Fermented food jars keep cracking??

[ChickenChick46]

Well, I'm baffled!

Same. I use Ball or Kerr brand for everything I do with Mason jars (pressure and water bath canning, fermentation, etc.) and I've never had one crack that way.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I use the same wide mouth Bell jars. This is kind of nuts. How long are you fermenting for? I noticed mine goes a lot faster in the summer, even with air conditioning. Things could just be getting too intense in the jar. Maybe pull it earlier, or ferment in the basement if you have one.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Mine was fermenting way too fast this summer so I had to relocate it. I was using a gallon jar with just about a cup of feed. I wonder if the process is somehow sealing the lid because there is so much ferment in the jar and so little air space. Try the coffee filter instead and see if that helps. But keep us posted because this is a fun mystery

 

[Newbie102]

I only ferment for 3 days. It must be the jars. We bought them for a wedding and painted chalkboard paint on them; baking them for a period of time to set the paint. It must have weakened the jars. That is the only thing I can think of. Thank you to all who chimed in to try and solve the mystery!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I only ferment for 3 days. It must be the jars. We bought them for a wedding and painted chalkboard paint on them; baking them for a period of time to set the paint. It must have weakened the jars. That is the only thing I can think of. Thank you to all who chimed in to try and solve the mystery!

Ok, I can see how a dry baking might have done it. Thanks for letting us know! This was really working on me.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Interesting! Are they breaking where they were painted?

 

[Newbie102]

No, just on the bottom.

 

[ChickenChick46]

I only ferment for 3 days. It must be the jars. We bought them for a wedding and painted chalkboard paint on them; baking them for a period of time to set the paint. It must have weakened the jars. That is the only thing I can think of. Thank you to all who chimed in to try and solve the mystery!

Maybe something to do with the paint then baking them, I'm not sure. I still feel like baking them is a similar temperature to what a canning jar can handle, since they can go in a pressure canner which can get up to 250 F, but maybe not. But the paint could be the culprit. Hopefully new jars will help.

 

[tripletfeb]

The dry baking the jars has weakened the glass and they can no longer be used for fermenting. You would have to buy new jars. When you can food, the jar has food in it so you are never processing an empty jar. When I ferment food, I use my Mason Tops lids but I ferment human food, not chicken food. The coffee filter idea is a good one, to help the gases escape. However, the jars are weak from the dry baking

 

[saysfaa]

... I still feel like baking them is a similar temperature to what a canning jar can handle, since they can go in a pressure canner which can get up to 250 F, but maybe not. But the paint could be the culprit. Hopefully new jars will help.

Temperature reached may be the same if they were baked in a 240 degree oven. But the changes in temperature would be faster in a dry oven.