Hi there

few pickling questions ....

1. The NCHFP recipe states 2 quarts (8cups) of water to 1.5 quarts (6 cups) of vinegar ... I've always heard 1-1 is the safe ratio? This is for their fresh pack cucumber pickles,

2. Can dill pickle brines (water, vinegar, salt) such as the one mentioned above be used to pickle carrots.

3. I use 7% pickling vinegar. On the bottle it states " 220ml of pickling vinegar can esubsituted for 250ml of regular white vinegar". Is this true for canning? I ask because i was using an old recipe that did not have the correct ratio, but i used 7%. So for every cup of 5% (250 ml) can you use slightly less 220 ml - about 0.88 cup, of 7%?

4. Is aquestion about a batch that has already been canned. I know no one can give me a definative answer, but looking for weather its "reasonable" to believe its safe. Using the above statement that 7% can relpace 1 cup of 5% i would have added 5.32 cups of vinegar (5% equivilant) when i should have used 6 cups (as per the 8/6 ratio for raw pack pickles on the NCHFP website). I use steam distilled water and canned carrots, fresh picked, washed and peeled. Recipe i used also has 1/3 cup pickling salt. Will the missing 2/3 cup of vinegar make a significant impact on the safety of my carrots? I'd love to say i can toss them no big deal, but our garden has failed due to drought this year, so replacing them as in other years will not be possible. I do however have two small children (2 and 6) and do not want to put them at risk if it is reasonable that this would be unsafe. In past years i have used a 6 cups water, 3 cups 7% ratio as per a recipe i was given, but have since learned this is prob not safe.

Thank you very much for any help you can offer.