Masontops Pickle Pipes Airlock Fermentation Lids Kit for Wide Mouth Mason Jar Sauerkraut and Pickles Review (2026)

What Pickle Pipes actually are

Masontops' Pickle Pipe is a one-piece, food-safe silicone lid built as a self-sealing, waterless airlock for wide mouth mason jars. It measures about 3.3 inches across to match a standard wide mouth opening and sits roughly half an inch tall, low enough that a converted jar still fits in a cupboard or drawer during fermentation. The silicone is BPA-free and free of phthalates according to the manufacturer, and the lid is dishwasher safe between batches. A one-way valve built into the center lets carbon dioxide escape as vegetables ferment while blocking outside air and mold spores from getting in, which is the core function of any fermentation airlock.

Why the waterless design matters

Older airlock styles rely on a water-filled moat that needs regular topping off and can spill if a jar is bumped. Pickle Pipes replace that with a purely mechanical silicone valve, so there is no water to monitor and no risk of the seal drying out mid-ferment. That makes the lids a good fit for anyone who travels for a few days mid-batch or simply does not want to check jars daily. The tradeoff is that the seal depends on the silicone staying flexible and clean, so a lid that gets gummed up with brine residue should be rinsed promptly rather than left to dry stuck to the jar rim.

What you still need to supply

This listing is for the lids themselves; wide mouth mason jars are not included, so anyone starting from scratch needs to already own or buy standard wide mouth jars separately, and the product description does not list glass weights as part of this particular kit either. Vegetables tend to float once submerged in brine, and floating produce above the brine line is prone to mold, so most fermenters pair Pickle Pipes with some kind of weight to keep the batch under the liquid. Shoppers who want lids and weights bundled together should check Masontops' complete fermentation kit rather than this lids-only listing.

Living with the silicone over time

Because the lid is a single piece of silicone rather than metal or glass, it can pick up odors from pungent ferments like kimchi or garlic-heavy pickles, and that smell does not always rinse out completely. Fermenters who run both mild and strong-smelling batches sometimes keep a dedicated lid for the stronger ones rather than rotating the same lid between kraut and kimchi. The flexible material is otherwise easy to wipe down and does not chip or crack the way a glass or ceramic airlock lid might if dropped, which is a reasonable tradeoff for jar-based setups moved around a kitchen.

Who should buy this listing

This is a good match for someone who already has wide mouth mason jars on hand and wants a low-maintenance way to start fermenting kraut or pickles without daily check-ins. It is also a sensible upgrade from cloth-and-rubber-band lids for anyone who has had a batch mold over from inconsistent air exposure. Buyers who do not yet own wide mouth jars, or who want weights included in the same purchase, will need to add those separately, and it is worth confirming pack count and mouth size against your own jars before ordering, since Masontops also sells a regular mouth version.

Frequently asked questions