Mush is common if they are old cukes (older than 24 hours even!) Over processing may cause this too. Slicing too thin is also a way to get soft pickles. I prefer a crinkle cut blade and so mine are wavy and a bit thicker than a thin slice. Also, I now add BALL PICKLE CRISP to ALL my vinegar based pickles. Because B&Bs are the ones I like the most, I will also use part of a Ball or Mrs. Wages B&B pickle mix which contains the extracts as well as the spices. In B&B its celery seed and mustard seed as the most common spices, with a couple (ONLY!) of peppecorns if you like that taste, and just a small amount of dill seed. The pale color is quite normal as all store boughts had added coloring or use things like tumeric to give them a brighter yellow color. No home made pickle will have the same color as fresh cukes, and about the only way to keep most of the color there is to do a half sour fermented type which has almost no vinegar, but uses a salt brine as a pickle juice. Heat causes the cukes to get soft as does long storage. They seem to bee a little crisper if served very cold. Because I use little to no water in my brines, and process them in a steam canner, they only see the necessary heat to make a good safe seal fairly fast. All the vinegar does the rest inside.

Pickle problems info:

NCHFP - Pickle Problems

Common Pickle Problems

Pickle Problems

Hope this helps.

Dave

Pickles shrivel when they are exposed to vinegar if they are not really fresh. Sometimes it is just the cucumbers you use. Did you have fresh pickling cukes ?
Also, processing in the BWB will actually keep them fresher and more crisp because the enzymes in the cucumbers are destroyed with proper processing.
I would use the recipe from the Ball Blue Book, not the packages of stuff. Make them fresh from your own ingredients is my advice.
Also, if you add Pickle Crisp that helps, too. I love that stuff !
Don't give up, just try something different. Here is one from USDA, too. The pickling lime is really not recommended any more, now you use Pickle Crisp instead.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bread and Butter pickles.

Thanks guys. I have the stuff to make them from scratch but wanted to try the packaged one first.

I have to look for Pickle-Crisp. These look awful. I haven't tasted them yet. I thought I let them sit a week or two first.

They might look awful but are probably just 'cosmetic' issues. Linda Lou has just stated all the same info I typed in. I recall a few short years ago when Linda Lou had not heard of Clear Jel, Pomona pectin, or Ball Pickle Crisp. Now she is a convert.. Pickles will reduce that shrinkage once they sit in the brine a few weeks. In fact, they are better tasting after a few weeks to a month later. I d hope you tasted the pickle brine prior to pouring into the jars. Relying on even eact measurements in a recipe can give you all kinds of results when first starting out. Always use Pickling salt, and good quality white distilled vinegar. I buy only the Heinz brand at BJ's and Costco and they are 5 quart bottles intead of gallons. Never had any problems with them. RIght now, seeing as its HARVEST time for many, I will seriously doubt if you an find the trie Pickle Crisp from Ball. Its usually sold out and comes in a small box with some foil packets inside. Its actually a food grade CALCIUM CHLORIDE and is used as a 'buffer' to reduce the long term acidic breakdown effects caused by vinegar.
I bought a pound+ of it from the source below. Their product is the same but slightly courser than the Ball type. I use a heaping teaspoon instead of the regular teaspoon measure of Ball PC. With lots of pickles to can, you can use up the single Ball PC box in one day. If you do buy it in bulk, pour it all into a big quart canning jar with metal tight fitting lid. It soaks up moisture from the air and can clump if left out to high humitity for too long (takes just a couple of hours to get exposed to the humid kitchen air and it clumps). After it sucks up all that water, it will not even evaporate. They use the liquified product to de-ice airplane wings!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bulk Foods

They look awful but I'll keep them and try them in a few weeks. All but 1 cuke was picked withing a few hours of making them. The zucchini was also fresh. I don't know the age of the cauliflower since I can't grow it myself here. I had it a few days.

The leftover pickling juice will be used tomorrow to make fridge B&B pickles. I wont be WB them.

When making bread and butters, just add a some cider vinegar in it for more mellowness. I like loose mustard, and celery seeds in the jars too. Add a few bits of sweet red peppers for color, as well as some sliced onions. Cauliflower should not have and brown stains on the white. If so, cut those areas off. The cauliflower is much denser than cukes and the even softer zuccini, so they hold up quite well.

Do you have a crinkle cutter blade?

Here is a link that might be useful: Crinkle Cutter and others..

I wish I had some ripe red sweet peppers but refuse to pay over a $1 a pepper at the store. I didn't think of adding onion but will with the fridge B&Bs.

I don't need a crinkle cutter because I don't plan to give any pickles away. All I need is for someone to get sick, blame my pickles - and sue me. >:(

I but jars or bags or dried sweet red pepper flakes. I get them from them following source. The cost is about $11.00 a pound, that is DRIED. If rehydrated they wil swell up and weigh about 15 pounds or more. I add just a tiny teaspoon to each pint or quart. Once they are in the brine, they soon swell, and turn a nice bright red, and the bits are nice working size of a bout a half inch square or larger. There are a few other sausage making places I also listed that carry these dried ones used also in sausages, where adding watery veggies doesn't quite make it as good, so wht not soak up the water?

I buy jars or bags of dried sweet red pepper flakes. I get them from them following source. The cost is about $11.00 a pound, that is DRIED. If rehydrated they will swell up and weigh about 15 pounds or more. I add just a teaspoon to each pint or quart. Once they are in the brine, they soon swell, and turn a nice bright red, and the bits are nice working size of about a half inch square or larger. There are a few other sausage making places I also listed that carry these dried ones used also in sausages, where adding watery veggies doesn't quite make it as good, so why not soak up the water? Pickles, if done right are 99 and 44/100ths % of the posts here are all safe. When vinegar is involved, as well as salt, a boiling water bath, clean jars, and good canning practices, you should never have to worry. Also, buying a pound of these, is a big bag, that keeps for years!

Here is a link that might be useful: Butcher Packer