The sour (fermented) pickle recipe that I am following states:
Check the crock every day. Skim any mold from the surface, but don’t worry if you can’t get it all. If there’s mold, be sure to rinse the plate and weight.
The only change that I have made to the recipe is to add 3 med tomatoes along with 4 lbs of cucumbers.
The pickles do seem to have more surface mold than sauerkraut. However, is there any real advantage to skimming the mold off of the top? It seems that if the mold is aerobic and restricted to the surface, then any skimming, especially if combined with removing the stone weight on top of the pickles, would simultaneously mix both mold and air in.
I would prefer to skip skimming every day, and the shape of my crock makes it somewhat awkward to do: the crock curves in at the top, and there is < 1 cm of brine between the surface and the stone weight.
Is there any disadvantage to not skimming every day?