Anybody ever got a batch of bad lids, like a whole box? The other night I canned 16 quarts of Tomatoes. I used my last 4 lids from an old box and the 12 from the new box. All were Ball lids. Tonight my wife noticed a liquid dripping from the pantry. I opened it up and found 12 of the 16 new quarts fizzing, and leaking all over hell. I threw all 16 out just to be sure, but The 4 that werent fizzing looked and smelled really good. Only thing I can think is that whole box was compromised somehow. I do a 25 to 30 minute water bath like always. Ive never had an issue except a broken jar every once in a blue moon
Bad Lids?
- Thread starter Redhunter1012
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Did all of your lids pop down the safety seal while cooling? If they all popped down and then later swelled and leaked It would point to a bacteria or spoilage.
Never had a whole batch of lids that were bad. I've had a chip in a jar rim and a lid that didn't seal.
Did you warm the lids in simmering water before placing them on the jars?
Never had a whole batch of lids that were bad. I've had a chip in a jar rim and a lid that didn't seal.
Did you warm the lids in simmering water before placing them on the jars?
I agree with Joe. I've never had what I thought was a defective seal right out of the box. I've only had a couple of jars not seal, and I'm sure it was because jar was over filled and spilled out some of the contents which prevented a proper seal, or I did not clean the rim of the jar. It is extremely important to sterilize everything properly when water bath canning. after jars cool and you are sure they are sealed properly, always remove rings from jars and double check the seal with the ring off. I've never been a big fan of water bath canning for most things, including tomatoes.
also, I don't think water bathing for 30 minutes is long enough unless you cooked tomatoes first, hot packed them and returned to water bath. I pressure can nearly everything these days because I don't have to boil jars, lids and precook food or add vinegar or lemon juice to raise acidity. wash jars and lids with soap and water, fill with food, put in the canner for appropriate amount of time. bringing food to that magic temp of 240 degrees, even for a short time, will kill everything, including botulism. you simply cannot do that with a water bath no matter how long you boil something.
If they were fizzing, it sounds like they were fermenting. That's not a problem with the lids, but a sign that you didn't kill all the critters in the tomatoes.
I agree with Jamie. If you can afford a pressure canner it's the way to go.
https://www.google.com/#q=water+bath+tomato+time
I agree with Jamie. If you can afford a pressure canner it's the way to go.
Sounds like I should have cooked the tomatoes. I just scalded, peeled, then packed them. Then I water bathed them. Lesson learned.