Anyone Ever Use Mason Jars?

So, the other day some aspiring brewer asked me wether Mason jars would be good for bottling beer. My immediate reaction was "No, not really." But then I got wondering about it, and I figure somebody out there has tried that, and then I thought I'd come here and ask that. So, anyone ever try that?

My obvious question is why would you want to when beer bottles are designed for it and readily available for free?

orfy said:

My obvious question is why would you want to when beer bootles are designed for it and readily available for free?

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Well, yeah, that too. And that's basically what I told him, but it got me curious. I can't actually say definitively that it WON'T work, because I don't know anyone who ever has. But I'll bet somebody here's tried it. If not, I might even have to do a test jar next time I brew...

Mason jars are good for a vacuum, but not sure about pressure. It would likely work, but I would kept them in a strong box and use welding gear to open them. Plus they are clear. Seems like a lot of effort for little gain.

You making beer - or corn squeezin's?

Wouldn't you end up with way too much headspace? Sure it should fill up with c02...but

I wouldn't worry about the mason jar and preasure - after all, during the canning process they are boiled, then cooled, probably one of the most abused pieces of glass around. I would however worry about the seal (lid) which is designed for a vacumn, not preasure. I would think it would just let all preasure built up just escape.

no pssst when you open it.

Skip using the mason jars for bottling your beer. Instead consider using them for harvesting your yeast. The do have an application in the brewing process, but not for bottling. Stick with bottles and crowns for the finished product.

Here's a link on canning starters.

Wild

This discussion came up about a month ago. A couple of folks reported success and 1 or maybe 2 others reported a loss of pressure.

So it can work. You would really need to torque the lid tight. And I think over the short and long haul the mason jar lids would be more expensive than bottle caps but that would depend on how many times the lids and lids rings could be reused.

I think the best use of a mason jar would be for making a starter yeast and storing harvested yeast. IMHO the mason jars are much better than the lab flasks you see used and adverised for yeast propagation.

not a good idea... save the masons to yeast storage and beer drinking

wild said:

Here's a link on canning starters.

Wild

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Not to Hijack this thread but... Why doesn't the heat of canning paturize, kill, the yeast?

onecolumbyte said:

Not to Hijack this thread but... Why doesn't the heat of canning paturize, kill, the yeast?

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It does. That's the way some breweries do it. The trick is you pasteurize *after* you bottle carbonate.

the article is about canning the wort (without yeast) to keep it sterile and ready to add yeast for your next starter so you don't have to boil and cool each time.so there is no yeast to kill during the canning

Mason jars won't work. When you're canning & boil the filled mason jars, they actually release gas around the seal. That creates the vacuum when they cool -- something you want when canning food. But, since they're designed to release gas when the contents are under pressure, they wouldn't work for bottling beer.

jelsas said:

Mason jars won't work. When you're canning & boil the filled mason jars, they actually release gas around the seal. That creates the vacuum when they cool -- something you want when canning food. But, since they're designed to release gas when the contents are under pressure, they wouldn't work for bottling beer.

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Ah ha. I knew there had to be some good reason why this wouldn't work, or I'd've heard about it already...

jelsas said:

Mason jars won't work. When you're canning & boil the filled mason jars, they actually release gas around the seal. That creates the vacuum when they cool -- something you want when canning food. But, since they're designed to release gas when the contents are under pressure, they wouldn't work for bottling beer.

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That's not correct.

When canning you leave the lid rings loose so that the pressure can escape. Then when you finish boiling you tighten the lid rings this creates a seal and the vacuum is formed as the contents cool. Once the vacuum is formed you can remove the lid rings and the vacuum will hold the lids in place.

With beer you would have to leave the lid rings in place because of pressure instead of a vacuum

I do a lot of home canning, so here are two tips for using mason jars to bottle beer (which I've never done):

1) Wipe off the top of the rim of the jar before putting the lid down. Dirty rims are the #1 cause of broken seals.

2) The reason mason jars seal so well is that the heat in the canner melts the wax on the lid, allowing the jar rim to push into the wax and seal up tight.. It's enough to have a hot jar and a hot lid, w/o boiling. It might be enough to use a hot lid alone, and I think that probably would work better and no harm the beer (not enough heat to kill the yeast or heat up the liquid). So, putting the lids in boiling water for 10 seconds before using them would probably help make a good seal.

Chances are, old lids will do OK, too, but each time you re-use a lid, you take a chance.