Mason Jars?

So I have a batch of beer I am planning to start soon and a good part of it I plan to gift out to friends. Recently a friend made a joke about me giving to people in mason jars much like good ole boys do with shine. At first it was just something to laugh at but the more I thought about it the more it seemed like a good idea in theory. So my question is this, has anyone on here tried to bottle, or should I say jar beer into mason jars? If so what results did you get? Anything I should make sure to look out for? Reasons to avoid this?

I am still pretty new to brewing/bottling and have not got the experience under my belt that I know some of the people on here have. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

I think that mason jars are designed to handle a vacuum, not pressure. It's the vacuum that seals the lid, and I don't know what the glass can handle.

Can you just have them over and SERVE in the Masons?

I don't know if they would do well with the pressure. Otherwise not good because of the clear glass also. I wouldn't reccomendd it.

Mason jars are not pressure vessels they are low vacuum vessels. You run a serious risk of bottle bombs.

Mason jars are not ment to hold pressure, they will shatter, and they are not made of tempered glass. you may try it with people you don't really like first.

Drink them in good health

clear glass = skunky beer. however...if you kept them in the dark until the minute you consumed them and never ever ever EVER let them see light, i can't think of a reason it wouldn't work. you'd have to tighten the bands pretty tightly.

my only concern would be the pressure. with canning, you deal with high temps cooling and creating a vacuum sucking everything in on itself. beer is reversed and the pressure is expanding. i don't know what the physics are like with that. i know when i can you sometimes have bubbles around the edge until the cans cool and everything's pressurized.

edit: those guys up there are fast!

I have a friend who uses mason jars as growlers so to speak. He has a 4-tapper system and usually fills several (8) quart sized mason jars just before a homebrew meeting. It fits in his soft cooler well and they are easily stackable.

Not sure what CO2 pressure he uses but I imagine its less than 2.5 volumes.

If you don't use them with primed beer I'd say you are OK.

FWIW...i did a mason jar full of mead to age in the back of a cabinet with no priming sugar and had no ill effects. tasted just like the rest of the batch in swingtops.

Drink out of them, but don't bottle in them.

They work by creating a vacuum when you can under pressure... WHen you put your food in the jar, seal the jar and stick it inside the boiling water bath, the vacuum draws the seal downward or inward that's why the dimple on a can is supposed to be pushed inward, and if you ever come a cross a can where it is bulging outward you are in trouble...

When you bottle, the gas builds up til it maxes out the head room (held in place by the crimped cap or the cork with wire or the gasket on a grolh bottle.....The co2 hits the barrier, maxes it and then goes back into solution/

With a mason jar you would either blow the seal and all the co2 would escape or if you were lucky enough that the seal held, more than likely the glass of the jar would explode and you would have a nice bottle grenade....

Mason jars are my favorite everyday beer drinking vessel. They are big enough to hold a 12 oz beer plus foam. They have a wider base than a shaker glass (those cone shaped glasses everyone passes off as pint glasses). They also taper at the top which traps in aromatics. I doubt I'd try to bottle in them though.

+10 on the drinking vessel! otherwise, only for canning.

I use them for storing yeast slurry and they work great as long as the temp stays low. I once accidentally left a jar of slurry out at room temp for a couple hours and the pressure bent the lid open. No messes occurred, just the seal broke. My honest opinion is the lid will fail well before the glass jar will. Like others have said, I would not prime in a jar but transporting draft beer would be fine.

Back when country-style decor was all the rage, the jar companies (Ball & Mason) made pint jars with handles. They weren't recommended for actual canning, but otherwise they were identical to regular jars. They're probably still available on Craigslist or eBay. I'd say bottle your beers the usual way and avoid the possible issues. A six-pack of homebrew and a mason-jar mug all done up in a country-style gift package would make a mighty nice gift.

Edit: Found them-- http://www.goodmans.net/get_dept_1051.htm

jcobbs said:

Back when country-style decor was all the rage, the jar companies (Ball & Mason) made pint jars with handles. They weren't recommended for actual canning, but otherwise they were identical to regular jars. They're probably still available on Craigslist or eBay.

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Libbey still makes 'em.

I remember we had a bunch of those when I was a kid.

Ya know... mason jars wouldn't work for beer do to the whole assploding jar thing... but they'd be great to hand out homemade wine in.

I bottled a whole batch in Mason jars without any 'splosions or any other problems. I did it just because I had them on hand and I thought it would be neat. Other than that, it is clear glass so you certainly have the risk of skunking. but as for holding pressure I didn't have a problem. I just opened the last one 18 months after bottling and it was just fine. I wouldn't recommend going out and buying them for this purpose though.

I too use them as small growlers if I am going somewhere and do not want to worry about losing the container I brought the beer in. Fill a couple of pints for tasting from the keg and off you go.

jcobbs said:

Back when country-style decor was all the rage, the jar companies (Ball & Mason) made pint jars with handles. They weren't recommended for actual canning, but otherwise they were identical to regular jars. .

Click to expand...

LINCH-EY LEMONADE!!!!!!!!

I used Blue 16oz colored Mason jars to bottle an Ale. I kept them in a closet for 14 days an got some well carbonated beer from those jars. Now I will have to say thatr some of those jars did bubble up on the lids from the pressure. But other than that there no problems in using Mason jars. Make sure you get those lids on as tight as you can!

Aside from the fact I'd rather drink from them over bottling. They certainly are easy to clean and sanitize.

As it stands right now, I can make wine, bottle it, cork it, add decorative foil sleeves. Non-homebrewers just think it's gonna be crap. My good zinfandel and mead were unappreciated. My attitude is fark the motherfockers. It's not worth wasting it on them.

I can't imagine the opinion they would have in mason jars.