When I read about people carrying gasoline in glass bottles, it reminds me of when I was about 16 yrs old (Many decades ago). I drove a Cushman Motor Scooter. The engine and driveline was all enclosed with a steel cover. The kick starter came out the front right under the seat cushion. Just ahead of that, was a small floor covered with a rubber matt. I used to drive into a gas station with a gallon glass bleach water bottle on the floor between my legs. The gas station attendant would fill the bottle between my legs, I would pay him the 20 cents, and drive off with the gas. I wonder what OSHA would say about that. Can you imagine how many things I would be charged with today if I was stopped by the police carrying a glass bottle of gasoline this way? Those were the days when you could do most anything, no matter how dumb it was to do them. Charles Ranheim

I have canning directions from a number of universities, Ball, Kerr, Presto, etc., dating back for over 20 years to the present. There have been many changes to the recommendations given by the various sources over the years. Example: pressure canning tomato juice in "Presto Cooker Canner, Directions and Recipes, 1978" lists no requirement for adding lemon juice or other acidification, and a recommended processing time for both pints and quarts is given as 15 lbs - 0 minutes. We've used that recipe over the years with no problems, but have since changed to other processing methods (processing time, acidification, pounds of pressure). It was only until a few years ago that we could find an "approved" method for preparing and canning vegetable tomato juice (V8?), but we've been canning quarts and 1/2 gallon jars of our own "V8", using our own directions which I've published here a number of years ago, for over 30 years! Jeez, did I get the nasty comments after posting that. And, the person that posted that the large canneries monitor the temperatures of each container in a batch, and conduct lab tests on products from each batch has certainly observed canneries other than the 10 or so I've visited. Getting back to recipes for half gallon jar recipes, I know it would be no big deal for a University that routinely conducts food safety testing and publishes "safe" recipes to conduct tests and provide recommendations for canning at least a limited number of recipes they standardize as to type and amount of each ingredient, etc. Heck, I can't believe that a great number of grad students haven't wanted to do just that!

Maybe I'm slow witted, I don't know... but I read this thread and I just cannot get the exact answer I'm looking for... Under the following process, can I safely bottle without heat treating or cooking the sauce using sterilized bottles? 1) Pepper mash fermented with salt and enough saltwater to cover and air lock lid 2) Mash put through food mill and vinegar added 3) Bulk refrigerator aged for 2-3 months. 4) Bottling COLD/never cooked sauce/no heat applied even at closing/shrink seal bottles. Please no "knee-jerk" reactions, I have test batches that are 1-2 years old now bottled and shelf-kept. Sauce definitely needs shaking (no xanthan gum) but the flavor is awesome.

I think that it's fine for lighter colored wines to be bottled in dark glass. It gives them more protection from damaging sunlight and, as you say, you can always put it in a decanter for people to see the wine. Personally, all of my wines and meads go into dark bottles since I want people to focus on the wine when it's in the drinking glass where it can really shine and be appreciated. Congratulations on the blackberry wine! When it's well done, blackberry is very tasty and the color is beautiful. Fizzy while you're bottling can be a couple of things ... either coming out of the racking tube into the bottle very fast and splashing around inside the bottle (which isn't too bad) or the wine is not done fermenting (which is only good if you're intending on it and using champagne bottles). I'd move one of the bottles to a warm spot for a few days and then open carefully to see if it's settled down or if you're making bombs. A little harsh at bottling time is probably not too much to worry about depending on how long you've bulk aged the wine - a lot of that harshness will hopefully go away with a few months in teh bottle. I've never used screw top bottles with a cork and I haven't seen it recommended. I think it's something to do with the design of the neck on the screw tops and possibly their strength to hold a cork but I don't remember exactly. I haven't bought labels in a long while - I just grab a graphics package like MS-Publisher or Photoshop and create them there. Then I print them on normal paper, cut to size and attach to the bottles with a glue stick. Works well and it's pretty fast if you have a little help. For the vin ordinaire that I just serve at the house for friends, I'm really lazy and just write what's in the bottle using a silver or gold glass marking pen from Staples. I have to get brewing again this weekend - I've just been overwhelmed at the though of racking 15 batches to free up some glass but the thought of starting a mandarin orange metheglin and some cyser in season is getting really exciting. Good luck with your batches.