Wow, I had no idea you could do it so simply! The recipe in Nourishing Traditions says to add more sugar every day for a week, just as a preliminary step for making a ginger "bug!" I think I'll try it your way.

I've had friends fail at making sauerkraut, which I thought was the easiest possible fermentation. It's always so hard to figure out what to say! I have noticed that sauerkraut needs to be completely submerged, though - I wonder if that's the problem people have. Maybe another problem is chlorine in the water. Or maybe people are being "careful" and boiling or disinfecting everything? Exactly the wrong thing to do!