air bubbles in homemade sauerkraut

so im making some sauerkraut in a gallon mason jar,

its been about a week now and im checkin in on it now and again, and i can see air bubbles forming.

i packed it pretty tight to fit 2 cabbages in the jar, and i read that the bacteria like pressure to ferment. there was no air in it when i started, so i figure this is the bacteria breathing.

the air bubbles are trapped at the bottom, and all over the sides. will this effect the success?

it cant be much oxygen since it didnt have any air at the beginning. it must be whatever the bacteria exhale.

ive only made kraut once before so i dont really know if it smells ok or not. i think there might be a slight off-smell but its not repellently like rotting meat, maybe a kind of sweet baloney smell. there is no yeast film on the water surface, nor anywhere else that i can tell.

it is pretty heavily salted, i also used ginger, and starter from some store bought bubbies juice, so i figure i cant really go wrong with bad organisms.

what do you think? should i loosen it up or stir it or just leave it be?

i plan to let it ferment for another 2 weeks prolly.

thanks so much, i really want to get better using probiotics
peace be with you
,much love!

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