Every jar of fermented vegetable is different
We just finished a gallon of sauerkraut. It was kind of soft, but that doesn't bother me. Opened the next jar. It is firmer, close to crisp, even toward the top of the jar where the brine was barely covering the cabbage (evaporation through the plastic lid? around the threads of the lid?) and that layer of kraut had oxidized to brown. This second jar tastes "cleaner" that the first.
Cucumber pickles are that way, too. Every jar is a little different.
Someone here ferments tomato juice. Cloud-Walking Owl, I think. If we get a really good crop of Roma tomatoes this year, I want to try that
By the way, today's sauerkraut was soaked and rinsed a couple of times to remove some of the salt. Then after a soup was prepared, I ladled it into the soup to take its place with the other vegetables. It was a barley soup with three elements from our garden-- tomato juice, the sauerkraut, and butternut squash.