Honestly, read something similar from a friend who does canning. She said ferments with extra sugars from fresh veggies, like carrots, can get real fizzy fast because the bacteria are super active. That hissing is just built-up carbon dioxide, same as in soda. Her trick was to loosen the lid a tiny bit each day to let gas escape, or use a special airlock lid. Your intense smell is probably just the garlic and dill doing their thing. Maybe give it a daily burp so it doesn't surprise you again.

@shaneross is totally right about blaming overbooking instead of laziness. I had an inspector ghost me twice in June, and clients were way more patient when I framed it as a system issue. It just keeps everyone from getting too stressed about delays.

Before 'Terraforming Mars', I blamed indie games, but its confusing scoring section shifted my blame.

Remember how impossible that felt at first?

Totally get that, I've had the same thing happen. Once waited almost a month for a reply from a guy who seemed to ghost me, and he ended up being one of my best clients for years. People are just buried sometimes. Cutting things off too fast can totally burn a bridge you didn't even know was there. Giving it that extra bit of patience makes a huge difference.