Pickling Issue

[Alix]

OK, I made a LOT of dill pickles yesterday. Today when I went to check the seals on my jars they were all fine but the 3 largest ones. (Bad word bad word bad word!!!) Now I know these pickles aren't going to last long in my house anyway (my kids are pickle hounds) but I just don't have room in the fridge to store 3 LARGE jars of pickles. Thats where they are right now, but I can't leave them there as I get milk delivery tomorrow.

If I open the jars, dump the brine, get new sealers and fresh brine do you think they'd seal correctly?

I know I'm going to get a lot of info on food safety here but the question I really need answered is about the sealing. I'm going to have trouble getting my girls to wait even a week before opening one of these jars let alone leave them on the shelf for longer than that.

 

[GB]

It depends on why the seal did not take in the first place. If the fault was with the lids then chances are good that retrying will work. If the fault was with the jars then chances are bad that it will work a second time. There could be other reasons too, like not enough head space for example. You certainly have nothing to lose by trying it again though.

 

[mcnerd]

Unfortunately reprocessing will soften the pickles even further and you probably won't like the results.

Continued refrigeration is your best best. Is there better room if you transfer the pickles to smaller containers? The big jars are already open so it doesn't really matter at this point what you store them in in the refrigerator.

 

[Alix]

OK, I reprocessed and the seals have taken. It was just stupid Bernardin lids. I MUCH prefer the old sealer rings and glass lids to use as pickles.

Thanks guys. I will keep you posted on how they turn out. I suspect you will be right mcnerd, they will be too soft and not as tasty. C'est la vie. I just don't have the room to store them in the fridge after tonight.

 

[Alix]

Sigh. This is clearly NOT my year for pickling. First I had to reprocess and now I have two jars that seem to be leaking. Yet upon inspection the seal seems intact and the sealer ring is tight. Toss these ones?Or wait and see how tight the seal is when I open them?

And I have two jars that are suspiciously cloudy. I've NEVER had my pickles go cloudy before. Is that a sign of poor seals or what? Help!

 

[mcnerd]

If your sign of "leaking" is loss of liquid in the jar, then that is usually due to too small of a headspace or the rings were too tight causing a sudden hard purge.

Cloudiness (on the inside) is usually caused by using a salt, other than a canning/pickling variety, which contains other ingredients and impurities that often cloud the solution, but it can be caused by other ingredients that were added and even just ordinary hard water.

 

[Alix]

Hey mcnerd, thanks very much. So since only a couple of my jars are cloudy that would seem to indicate that its not the salt (same for all jars) nor the hard water which was the same. Likely it would be the dill or garlic which was different in each jar. Now that I think about it, those ARE the two jars that I thought I'd not left enough headspace. OK, that answers that question. Do you think those jars are still safe or should I pitch them?

 

[mcnerd]

The pickles are fine.

As an added note, make sure you are processing with a good rolling boil during the whole time. The heat of course is needed for the pasteurizing process but it also provide a strong heat differential so when the jars are removed the lids will create a solid vacuum seal. And always remove the spring lids after 10-12 hours of cool down since they are no longer needed and could interfere with the seal of the flat if left on.

 

[Alix]

Gotcha. Thanks mcnerd. Would you like a job as the Canning and Preserving guru? You sure helped me out this round. Thanks again!

 

[mcnerd]

Sure, I'll give it a try here. I also help out on other boards on food preservation to help people try not to poison themselves.