No, just regular canning jars and lids. Here's the recipe:
Prepare cabbage as usual, wash, shred, etc.
Pack the shreds into a sterlized standard quart canning jar. Really pack it in, leaving as little air space as possible. To each jar, add 1 teaspoon of canning salt and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar (the sugar does not sweeten the kraut. it simply helps the fermentation, you don't even notice it). You can put the salt/sugar on top of the shredded cabbage or at the bottom of the jar. I usually divide it equally. You can add more salt if you want. Then pour boiling water over the kraut slowly, tipping and tapping the jar to get the air bubbles out. Fill the jars to overflowing with this hot water, then put a lid and band on LOOSELY. Set the filled jars in a pan to catch overflow, set in a cool dark place as you would with any saurkraut process. Check the jars in a couple days and add brine to keep the water level up to the very tip top of the jar. As the kraut ferments, liquid will overflow from the jars. Brine is 1 Tablespoon canning salt in a quart of cool water. You'll need to top off the jars every few days while they are actively fermenting. I try to keep the jars and the overflow pan as clean as possible to prevent mold, etc. In about 2-3 weeks, the active fermentation will be complete and you can tighten the lids onto the jars. I usually don't make this tight tight just yet, until I'm sure nothing more is seeping out of each jar. Once the jars are dry (no longer seeping) it's safe to tighten down the lids fully. Store on a shelf in a cool place. As with any kraut, it's better the longer it sits but good even at this stage.
the best thing about this is that if one jar goes bad, you don't lose the whole batch. I used to make kraut in a crock but switched to this method decades ago after having a couple of big crocks go moldy.
