I don't see a problem with your recipe in that the pickling syrup is undiluted vinegar and sugar. It's hard to get any safer than 100% vinegar; it doesn't matter what the vegetables are. How dry is this mixture when placed in the jars? Do you typically need to make more of the vinegar-sugar solution? The reason I'm asking is as a 100% vinegar-sugar syrup, as long as there's sufficient solution to cover the pickles and surround the individual slices (in other words there aren't pockets of dry pickle slices stacked in the jar), that should be fine. There is a problem with the method in that the pickles need to be heated for a longer period and heat processed. If you're concerned about softening as a result, then pickle crisp can be added to compensate. So I'd use your recipe with confidence, making additional syrup as needed, and follow the NCHFP instructions for heating and processing. Carol

Because the recipe uses all vinegar and no water I believe it is safe. One thing is that in the old days vinegar was a little stronger than the 5% of today. I would not use the alum. sounds to me like the addition of an aluminum metal that is technically a heavy metal and not good for eating. I think in the old days alum was used but is not used today. Other experts around here can give you better information on alum. I really never have used it. Let me say this. Salt does not really preserve. So you can go here with low salt and no salt. The vinegar does all the preserving. The sugar is fine with the vinegar to cut the sour taste of the vinegar. so I would do the recipe for myself with no or low salt. I would add sugar to where I like the taste best. I personally would not heat process the batch but I think everyone around here except me, will say you must heat treat the bottles. I say as long as your pH is below 4.0 then everything is fine. no heat needed. vinegar is very sterilizing. very powerful chemical. also you will be told to chop off a tiny amount of the blossom end of the pickle as there are enzymes there that cause the pickle to soften. No need to use the crock. You can do this in individual jars. Just put in some pickles and add vinegar to fill the jar.

"No Codes, no inspection, no building science, no engineering doesn't add up to quality in my book." That depends on how old and where the house is located. Some places have had codes for well over 100 years. The poorly built ones are rarely standing after a long time. More important is thing like updated electrical and plumbing. Old plumbing is often still in pretty good shape, but electrical has changed a lot in the last 80 years. A 1915 house may have one receptacle per wall in each room, no matter what the room size, and be wired with knob & tube wiring (and not even have boxes at outlets). While you may find a lead water supply line that should be replaced, lead drain/waste/vent lines are often still working as well as the day they were installed. Drum traps have not been allowed for many years, but they still work (especially for gray water lines). Older houses have things like rough cut joists that are a full 2 inches thick, making them 33% stronger than the same height 1.5 inch joist. Studs are a full 2x4 inches, not 1.5 x 3.5 inches. Since the 16 inch spacing has been around a long time, this insignificantly increases the wall stiffness. Instead of plywood sub-floors where half the layer are not really doing much, you get full one inch thick diagonal planks. Joist are sometimes over spanned, but it is not as hard a problem to fix as it often appears. Those 100 years old houses still standing are liable to out last the new ones being built now.

It's probably a safe assumption that there will be lead in the lower layers given the age of the house, I think---not even sure I'd bother to test it. (They do test for free here, though---I wouldn't be surprised if Portland does too.) Lead was in virtually all enamel/cabinet/trim paint before the late 60s. But you can still sand with the sponges---that's what they're designed for, in part. When they're wet, they'll contain the dust so that it's not all over the place; a mask will also help to make sure you're not breathing it, and then afterwards you wet mop to get up any bits of dust on the floor. We did the whole lead testing and education bit with our county last year, and it was super helpful. One of the more important things I learned was that while lead is icky stuff, it's largely a concern if it's eaten or inhaled in quantities, so you can do a lot to prevent that and to let older kids know to avoid chipping paint and wash hands after touching it. It's also less of a concern if it's a one-time project than if it's ongoing chipping, like with a window where someone's painted the sash so every time it opens or closes, fine dust comes down. Projects can be more easily secured so toddlers and pets are away from the work. The really important thing they drilled into us was that the surface of the paint needs to be intact---you don't need to remove lead paint, but you do need to have it covered with a good layer of new paint on top. It's worse to take some of it off and open up lower layers to chipping/flaking than just to leave them alone and paint over with good quality paint, unless you have the resources (time, energy and/or money!) to strip down to the bare wood. In your case, I'd only touch it enough to get it into paintable shape. The biggest problem we had was our dog---lead paint chips apparently smell/taste sweet, which is what attracts babies too. So we would constantly catch him snuffling in an area where work was going on, trying to find the chips. Finally just gave up on that and shut him out of the room all together till we were done!