putting home made salsa in a beer bottle?

anybody see a problem with this? i'm making a batch of my home made beer salsa, (basically just a super hot habanero salsa, super thin, no chunks) and don't feel like buying mason canning jars, and thought putting it in beer bottles, and just capping it with my capper, would be cool, and a novelty.

any issues anyone knows of before i do this? i use vinegar in the salsa to legnthen the "freshness" of it. isn't a beer bottle air tight, and sealed just like a mason jar???


brian

No, not really. The USDA has a website about canning, and the minimum requirement for anything is a boiling water bath, and the recommended is pressure canning. The reason mason jars work is they allow the contents to boil and release steam and pressure. Then, when you cool them down, they seal. Canning the contents by boiling while in the jar sterilize the contents. Pressure canning allows it to be at a higher temperature than boiling (240 degrees) to kill the pathogens.

"Canning" in beer bottles with a cap would be asking for botulism. Freezing would be ok, though.

I thought about this method of packaging for my Smoked Porter Beer-B-Q Sauce. As Yooper stated the main reason I stayed away from it was fear of botulism. I stick with mason jars and traditional canning methods. The cost of the jars far outways the guilt I would feel from killing one of my friends.

wow. ok thanks for the heads up!

but doing it this way, and refrigerating it, would be no different than putting it in some tupperware and refrigerating it right?
i always make lots of extra salsa, and freeze it in tupperware, then unfreeze a bunch of it at the beginning of the week, and keep it in the refrigerator, and eat it through the week.

botulism is caused by bacteria, etc. that would grow in something that was set out for a length of time unrefrigerated, but keeping it refrigerated, and eating it quickly, would be no different than any store bought salsa, that requires refrigeration would it?

Yep. Botulism grows in unfrozen, unrefrigerated foods. And you can't taste it. And it kills you. So, it's scary stuff in improperly canned foods stored for a long time.

No reason putting salsa in a beer bottle would be different than a tupperware if refrigerated.

The acidity of salsa gives it a fairly long shelf life naturally, also. Cheers

brian williams said:

wow. ok thanks for the heads up!

but doing it this way, and refrigerating it, would be no different than putting it in some tupperware and refrigerating it right?
i always make lots of extra salsa, and freeze it in tupperware, then unfreeze a bunch of it at the beginning of the week, and keep it in the refrigerator, and eat it through the week.

botulism is caused by bacteria, etc. that would grow in something that was set out for a length of time unrefrigerated, but keeping it refrigerated, and eating it quickly, would be no different than any store bought salsa, that requires refrigeration would it?

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Store bought salsa contains preservatives. I'd bet you'd be better off with store bought than homemade when it comes to longevity.

However, I don't think homemade salsa, refrigerated, would be any worse than any other homemade thing refrigerated. It'd definitely last a week, most likely 2 in the fridge with appropriate handling. And given that it's got vinegar and rather acidic, it could last a long time perhaps.

I would just pitch it when it started to smell bad, but well, I'm a guy.

I think my concern was more with, if I gave it away, I wouldn't know how it was stored. If bottled in beer bottles, I would make sure that people knew to keep it refrigerated and use it within a week or two.

Well, the people you gave it to would also have the issue of recapping the bottle..... unless, of course, you were giving it as a gift to fellow homebrewers.

Originally posted by Damn Squirrels
Well, the people you gave it to would also have the issue of recapping the bottle..... unless, of course, you were giving it as a gift to fellow homebrewers.

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This is true

I'd interject that Botulism will not grow in sufficiently low pH. This is the reason why most Tomatoes can be hot packed without pressure canned. If your Salsa were quite acid, there would be no problems. You have to measure the acidity to be on the safe side.

Aside from the novelty though, it would be a PITA to get it in and out of the bottle if it weren't a very liquidy salsa.

i'm just gonna give it to a few friends, and i'll just tell them it has to be refrigerated. as far as being a PITA to pour out, it's really easy. it's super thin salsa, everything was puree'd in the blender. just some tomatoes, onions, LOTS of habeneros, calantro, jalalpano's, cyanne peppers, and just various seasonings like garlic, salt, sugar, pepper, etc. it's only a salsa to hardcore heat lovers, most of my friends will use it sparingly to spice up other salsa, foods, etc.

brian williams said:

i'm just gonna give it to a few friends, and i'll just tell them it has to be refrigerated. as far as being a PITA to pour out, it's really easy. it's super thin salsa, everything was puree'd in the blender. just some tomatoes, onions, LOTS of habeneros, calantro, jalalpano's, cyanne peppers, and just various seasonings like garlic, salt, sugar, pepper, etc. it's only a salsa to hardcore heat lovers, most of my friends will use it sparingly to spice up other salsa, foods, etc.

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Cool. Just make sure everything is clean clean before you bottle it so you don't get anything funky going on (yeasts, molds...things other than Botulism which is present in foods occassionally just not active). How long it will stay good like that (refridgerated in a bottle) for will greatly depend on how you handle the food and equipment before you bottle it and how quickly you get it cooled and stored. Still though, one word of caution is if this is a fresh (not cooked) salsa then you aren't garaunteed against fairly rapid spoilage even if you're careful. One way to help combat some common food spoliage microflora is to increase the salt and acid levels. :rockin:

Another word of caution....

Botulism spores produce nasty toxins and it only takes a very small amount (a mouthfull of infected food is sufficient) to hospitalize or kill. I'd also advise the recipients to open and use the salsa within a short time of receiving it, as you don't want them to tuck it away and open it in say three months.

Sorry if this is a long read, but Botulism is real:

current outbreak

Sorry for the hijack. And I don't mean to be a Chicken Little... but....

What keeps botulism from spreading in beer?

Damn Squirrels said:

Sorry for the hijack. And I don't mean to be a Chicken Little... but....

What keeps botulism from spreading in beer?

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Doh, missed this...

I believe the main preventative is that the pH of most (if not all) finished beer falls below 4.6, which is the lower cut-off level before Botulism can grow. Above 4.6 and you enter the danger zone so-to-speak.