jars?!

[kennethm]

Anybody try bottling in mason jars? Bad idea?

 

[petep1980]

As long as you have the little rubber gasket it should be fine.

 

[The Pol]

Jars are made hold vacuum, not sure how they handle pressure.

 

[petep1980]

Jars are made hold vacuum, not sure how they handle pressure.

Can't you turn the lid upside-down?

 

[The Pol]

Can't you turn the lid upside-down?

Lids only have a gasket on one side, and vacuum is what seals the jars. This question arises at least once a week or so here.

Also, vacuum is what seals the jars, I suppose you could jerry rig a way to use them, but why?

 

[petep1980]

I just realized the ones with the loose gaskets had the latch way back in the day. Now those would be sweet.

 

[The Pol]

I bought some jars to seal hops, and as I recall they werent that cheap, not compared to buying regular bottles.

Also, bottles are brown, jars are clear, there is a reason they are brown.

 

[bradsul]

If you scroll down to the bottom there is a similar posts list that should provide more information. Short answer is no, they won't work. As Pol said, they are designed to hold vacuum, not pressure. The screw tops are only designed to retain the lid until vacuum is established.

 

[MultumInParvo]

I've used apple sauce jars when I just had more beer than bottles. They work, although I am not sure I'd keep using them if I had the bottles to do it...

 

[petep1980]

I bought some jars to seal hops, and as I recall they werent that cheap, not compared to buying regular bottles.

Also, bottles are brown, jars are clear, there is a reason they are brown.

I thought bottles were brown due to the affect light has on hops, but you put the hops in the jars? Are the hops in the bags?

 

[bradsul]

I thought bottles were brown due to the affect light has on hops, but you put the hops in the jars? Are the hops in the bags?

Skunking is only a worry in fermented beer. Hops grow outside don't forget.

 

[The Pol]

Hops thrive in light, lots of sunlight. Bottles are brown due to the affect that light has on fermented beer, not hops. Most people store hops in clear vacuum sealed bags too. The hops at the LHBS are typically stored in clear jars, in lit refrigerated cases as well.

Yes, I happily store hops in clear jars, I love them

 

[Revvy]

It's simple.

Think of it this way.... Pressure = Outward
Vacuum = Inward.

The seals on canning jars are made to handle a vacuum, not pressure.

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....

 

[The Pol]

It's simple.

Think of it this way.... Pressure = Outward
Vacuum = Inward.

The seals on canning jars are made to handle a vacuum, not pressure.

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....

Sweet, homemade grenades!

 

[the_bird]

I don't understand why everyone wants to bottle in mason jars. Beer bottles - actually designed to hold pressure - are essentially free. Mason jars aren't designed to hold any pressure. Why would you even mess around with this?

 

[ChrisS68]

I dunno... I get a case of bottles free with 288 ounces of beer...

 

[The Pol]

Because it is different

 

[kaiser423]

Because it is different

It's pretty common to have beer server in mason jars in some areas down south. Homemade wine/hooch is also typically done in mason jars from what I've seen. Never made any sense to me economically, or beer-quality wise, but it's just cool for some people.

I suppose that it would work if you put a shim between the gasket and the lid to keep the gasket on tight.

Pressure is pressure, and if it can handle vacuum, it can typically hand the same pressure differential in positive pressure (we use the same chambers for vacuum and pressure tests). I'm not sure how much of a vacuum canning pulls, but as long as you're not carbonating past that limit, I'd imagine that you'd be fine.

The only big change would be that the psi pushing out the gasket will be much larger on the mason jar than on the beer bottle, because, well it's psi (pounds per square inch), the sealing area is larger, so the lid/gasket will have to hold more pressure than a beer bottle cap.

I'm sure that it can be done if you're very careful about the seal, but it's a hassle, and it's in a clear container that will skunk your beer, and its more expensive.

Just use beer bottles man!

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

It's pretty common to have beer server in mason jars in some areas down south. Homemade wine/hooch is also typically done in mason jars from what I've seen. Never made any sense to me economically, or beer-quality wise, but it's just cool for some people.

I've also seen this done, but I think it's more form a serving standpoint than anything else. A mason jar makes for a cheap, kind of nifty serving glass. But I don't think they're actually using them to store the beer. Moonshine on the other hand would be fine stored in mason jars. But we all know that's illegal...

 

[Revvy]

Pressure is pressure, and if it can handle vacuum, it can typically hand the same pressure differential in positive pressure (we use the same chambers for vacuum and pressure tests). I'm not sure how much of a vacuum canning pulls, but as long as you're not carbonating past that limit, I'd imagine that you'd be fine.

Well, first, serving and carbonating are two different things. And moonshine it not usually carbonated either.

Secondly have you ever actually used a mason jar? Have you ever canned?

The tops for a mason jar typically is a thin metal lid with a rubberized "grommet" attached to is, really just a silicon band around the edge of the lid, and a retaining ring.

When you can, the cooling of the once heated container and it's goodies creates a vaccuum, it sucks inward. It pulls the flat tightly Downward.

In fact many of the lids actually has a small indentation in the center of it, that when the vacuum occurs it is pulled inward on the top and leaves a little dimple. That's a sign that there is a vacuum pulling the lid down and keeping the veggies or jam sealed up nicely and protected from infection.

And usually after you remove the retaining ring, if everything is OK with the jar, you usually can feel/hear the the vaccum break, with a little *POP*

However any of you who have ACTUALLY canned before, probably knows that one of the ways you can tell if your food in the can spoiled is if the little dimple is pushed outword. In jars without the dimple it is really hard, usually the lid might feel loose or there might actually be wetness around the lid when you unscrew the retaining

Because usually the rotting food give of a gas which expands to push up the dimple OR it breaks the seal where the little lid gasket meets the rim of the glass.

There is considerably MORE pressure in the carbonation process of beer, often enough pressure to cause a BOTTLE BOMB, in bottles specifically made to handle the OUTWARD pressure of carbonation.

So, splain me lucy how you thing inward vaccumm and outward pressure are the same things? ESPECIALLY where it relates to these mason jars???

Now if you managed to find one of these older style, thick walled jars with big gaskets and flip tops...We MIGHT be having a different discussion.

But your typical jars from the grocery store...NOT.

A crown bottles cap is designed to contain the Outward and upward pressure of a beer bottle, we crimp it down, we don't create a vacuum that seats it on the bottle.

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

Well, first, serving and carbonating are two different things. And moonshine it not usually carbonated either.

True enough. Moonshine is not carbonated and typically self-sanitizing due to the extreme alcohol content. Or so I hear.

Regarding the pressure is pressure debate, regardless of inward or outward, I think that may be true structurally, but as other's have said, the capping mechanism is all wrong. Some old soda bottles actually sealed using the pressure, rather than fighting it. The lid fit inside the neck of the bottle and the pressure created the seal. You'd press the stopper into the bottle to release the pressure and open the bottle. Check out a few of these:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vonmechow/closures.htm

I'm all for going cheap, but save the mason jars for hops, canning wort, and drinking out of. I suppose you could even can some green beans.