White cabbage

My second German cabbage is white cabbage (Weisskohl), which is either eaten fresh or used to make Sauerkraut. Now. I have never gone to the extreme of making Sauerkraut myself. Essentially, the cabbage is cut up very finely, spiced, salted, and packed tightly under pressure to exclude air. Anaerobic fermentation then produces lactic acid, which is sour. It gives Sauerkraut it’s obvious taste and name, and prevents food spoiling bacteria from taking over (they don’t like low pH). From what I remember from my Grandmother´s cold room, it’s a bit of a smelly affair. Apparently, my great grandparents, who had a big farm in northern Germany and many mouths to feed, used a whole dedicated basement room to make sauerkraut. At harvest, they would fill the entire room with successive layers of cabbage, salt, and spices, and people would walk around on it (clean shoes, I hope) to compact it and drive out the air. Then, once the fermentation process was done, they would eat it all winter until the room was empty.
I haven’t decided yet whether I’m actually going to venture out and make my own. It’s kind of... out there, and I definitely don’t want the smell in my kitchen. But I do crave it, once or twice a year, and it’s not like you can just go to the supermarket here and simply buy a can or two of decent Sauerkraut... there’s always the garage, I guess.