Masontops Fermentation Kit Reviews: Our Honest Verdict

The short version

The easiest on-ramp to fermenting in a mason jar, and two caveats worth knowing before the first batch rather than during it.

What's good:

• Waterless self-burping Pickle Pipes mean no daily burping and no airlock moat to keep topped up.
• Simple enough that first-time fermenters get clean kraut, kimchi, and pickles without babysitting.
• Uses mason jars you probably already own, so the buy-in is small if you are already a canner.
• Glass Pickle Pebbles hold food under the brine, which is the single biggest defense against surface mold.

What's not:

• The silicone valve is where trouble clusters: some owners report mold or ferments that never take off.
• The Pickle Pebbles weights can crack, and they sometimes wedge into the jar mouth and refuse to come out.
• Silicone is porous and hard to fully sanitize, and the pipes warp, discolor, and go missing over time.
• It only fits Masontops-brand wide-mouth jars well, and it is a small-batch tool, not a bulk one.

Who it's for

Batch size and patience decide this. The kit suits people making a jar at a time and irritates anyone with bigger plans.

Buy it for:

• A first small-batch of sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, or hot sauce in jars you already have on the shelf.
• A low-maintenance routine where you never want to burp a jar or refill a water airlock.
• Canners with a cupboard of wide-mouth mason jars who want the cheapest way to start fermenting.

Skip it if:

• You want to ferment gallons at a time; a stoneware crock like the TOMO handles bulk kraut the jars cannot.
• You have already fought pipe-seal mold and want a sturdier waterless valve; the Easy Fermenter lids are the closest swap.
• You only need weights, not lids; a dedicated glass-weight 4-pack covers more jars for less than a full kit.

The specs that matter

Three parts, and each one maps to something you will care about by your second batch:

Pickle Pipes, waterless silicone airlock lids: a one-way valve burps carbon dioxide out as the ferment builds pressure, so you never open the jar to release gas and never risk pulling oxygen back in. That is the whole no-burp promise, and it works best while the ferment is active and pushing positive pressure.

Pickle Pebbles, wide-mouth glass weights: flat glass discs that sit on the food and keep it submerged under the brine. Anything floating above the brine is where mold starts, so a weight that actually holds the cabbage down is doing the most important job in the jar.

Wide-mouth mason jars, supplied by you: the kit fits standard wide-mouth jars, so a canner with a full cupboard spends almost nothing to start. The flip side is fit; owners find it seats cleanly on Masontops-style jars and more fussily on some off-brand rims.

How well it preserves

On kraut, kimchi, and pickles eaten within a few weeks, the kit does the core job. The waterless valve keeps dust out while venting gas, and owners who have run it across many jars report a strong hit rate on the everyday ferments beginners actually start with:

Normal. Ive only ever used pickle pipes, never had 1 bad ferment out of 9 so far. Once the ferment starts slowing down, this is what happens. Currently, one of my ferments that is no longer bubbling (for around a week)has had the same sucked in lid. Its normal

As a batch slows, the lid often gets sucked inward while pressure drops. New owners panic about that. Experienced ones read it as a done-fermenting signal (not a safety check: a ferment is confirmed safe by reaching pH 4.6 or lower, which a stalled batch can miss even after the lid pulls in):

It’s an indicator that your vigorous ferment is done and you can safely put a solid cap on that and keep it almost indefinitely either in the fridge or on your shelf in the basement. Works that way for me for kraut, pepper ferments, beets, green tomatoes……

Vegetable ferments come out clean, with the occasional patch of harmless kahm yeast on livelier batches like peppers:

I exclusively use them and nothing bad happens to my ferment other than occasional kahm with pepper ferments.

The valve is the limit. A Pickle Pipe only acts as a true one-way seal while the ferment pushes positive pressure out through it, so a slow or stalled batch lets oxygen creep back in, and that is exactly when mold arrives. One owner ran four pipe-sealed jars against two water locks and lost all four, with the pH never dropping below 6:

I recently started 6 new ferments... 2 with traditional water locks and 4 with pickle pipes. It was my first time with pickle pipes. As always, my water lock ferments were fine... but every single jar sealed with pickle pipes failed. The pH never dropped below 6... Personally I wouldn't bother... just my 2 cents

Others hit the same wall and switched to a water-filled airlock for anything they wanted to trust:

This is why I no longer use pickle pipes. I’ve had mold because of this, they only work as one way valves when there is positive pressure in the jar. I’ve switched to airlocks and no longer have this issue.

For a first jar of kraut you plan to eat soon, none of that will bite you. Just treat the seal as the part to watch, and do not ask a Pickle Pipe to protect a batch that has stopped working.

Built to last

Two components wear at different rates. The silicone is porous, so owners describe it as hard to fully clean and prone to warping, discoloring, and eventually vanishing into a drawer. When a part fails early, though, the company has a good reputation for making it right:

I'm also new to fermenting, but have completed at batch with Masontops. They're great and the company is very responsive. One of my weights somehow got damaged the very first time I used it. I emailed them about it and they said they'll mail me a new one at no cost.

