Weird Seal behavior

[savagerabbit]

I posted this over on Canning2 and no one seemed to have a good answer for me other than that they have have similar experiences. What causes this to happen?

 

I had a lady over a few weeks ago to teach her

>to can. She brought her own seals and jars but I

>noticed right away that her seals were loose and

>all different brands. I asked her "are these NEW

>seals?" and she assured me they were so I said

>"well, since I have these prepared I'll just trade you ok?"

>Next week, I was canning again and I use the

>seals she said were new. Upon coming out of the

>canner, the seals "breathed" for over an hour.

>They would "ping" over and over and over again.

>I thought this was extremely odd because I've never had that happen.

>Well, a few days later, she called and said her

>next batch had done the same thing.

>Is this a common thing if you inadvertently use an old seal?

>All the jars eventually sealed btw.

[Virginia]

What do you mean by "her seals were loose"?

 

I find that if I can jars of broth (chicken normally) along with jars of meat, that the jars of broth will boil for a very long time and seem to be "breathing" and sealing or pinging over and over. I have used brand new lids (seals) and some that I had a year or two. They all will finally seal. Sometimes the broth with meat in it will do the same thing, but not very often.

[savagerabbit]

AHH! I was doing chicken soup!

What I meant by "loose" was "not in the box" and by "not new" I meant that I thought they may have been previously used.

[Canned Nerd]

You can tell if a flat lid has been used before by the indentation that is left by the rim when processed and a proper seal is obtained. An unused lid will have the rubber compound still relatively flat.

 

I've gotten flat lids from estate sales where they were stored for years in the garage and most of them still worked fine. All lids need to be heated (not boiled) before using so that the rubber seal is softened to allow a good meld with the jar rim.

 

I've never seen/heard of jars doing multiple 'pings' (closures). I would anticipate that air is being allowed into the jars at this point and would become a safety issue. Coming out of the canner the jars and food should be hot enough to create an almost instant and permanent vacuum seal.

 

 

[Violet]

The lids may be unused, but they sound old to me... otherwise they should just seal and that would be it. They should not keep doing that.

I would suggest bying new lids. This is why we say to buy those you use in a year. Technically, they keep for about 5 years, but depends upon how they have been stored. Just keeping them out of the boxes like that is not a good thing.

 

[savagerabbit]

Violet,,, do you think there is a safety issue with my soups like Canned Nerd mentioned? I've eaten 2 jars of it without any ill effects which I know is not the end all determiner. They all did (save 1) eventually seal.

[Violet]

Yes, I would say the soup is safe as long as you pressure canned for the right time and pressure. You said they are sealed, so the sound good to me.

 

[savagerabbit]

THEY ARE DOING IT AGAIN!!!! I just took 6 qts of stock out of the pressure canner and they are pinging repeatedly! This time I'm positive about the integrity of the lids. I just bought them last week and they are fresh out of the box. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen or heard! they go "thud thud thud thud PING!"

[Violet]

You may be over tightening the rings. Only fingertip tight, not too tight.

[savagerabbit]

You may be over tightening the rings. Only fingertip tight, not too tight.

I don't think I was.. but it's possible I guess. I've been searching around and I've seen that it happens when you don't let the canner cool properly after the pressure goes down but I'm kinda freaky about that. I have a full set of criteria that must be filled before I'll touch the lid so I know I'm giving it at LEAST 10m.. prolly more. It only happens with broth or soup.

[Canned Nerd]

It almost sounds like the jars are boiling over, like an overfilled pot that rattles the lid as the boiling water and steam wants to escape. Is there headspace remaining in the jars during this time when it is double pinging?

 

[savagerabbit]

It almost sounds like the jars are boiling over, like an overfilled pot that rattles the lid as the boiling water and steam wants to escape. Is there headspace remaining in the jars during this time when it is double pinging?

 

I'm not sure. I didn't notice. I will make a note of it if it happens again. I'm giving 1in headspace (first thread on the neck)