Dumb mistake; Glass fermentation weight stuck in jar
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Okay. So, I didn’t have a large enough jar to fit all my ingredients, so i was like I have this pickle jar. Mind you I’m pretty new to fermentation but I’ve read a shit ton of cookbooks. I thought, this will work. I get my brine and load everything up, brine it up, and then a split second before it’s too late, realize the glass fermentation weight is exactly the same size as the mouth of this cheap jar. By that point it was too late and stuck.
So i was left with two options, let it be stuck or use the handle of my knife to gently tampen it into the jar. I did the latter.
Sooooo now I’m thinking I’m going to try to move the weight to the side and remove the contents when it’s done, and break the cheap jar to get the expensive weight.
What do you think?
edit: UPDATE: I couldn’t get it out, su I placed the jar in a paper bag and tapped just once with a hammer and retrieved the weight. Then I placed the paper bag in a box, taped it up and wide tipped sharpied GLASS on all sides. (It’s what my city waste disposal recommends to do with sharp broken glass from residential). The ferment is okay and so is the weight.
Could you heat up the kat and cool down the weight? Like putting the jar in a bath of hot water and putting some ice on the lid?
That should give you a higher probability of getting it loose.
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Why not just heat the rim of the jar, and then try to pull the weight out? Put some ice on the weight while heating the glass to reduce the amount the weight heats up, and then carefully pull the weight off.
Okay! Sounds careful. But from what I’ve read could be effective!
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Yeah I’m planning on getting everything out to another jar before anything
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What kind of string?
Anything made of acrylic or polyester will melt and make a gross, burnt plastic mess. So I’d go for cotton or some other natural fiber.
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If you do decide to break the jar, make sure to score the glass so you get a clean(er) break.
Why waste time doing any of that? While I’ve only had to do this once, I just broke the jar in the recycling container and picked up what I needed. My recycling is separated so the glass gets tossed together and broken at the facility anyway.
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Okay. So, I didn’t have a large enough jar to fit all my ingredients, so i was like I have this pickle jar. Mind you I’m pretty new to fermentation but I’ve read a shit ton of cookbooks. I thought, this will work. I get my brine and load everything up, brine it up, and then a split second before it’s too late, realize the glass fermentation weight is exactly the same size as the mouth of this cheap jar. By that point it was too late and stuck.
So i was left with two options, let it be stuck or use the handle of my knife to gently tampen it into the jar. I did the latter.
Sooooo now I’m thinking I’m going to try to move the weight to the side and remove the contents when it’s done, and break the cheap jar to get the expensive weight.
What do you think?
edit: UPDATE: I couldn’t get it out, su I placed the jar in a paper bag and tapped just once with a hammer and retrieved the weight. Then I placed the paper bag in a box, taped it up and wide tipped sharpied GLASS on all sides. (It’s what my city waste disposal recommends to do with sharp broken glass from residential). The ferment is okay and so is the weight.
As it pickles, the contents will likely get a little softer, and the weight might drop down into the larger portion of the jar. If that happens, you’ll be able to rotate it out of the way, and get all your stuff out of the jar. Then you can actually stick your hand in and grab the weight and try to pull it out perpendicular to the opening. Odds are that the weight (and the jar opening) are not perfectly circular, so you can try rotating both to pull it out.
Borosilicate glass (which this probably is?) has low thermal expansion, so heat probably won’t help.
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As it pickles, the contents will likely get a little softer, and the weight might drop down into the larger portion of the jar. If that happens, you’ll be able to rotate it out of the way, and get all your stuff out of the jar. Then you can actually stick your hand in and grab the weight and try to pull it out perpendicular to the opening. Odds are that the weight (and the jar opening) are not perfectly circular, so you can try rotating both to pull it out.
Borosilicate glass (which this probably is?) has low thermal expansion, so heat probably won’t help.
You won’t be able to go perpendicular, the rectangular cross section will be larger than the mouth of the jar at the corners. They can get it parallel and try to slide it out the way it went in, but it might pull a vacuum and get stuck.
They are likely going to need to break the jar to save the weight. No big loss, it happens.
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Okay. So, I didn’t have a large enough jar to fit all my ingredients, so i was like I have this pickle jar. Mind you I’m pretty new to fermentation but I’ve read a shit ton of cookbooks. I thought, this will work. I get my brine and load everything up, brine it up, and then a split second before it’s too late, realize the glass fermentation weight is exactly the same size as the mouth of this cheap jar. By that point it was too late and stuck.
So i was left with two options, let it be stuck or use the handle of my knife to gently tampen it into the jar. I did the latter.
Sooooo now I’m thinking I’m going to try to move the weight to the side and remove the contents when it’s done, and break the cheap jar to get the expensive weight.
What do you think?
edit: UPDATE: I couldn’t get it out, su I placed the jar in a paper bag and tapped just once with a hammer and retrieved the weight. Then I placed the paper bag in a box, taped it up and wide tipped sharpied GLASS on all sides. (It’s what my city waste disposal recommends to do with sharp broken glass from residential). The ferment is okay and so is the weight.
So you might be able to save both the jar and the weight here.
Finish the pickles, empty the jar and clean it out so you just have the jar with the weight inside. Dry it out and put like a drop of vegetable oil around the weight.
Put the whole jar in the freezer, get it super cold, more importantly get the air inside of it super cold.
While it’s cold get the weight in the mouth of the jar and get it trying to come out, it should want to pull a vacuum. Once it does, just warm the jar and the air inside of it up to room temperature. The pressure from the air warming up should pop the weight right out, if not use a hair dryer.
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So you might be able to save both the jar and the weight here.
Finish the pickles, empty the jar and clean it out so you just have the jar with the weight inside. Dry it out and put like a drop of vegetable oil around the weight.
Put the whole jar in the freezer, get it super cold, more importantly get the air inside of it super cold.
While it’s cold get the weight in the mouth of the jar and get it trying to come out, it should want to pull a vacuum. Once it does, just warm the jar and the air inside of it up to room temperature. The pressure from the air warming up should pop the weight right out, if not use a hair dryer.
Oh interesting! Then only use that jar for storage. That’s a really good idea! Thanks!
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You won’t be able to go perpendicular, the rectangular cross section will be larger than the mouth of the jar at the corners. They can get it parallel and try to slide it out the way it went in, but it might pull a vacuum and get stuck.
They are likely going to need to break the jar to save the weight. No big loss, it happens.
Awe you guys are so helpful. And it’s just a pickle jar. I think i have another in the fridge. It’s a good lesson though. Thank you! If anything else i was planning on putting it in a box wearing safety glasses welding a hammer with small taps.
