Lids not sealing

Just wondering if you, or anyone you know, has had any trouble with Ball lids this past canning season? We bought ours from our local Walmart like we normally do and almost all of our tomatoes went bad. The jars sealed (or seemed to). A friend of ours also bought his lids from the same Walmart and had the same results with his apples. Never had this much trouble before, not sure what to do so it doesn’t happen again!

Monika
Novinger, Missouri

No, I haven’t had any trouble with Ball lids. Did you totally leave the jars alone when they were cooling after processing? A friend of mine started having trouble like yours and I couldn’t figure out what was happening. So I went over to her house the next time she canned tomatoes. Everything was fine until she took them out of the canner and set them on a folded towel to cool. There were minerals in her water, leaving a white film on the jar lids. So she took a towel and wiped off the hot lids. She did two before I stopped her. When the jars cooled, the two that she’d wiped off had failed seals! Never touch the jars after you have taken them out of the canner until they are cool. (Unless you are using Tattler reusable lids and must quickly tighten down the rings as soon as they are taken out of the canner.) Also, did you keep your lids in hot, previously boiled water before filling your jars? Sometimes folks take shortcuts and only dip the lids in hot water and the compound doesn’t soften enough for the lids to completely seal — Jackie

Storing water

I just subscribed to the Kindle version of the magazine. I’m excited to learn more and more! Right now my question is about water emergency supplies. I see online that it is possible to purchase canned water. I’m wondering if it is possible to can water in large mason jars at home. It would be a good way to have some small containers of clean water easily on hand.

Linda Tooley
North Bend, Oregon

Yes, you can can water if you wish, but it’s really not necessary to process it because clean, potable water, stored in clean glass jars will stay good for years. Most folks opt to change their stored water every year, however, for the best taste. If you wish to can water, just pour boiling water into clean jars, leaving ½ inch of headspace, place a new, previously simmered lid on the jar and tighten down the ring firmly tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Welcome to Backwoods Home Magazine! — Jackie

8 COMMENTS

  2. I heard that the lid manufacturers changed the resin/plastic coating, so that is why the USDA has recommended leaving the jars in the hot water bath another 5 minutes after shutting off the heat/another 10 minutes in the pressure canner after pressure drops, so that the new/thinner plastic coating will seal. Check the USDA website for more info on these times, I haven’t checked recently. Check your local state university for most up-to-date canning information, too.

  3. I have also had problems with my lids this year. We buy A LOT of jars every year since we sell honey in Ball and Kerr jars at farmer’s markets (last year we sold almost 4 thousand pounds) and I also WBC for my family.

    I frequently buy cases from multiple sources (WalMart, Smart & Final, True Value hardware stores, Costco, Raley’s, Safeway…just to name a few) to get them on sale. Not only have some of the lids been sealed tight to the jars as Kay Fenlason mentioned, but I’ve also had more jar breakage this year than any other year in the past. I buy a lot of replacement lids too and have noticed some already have tiny spots of rust on them or the rubber used for the seal is not neatly applied and is instead globbed on with some of the lids.

  4. I’m a bit late with a reply, but I also had problems with Ball lids this past
    season. Within 10-15 days mine were rusting. never lost a seal but I pitched my field peas and most of my corn,the lids had rusted on the underside as well as the top. I purchased from both walmart and atwoods.
    Maybe it was just a bad year for Ball, It sure was a bad year for me. all that work in the HOT Texas sun. I sure won’t chance it this season.

  5. I use all of my Bleach bottle to store water around the yard. The bottle is so sturdy, and I thought clean that it would be perfect. W have stored it in larger barrels with a pump system on top for getting it out. We did this after 9-11 and for the millennium. We also have a regular hand pump hooked to our well.

  6. To Lids not sealing. I too had the same problem with my Ball Lids. I lost an entire batch of sweet potatoes. I was NOT happy.

  7. I purchased all my Ball lids last year at our local Fleet Farm. My friends and I didn’t have any problems out of the ordinary. Were they old lids at Walmart such as those they found in a warehouse somewhere? Hope you find out your problem. It is discouraging when you lose so many jars of product.

  8. This year I bought new jars, and the rings and lids came screwed onto the jars, instead of in a separate sleeve. This was to “save packaging costs”. I found that the some of the lids were already sealed onto the jars, probably due to heat in the warehouse or delivery truck. When the unopened case was inside, I would periodically hear the lids popping! The lids were difficult to remove, and the rubber area had a deep groove from the jar. These lids failed when canning. Had they put the lids on upside down, the problem would have been eliminated.

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