I disagree. Wort doesn't have a low enough pH to be safely canned with a water bath. You definitely need a pressure canner to do that and keep the canned jars at room temperature safely.
I agree with this to a point. you can can it with a water bath for a reeeeeally long time and it "should" be okay. if some sort of acid were introduced you could do it faster, but that wouldn't make for a tasty wort, but it might end up a yeast energizer, no?
Help me understand...
I boiled 5 gallons of wort (DME & Water), I added a VERY small amount of hops. At the end of the boil, I didn't cool the wort, drained straight into sanitized quart jars and put the lids on while still hot. As the wort cooled, the jars all sealed up nicely. I have them stored in my basement. I have used probably 12 of these and not noticed any problems. Am I missing something?
Ed
The method you're describing would probably be fine for the short term. however, as Yooper decribed, the pH comes into play here. now if you took boiling wort and placed it into sterilized (not sanitized, i mean steriled as in zero bacteria) you'd likely have better results.
IMO it's a great investment for the avid homebrewer to grab a pressure cooker for this very purpose. It's an easy process once you have the tools and is one of those things you learn once and never forget.
A brief primer on pressure canning wort:
a: boil the living hell out of your mason jars! 15 minutes at full boil should do the job, longer is better.
b: take the boiling wort and fill your mason jars leaving a good 1/2-1" of headspace at the top.
c: place a NEW (i can't stress NEW hard enough) mason lid on the jar and screw on the band, but don't tighten it too much. Just put it on nice an snug. You'll realize why later on.
d: place your jars onto a rack (yes, you need the rack) in your pressure cooker (it helps to have preboiled water in the pressure cooker to speed things up) and close the lid.
e: heat the pressure cooker until that sucker is spitting out steam like there's no tomorrow and lower the flame to just above low. kind of a low-medium-low and once you are at full steam and the flame is lowered, set your timer for 15min.
f: once the timer goes off, turn the flame off and open the steam vent on the cooker and let it cool until it's silent.
g: once it's no longer hissing, carefully remove the lid and WITH TONGS remove your jars and set them on a rack to cool. They will look like they are boiling inside the jars if you did it right. That's a sign that pressure in the can is forcing it's way out of the new lid you put on and will give you an airtight seal.
h: Once these guys are cooled enough you'll hear the pressurized lids pop or ping. Once that happens you know you have an airtight can. If it doesn't pop, put it back in and pressurize again or replace the lid and try again.
That's about it. Also remember to sterilize the lids too! The bands, not so much, but definitely the lid and jars.
Any questions? lmk