Glass Pickle Pebbles are the more physical worry. They crack, and more than one owner has had a weight wedge into the jar mouth and refuse to come back out, turning a finished ferment into a puzzle. Sometimes it ends fine: one owner tapped the stuck weight loose with a soft mallet and got the jar, the weight, and the mushrooms out whole. Sometimes it does not. The fixes people reach for when a weight jams involve heat, cold, or a mallet, and every one of those can cost you the jar and everything in it:

Hey! I was in the exact same situation. I spent a couple hours trying to come up with something, and ultimately decided, there’s no safe way of saving everything. Ultimately, I hit the glass weight with a rubber mallet, which broke the jar and made me lose my ferment (never eat anything out of a broken jar), but I was able to save the glass weight. Edit: My takeaway was that it was a learning experience to be extremely careful when removing the glass weight.

Materials are only half the story here. A vocal group of long-time fermenters call the valve design itself the weak link rather than an unlucky unit:

It's not just you my friend, those have known issues for sure and not just on Reddit but a few other social media fermentation groups I know of. I think they are a terrible design and it's just a matter of time before every user seems to experience an issue. The fact that almost all of the complaints are related to issues that have to do with O2 is telling.

Buy this expecting consumables. Keep spare weights so a crack or a stuck disc never sidelines a jar, clean the pipes and replace them when the valve slit degrades, and take the company up on its support if something fails in the first month. On those terms it lasts fine. Treat it as forever-hardware and it will let you down.

Living with it

This is the part that keeps the kit on every beginner recommendation list. The buy-in is small if you already own mason jars, and the design is about as simple as fermenting gets:

It's good to know that the company is very responsive! I bought the kit from them since I'm already an avid canner, and I have tons of mason jars. The investment was minimal. Plus, I like the simplicity of the design.

No water airlock to refill. No daily burping. The valve quietly keeps dust and debris out while it vents:

I use them! My pickling setup is very basic, but I've had good luck. Keeps dust and debris out and safely releases gasses.

Skipping the burp ritual is the headline feature. Carbon dioxide escapes without oxygen coming back in, so you never open a jar mid-ferment and no pressure builds up to surprise you:

Airtight meaning that no air can get in. The mason tops are designed to let CO2 out to prevent pressure buildup, without letting oxygen in that would jeopardize the batch. They’re just fine, and make brewing easier, since they don’t need to be burped to prevent explosions.

Cleaning and sealing are where the complaints live. Silicone is hard to sanitize, and some owners felt the pipes never sealed tightly enough for a longer ferment:

I saw you used Mason Tops. I've had the same issue. I don't think they seal well enough and they're nearly impossible sanitize. I switched to using a water filled airlock lid and had better success.

The internal baffle that makes the valve work is a nook some fermenters simply distrust. A few keep the kit for quick batches and reach for a two-piece lid and a cloth when they want full control:

I don't like pickle pipes because they have a baffle in then that can harbor bacteria and yeast. I just use the mason jar two stage lids and either place a cheesecloth/paper towel/etc. over the top and screw on the ring (if the veg is nicely submerged already or I'm using a glass weiht), or put on both parts loosely and secure a kitchen towel around the top of the jar with a rubber band (same), or I put a smaller jar inside the neck to submerge everything and just secure a kitchen towel with a rubberband. I don't burp.

How it compares

Three setups come up whenever somebody asks whether the Masontops kit is the right first buy.

Versus a stoneware fermentation crock like the TOMO: the crock is the bulk-and-reliability upgrade. A water-moat seal and heavy stones let it hold gallons of kraut or kimchi in one vessel, and the ceramic blocks light and stays put where a silicone valve cannot. You trade the jar-sized convenience and shelf footprint for capacity and a sturdier seal.

Versus the Easy Fermenter waterless lids: this is the closest like-for-like. Same no-burp, waterless one-way valve idea, but as a screw-on lid with a built-in airlock and a date dial. It's the set to price against Masontops when you want the same daily routine but have already been burned by a pipe that would not seal.

Versus a cheaper generic complete kit: a budget full set gives you the same layout, silicone lids plus glass weights plus a tamper, for less outlay, which makes it a low-risk way to test the hobby. You may accept rougher fit and finish, but if you are not sure fermenting will stick, it is a sensible way in before spending more.

Using it well

Pack the jar so everything sits below the brine and set a Pickle Pebble on top, because anything floating above the brine is where mold starts. Leave headspace so an active ferment does not push brine up through the pipe. Keep the valve slit clean. If a batch stalls or slows for days, move it to a tighter lid or the fridge rather than trusting a one-way seal with no pressure behind it. And ease weights out gently: never force a stuck one, because a spare weight costs far less than a broken jar and a lost ferment.

Still weighing jars against a crock? Our guide to the best fermentation kit for beginners compares weights, valves, and crocks side by side so you can see what the jar format costs you.

Our verdict

For a first small batch of sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, or hot sauce in jars you already own, we would buy it. Ease of use is the reason. No airlock to refill, nothing to burp, a small buy-in for anyone with a cupboard of mason jars, and a routine simple enough that it turns a curious beginner into a regular one.

The seal and the weights are what hold the score down, and those are real complaints rather than nitpicks. A Pickle Pipe guards a jar only while the ferment pushes pressure, so slow batches invite mold, and the glass Pebbles crack or jam often enough that a spare set pays for itself. Buy the silicone and the weights as consumables, watch the seal on anything long or slow, and this is a good place to learn. If you already know you want gallons of kraut, buy a crock and skip this step.