Jarring Question

[mrenglish]

For those of you who give your jars a hot water bath to seal up the mason/bell jars, how long do you usually let them sit in the water?
I discovered a lot of my jars had not sealed, the lid would still pop when you pressed on it. This was after a year or two of being hand tightened. I had figured they would seal themselves and a lot did.
However, I do not want to find dry tobacco years down the road so was planning of sticking them in boiling water for a bit.
Just not sure how long I should let them sit. Thoughts?

 

[kashmir]

Yeah, I used to place my full quart jars in hot tap water for about 30 min., then sealing them up. But for the last few years, I just jar up without the hot water bath. I find that as the bacteria and yeasts go through aerobic fermentation and suck up all the free oxygen, and begin anaerobic fermentation, the jars will self seal on their own. This takes anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, and varries blend by blend.

 

[oldredbeard]

Thank you Kashmir, I had also been wondering just hadn't remembered to ask. :roll: :crazy:

 

[smeigs]

I personally dont let them really "sit" in the water. I will run them under the hot water for a couple minutes with some mild soap and then let them air dry. I have had pretty good luck this way. I also like kashmir's way of doing it as well. I have thought about skipping the hot water thing, glad to hear someone has done it and it is working well.

 

[kashmir]

The nice thing about the water bath, tho, is the jars seal up a lot sooner and more uniformally. Might go back to it.

 

[mrenglish]

What if you put them in boiled water with the lids already hand tightened?

 

[cortezattic]

...Sounds like an efficient way to create an explosion.
I don't bother with the hot water bath. I haven't had any problems.

Hand tightening the threaded ring keeps the lids secure for me.

Then again, I don't jar tobacco to age it. I'm always sampling from

a wide variety of blends, and I actually prefer them on the young side.

 

[kashmir]

I've heard hot tap water for tobacco. Boiling may be too hot. But when you're your jarring jams and preserves, folks immerse the jars in near boiling to secure a seal upon cooling. In this case the caps are left on loose, then hand tightened upon cooling. Yeah, Cortez is right. Don't boil anything with a tight seal. It may pop on you.

 

[lestrout]

After the jarred tobacco has passed its aerobic fermentation and then progressed on to the anaerobic phase, sometimes gasses are generated, which could account for a pop upon opening. I have some tins that are several years old that are distended from the overpressure.
hp

les

 

[kashmir]

Yeah, me too Les. Often wondered about that. It's a rare thing but I've found a few football shaped tins in my stash. It's like storing yogurt. It's alive, it is.