Canning questions
I am googling and haven't yet found the answer to a couple of canning questions.
I did some BBQ sauce over the weekend and it has tomatoes, cider vinegar and should be fairly acidic I have a sample in the lab now for testing and should know the pH shortly. I saw on one website that pH under 4.5 doesn't require a boiling water bath. At what pH does it require a pressure cooker? EDIT, FOUND that over 4.6 I already canned it so it will just be a question of where to store if my pH is off. Also, regarding head space. I filled the jars to the line that said fill here for freezing, I see now that I could have filled more up to 1/4" of the top. I was closer to 1" from the top, I am now wondering if I left too much headspace? Any comments appreciated. Thanks Mike |
Ask Cowgirl. She is the pressure cooker guru.
|
Not sure about the pH. I do know headspace is fine.
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
Below 4.7 Do you have test strips? It's gotta be fine though, that sounds pretty acidic.
|
Head space is fine, and water bath is fine on BBQ sauce. If you don't feel comfortable with the water bath because the acidity might be too low then pop in some Citric acid, "Fruit Fresh" is the easy to find substance. That'll bring your P.H. down. 1/2 Teaspoon per quart.
|
Adding fresh Lime or lemon Juice will also help. Water bath is a pretty simple process if you have the pot. Just make sure the mason/Kerr jars DO NOT touch the bottom of the pot. there should be a lift in the bottom for them to sit on.
|
Quote:
|
I added the juice of one lemon at the end to "brighten" the flavor some, plus to add to the acidity. I didn't have a rack for the jars so I used a dish towel in the pot to keep the jars off of the bottom and to keep the jars from hitting each other. The only pot I had tall enough was smaller in diameter so I had to do 4 jars at a time. My sauce recipe made 9 1.5 Pint jars (that I processed) and 1 pint that I used half of on some ribs last night :)
|
You should be fine, with the vinegar and acid of the tomatoes.
Water bath is fine as well. EDIT: You didn't say how long they were in the WB |
Everything sounds good. I made canned some bbq sauce last year but last second used chipolte chili powder instead of regular chili powder....ruined 16 quarts of bbq sauce.
|
You want to be below a pH of 4.2 and bring the sauce up to 195 F to hydrate / set the starch, the hold for a minimum of 5 minutes. This is your pastuerization. Then fill your jars hot (> 185) and invert to cool. 4.2 isn't all that acidic for a BBQ SAUCE. Most are below 4.0, significantly.
You most definately do need to cook anything with a pH that is higher about 3.6-ish. Even then, at pH's in the mid 3's you need to be concerned with how high the % acidity is to the % of moisture is in your formula, use pretreated low micro count ingredients, and add in preservatives to prevent spoilage. |
I am still waiting on pH results from the lab, I'll post up when I get them.
I processed the jars in the BWB 30 to 40 minutes, I made sure they were up to a good rolling boil before I set my timer at 30. I did not invert to cool. The sauce was very hot I had it simmering for a couple of hours before I began to fill the jars and the jars were still hot from being ran through my dishwasher on the sanitize cycle with the lids and rims. Everything was brand new too, I know that doesn't equal clean but they were still sealed from the manufacturer. |
You're good to go then, I wouldn't worry
|
pH just came back at 3.92 :)
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:09 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
2003 -2012 © BBQ-Brethren Inc. All rights reserved. All Content and Flaming Pig Logo are registered and protected under U.S and International Copyright and Trademarks. Content Within this Website Is Property of BBQ Brethren Inc. Reproduction or alteration is strictly prohibited.