed it on top of the first. Today I cut the last head in half and put the smaller half in the fridge to cook tonight. Sliced and salted the other half in the 6L container, kneaded in the salt until it was wilting good, then dumped the smaller container on top of it and packed it all down. The whole batch probably would have fit in the 4L container but it would be dangerously full and might overflow during fermentation. I tasted a piece that has been going for 2 days and it's already half-sour. I put a piece of saran wrap on top to seal out the air, then a quart freezer bag loosely full of water to weight it down (in the smaller container the quart bag was enough to seal it w/o the plastic wrap) and moved it to the basement. It should be ready in a month.
I usually slice cabbage using a big-ass butcher knife. It's sharp enough but not as sharp as a boning knife, so I used the boner this time (uh, huh-huh, huh. He said "boner") It was a lot easier to get really thin slices and overall was faster.
I didn't want this batch quite as salty as the last. I usually use 2% salt by weight which is the classic recipe, but I've read you can go as low as 1.5%. I split the difference; approximately 1.75%.
I know Mike makes kraut; not sure if anyone else here does. Do you use the loose outer darker green leaves? I did. I peeled them off, cut out the thickest part of the midrib at the bottom, then rolled them up like a cigar and sliced it really thin. The finished product might not look quite as pretty with the dark green mixed in, time will tell.