Cookaholics Bulletin Board

A widemouth jar has no shoulder. Someone else will have to measure, this is a group activity!

Not all widemouth jars are shoulderless, and not all shoulderless jars are widemouth.

Wikipedia claims that the regular-mouth is 2-3/8" inner diameter and the wide mouth is 3" inner diameter.

Wide-mouth are 3 inches wide and regular are 2 3/8 inches wide. Obviously this refers to the top of the jar - the regular are more popular but when you're pickling cucumbers or larger veggies the wider mouth helps.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_jar

Lindsay, Jax, etc:

First, I'm concerned that weights for a 2.25" jar won't be heavy enough. I'll make some and see how it works out.

Second, do weights for jars need to be closed inside the jar with a lid? I'm wondering if I need to make the handles low-profile.

Ah, look at that, I learned something. Not many widemouth jars where I buy 'em, only ever seen em shoulder-less! (which is highly useful for using them for a wide variety of non-pickling things)

Paul:

Redneck pint glass?

Fuzzy,

Yes, the weight goes into the jar to hold the food down, usually under brine. The mason jar weights I have seen for pickling in the past were plain disks with no handle, and that would be fine for me, because it won't be in hot liquid. The larger weights for sous vide would be quite helpful to have a handle because of the warmer water temperature.

--Lisa

Lisa,

I was thinking of making them with a tiny loop you could run a cord through. That way you still have a way to pull them out, but it's low-profile.

Josh, would the weights be damaged by the constant water immersion? If not I'm thinking the same ones that go into a jar could be used for sous vide. You have to go into the water to get the bags out, so getting the weight out should not be a problem.

I think they are a great idea. Sous vide blogs recommend whiskey weights whatever those are. But those go in the bag, not outside on top. I use mostly pint or quart size bags for the food.

Alina,

No, they wouldn't be. This is mid-fire pottery, it's completely waterproof. I have no idea what a sous vide weight would look like though; you'd have to send me a picture.