I keep my flours and sugars in glass gallon jars

You can't use them for canning - except the 2 quart ones can be safely used for high acid juices if you want - but they are great for dry storage.

Link below is to a previous discussion on them for more info.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Using 2 quart jars??

If you're family loves pickled red beet eggs the large size jars are great.

Making pickled eggs at home has many associated risks and isn't generally recommended. Please do it with great care.

Better to save them for fermenting pickles or sauerkraut.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickled eggs discussions

I don't can pickled eggs, I can baby beets and onions, then when I want to make pickled eggs I hard boil and combine, then refrigerate. In fact I just put 1/2 dozen eggs on, cause I had extra juice from canning the beets and onions.

Who said anything about canning the pickled red beet eggs...I make sometimes 2 dozen eggs and I use the large jars to ferment, age or whatever you do to the eggs when you combine the pickled red beets (which I do can and just finished 4 pints) with the peeled hard boiled eggs until the eggs turn red. Sorry if I may have given anyone the wrong idea.

Sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion Karen. ;)

Dave

I just filled two half gallon jars with cukes, big cut up cloves of garlic, and a lot of almost dead dill. I used Mrs. Wages dill pickle mix and water to make a salt brine. It starte out way too salty, so I kept adding the water to get it to that level I sense where its enough salt. The two jats are sitting on my counter right now and will remain there for 3 days and then get placed in the fridge. I hope to get a bunch more cukes, but they are coming in in groups of 3-7 every other day, so its hard to use 100% fresh. I wash and bag them, but leave the bag open in the fridge. Mine were still very crisp from picking two days ago.

Wire bail jars are not used for canning today. There is simply no obvious way to know if there is a vacuum inside. The metal dome lids sink in slightly so you do see the vacuum very easily.

If your wanting to do pickled eggs, suggest that you check the other thread when you do a search for the words 'pickled eggs' within this forum.

I use the gallon and half gallon ones for dry storage, Linda Lou's sweet chunks (during the soaking and brining stage), saurkraut and fermented dills.

The half gallon ones fit chick feeders too IF they are the standard mouth and not wide mouth.

I make fruit liqueurs in the gallon jars.

It's nice to have large glass jars that can withstand boiling temps unlike plastic "snapware", etc. (don't ask...).

IF you wanted to give them up, you could also layer bean soup or cookie mixes in them for gifts.

Deanna

Ball stopped making regular mouth 1/2 gallon jars. Yours are collectable and I only have one left over from many years ago.

I know they are Ken!!! I hesitated using them for my baby chicks in case they were broken, but it worked out fine.

My daughter worked in the Oregon State Food lab and her boss was going to throw out these "old" jars.
Daughter rescued them and brought them to me!! Good girl! She knows better than to throw away perfectly good canning jars! Even if I don't use them to can stuff, they're good for lots of other things!

Do you know when they stopped making them? I'd be curious just how old they are...

Deanna

Ball stopped making them at least 20 years ago, and thats also when they stopped making 24 ounce straight sided wide mouth jars people also loved for things like asparagus. YOu will sometimes see a few of the rare jar sizes on eBay, but most of the ones there are the very old blue and green tinted ones.

I decided to make cannisters out of them. It's nice being able to see exactly how much is inside of each. Thanks for the advice.

The rubber gaskets are in terrible condition. One was dry-rotted/melted to the glass, the others brittle and cracked. I've tried several hardware and agricultural stores (even Goodman's online) and can't locate replacement gaskets.

Besides buying rubber sheets to make my own gaskets, anyone have any idea where to get replacements?

Dian, several stores in my area carry rubber gaskets. I am not sure what sizes because I have never wanted to buy any. I use my jars similar to yours to store dried beans and since I haven't had troubles with weevils or such critters, have never cared whether or not they had gaskets. I'll be glad to check on sizes if you would like.

Ace Hardware here has Rubber Rings.

Dian,
I have a box of them (I think there's 9 in there) which I won't use. You're welcome to them. Send me an email.

Forgot to mention they are wide mouth rings.

Dian, I think my local True Value hardware store also has rubber gasket/rings for canning jars, depending on the size.

I use the old blue Ball jars for storing beans, rice, quinoa, even chocolate chips, anything that comes in a bag and I don't use the whole bag of. Somehow those bags always come open and spill in the pantry, so I have a dozen or so of the old blue quarts holding stuff.

Deanna, I'll bet I have those same chick waterers, mine got just plain clear quarts, LOL.

Annie

I like the large glass jars for making brined pickles and kraut, plus dry storage.

But - I recently purchased a large Ball jar with bail and spigot, with the idea of using it for making wine vinegar. My thinking is that the vinegar can be siphoned off - as the spigot is about 2 inches from the bottom - then the mother culture can remain in the bottom undisturbed.

Somewhere on this forum it was discussed - and I thought "great - now I can preserve the culture - in the bottom, and add more wine above as the finished stuff is siphoned off.

Will it work? I still have some burgundy wine vinegar "in the works" - so haven't started the new venture. (Not sure if "mother" is still viable). In the meantime, we are using it for iced tea, as we consume more during summer.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Kitchen Krafts also sells the old rubber rings. I think the newer ones are silicone based so they don't dry out as badly. As far as I know there is only one size of rubbber ring for Ball all glass canning jars.

Annie, my waterer and feeder had quart-size plastic "jars", I wanted them bigger!! (18 chicks requires too many refills...LOL).

Nice to know they all fit though!

I need to use one tonight to take some water out for my "little red hen" that has decided NOW would be a good time to set. She is slated for the freezer in a couple of months.........sigh, who am I to try to "schedule" these things?!?!?

Ken, thanks! It's kind of fun to know how old they are. The jars have probably been sitting in the storage room at the college for years and years! I wonder what they used them for........or maybe I don't want to know.........

Deanna

I had over 12 cases of the old bail jars and the person getting them accepted them happily.

Malna, thank you for the offer. I located them on the Kitchen Kraft site--they're called Italian Jar Rubber rings. The size is just a little larger than the standard red rubber rings.

Dianne

Deanna, if that "little red hen" is a Rhode Island Red, let her set! They aren't very broody, so they don't set that often. I haven't had a single "setting hen" in the past two years, which is fine with me but still...

My waterers came with plastic jars too, and my 24 little guys emptied two of them about three times a day. Then they started sitting on top of them and broke the stupid little plastic bottoms. I have feeders that take quart jars too.

Annie

Nope, she's a New Hampshire Red. I was hoping somebody would get broody this spring, but it didn't happen.
I change breeds each year if I'm buying so I know which ones "go" and which are the new ones in the fall.
This one is supposed to "go" in a couple of months....we'll see what kind of mom she is!

My babies decided the top of the plastic waterers were good roosts too.......NOT!! The half-gallon jars were tall enough in the space that they couldn't fly on top.
Thank goodness that part is over. They're holding their own with the "big girls" now, even though they get chased and aren't allowed on the main roost....yet!!!

Deanna