Hi Mike,

I made two, five gallon batches last summer using a 100 year old recipe of my late Grandmother's. Man they are good and all our friends who have tried them agree.

I left mine in the brine for about 2 weeks. I started taste-testing them after one week.

Yes, my brine got whitish, so when I put them in jars I mixed it with a 5% vinegar/water mixture. I tried some where I added fresh salt brine but I thought it made them too salty.

I used grape leaves for crunchiness also, putting about 3 layers of grape leaves and fresh dill in the 5 gallon crock. The tannins in the grape leaves is what keeps the pickles crunchy. I also read that you should trim off the stem end of the cucumber because that can make them turn soft. I skimmed off as much of the white stuff as possible before moving the pickles into jars.

Good luck. You will find you have all whole new set of friends if you share them.