# Is there a shelf life on boiled water in mason jars?



## Mickcr250 (20/5/14)

I boiled a bunch of mason jars and water about 3 months ago and only used about half of them to rinse some yeast at the time. I was planning on rinsing some yeast this week and was wondering if I can use these jars/ water or should I re boil and cool. The lids are all still sucked down.

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## Ducatiboy stu (20/5/14)

Pure water has an indefinate shelf life.

If the lids are still sucked down I would say its still good.


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## Bribie G (20/5/14)

If washing yeast I'd use cooled kettle water, personally.


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## Mickcr250 (20/5/14)

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

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## Camo6 (20/5/14)

I store jars of water out of an electric pressure cooker for months without fail. As long as the lids are still sealed I reckon they'd last a very long time. Only thing I've found is some of my lids (mainly washed passata jars) can retain a bit of a smell which can taint the water.


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## Ducatiboy stu (20/5/14)

Why would you want to store water for long periods....apart from being pedantic.

Just use the stuff from your kettle you have in the kitchen.


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## Yob (20/5/14)

Pressure cooker... Kettle water is not sterile


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## The Lords of Diacetyl (20/5/14)

Mickcr250 said:


> I boiled a bunch of mason jars and water about 3 months ago and only used about half of them to rinse some yeast at the time. I was planning on rinsing some yeast this week and was wondering if I can use these jars/ water or should I re boil and cool. The lids are all still sucked down.
> 
> Sent from my HTC Velocity 4G using Tapatalk


good question, I've wondered that myself.


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## Ducatiboy stu (21/5/14)

Yob said:


> Pressure cooker... Kettle water is not sterile


2min rolling boil will make it medically sterile. Some bacteria can survive in volcano's, so mot even an autoclave can kill them.

But one would assume you are not sourcing water from volcano's


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## Camo6 (21/5/14)

It takes me bugger all time to fill six jars and pressure cook for 15mins. Remove, tighten lids and slowly air cool. I do this a couple of times over an avo in the backyard and I've got a heap of sterile jars which are perfect for rinsing yeast. Sterile water and a sterile jar, too easy. No waiting for water to cool or sanitising vessels. I also do jars of wort for stepping starters. Once again no need to wait for wort to cool when there's jars of it in the starter fridge at about the same temp as the starter. I'm always looking for more efficient ways to do things and for me this works best. YMMV


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## Ducatiboy stu (21/5/14)

What if you dont have a pressure cooker


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## stux (21/5/14)

I picked up the missus a 23qt (21L) presto pressure cooker for her canning stuff







I reckon sterile water and ready to go wort is a good use for it


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## Tex083 (21/5/14)

Nice one! Where did you get it from? Could use one... Or 2 for a second hobby... What else do you do with dodgy beer?


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## Yob (21/5/14)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> What if you dont have a pressure cooker


Boil 3 times on consecutive days to kill spores


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## stux (21/5/14)

Ozfarmer on eBay

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/Home-Appliances-/20710/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=&_ssn=ozfarmer-australia&_sac=1


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## stux (21/5/14)

Yob said:


> Boil 3 times on consecutive days to kill spores


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


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## Yob (21/5/14)

Yeah, that's it 

Didn't think I was going mad...


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## Camo6 (21/5/14)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> What if you dont have a pressure cooker


Do you mean if I was stuck on a desert island and it went down with my yacht? In that case I'd probably fall back on my electric kettle.

Otherwise I'm not sure. As I said I have a pressure cooker and my process works for me. It sounds to me Stu that you're in a better position to advise as you've clearly stated you don't use one. 

And I'm having a shit day so please excuse my sarcasm.


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## Mickcr250 (21/5/14)

I have always just put all my jars in a big pot and boiled for 5-10 minutes then sealed and let cool. Is this not good practice?

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## Yob (21/5/14)

it's certainly better than not boiling but isnt ideal if you want pure samples, as shown above in the link above by stux and stated by me, spores will survive a single boil, to be considered water free of microbial load, it requires boiling over a 3 day period.


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## Ducatiboy stu (21/5/14)

Camo6 said:


> Otherwise I'm not sure. As I said I have a pressure cooker and my process works for me. It sounds to me Stu that you're in a better position to advise as you've clearly stated you don't use one.
> 
> And I'm having a shit day so please excuse my sarcasm.


Just throwing in the questions for the less fortunate non uber brewers and yeast rinsing folk.


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## Camo6 (21/5/14)

Ha! Nothing uber about my brewing mate. I'm still just a babe in the woods when it comes to making good beer repeatably and I make more mediocre beers than I do great ones. But I like shiny things and FWIW my elec PC was only $50 from Aldi. Cheaper than most slabs really. While I don't have the experience to advise others on the intricacies of making great beer, sharing my processes and what works for me is one of the few ways I can contribute to this forum. As well as my funny, witty remarks.


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## Ducatiboy stu (21/5/14)

The pensioners beat the general shopping folk to death at our Aldi just to buy a cheap preasure cooker.

Plenty of cheap kettles though.....


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## Mickcr250 (22/5/14)

Hmmm so yob I take it that's a no from you as the spores will have hatched? Or would it not be any worse than if I had just boiled the jars/ water recently?

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## Yob (22/5/14)

In reality, I'd concede it is likely to make little difference, I just wanted to point out that water boiled once is not as 'clean' as people often think it is, having the ability to easily make sterile water I do.. Then, I used to boil it over 3 days too... Just to be totally sure


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## Camo6 (22/5/14)

Me too. In my Nasa designed vacuum chamber...


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## Markbeer (27/5/14)

does that mean we should be boiling our wort over a 3 day period too?

honestly, i read all the infection threads, more often it's wild yeast from the brewing environment, relying on star san to fix everything when it doesnt, making a mistake with a dirty utensil, whole in cube or unclean fermenter, and waiting for a day for fermentation to start.

water boiled for over five minutes is not likely to have anything to challenge yeast, especially moreso with our chlorinated and filtered supply.

i wouldnt use tank water though.


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## Yob (27/5/14)

Wort is known not to be sterile. We rely on our pitched yeast to be dominant and hence the risks associated with no chill... which I fully accept and is a process I use exclusively.. This isn't a discussion about no chill or wort though.


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## Markbeer (27/5/14)

i wasnt referring to no chill but instead comparing the risk of infection from boiled water for five minutes vs other more likely sources. basically putting things in perspective


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## lael (27/5/14)

Anyone have the also pressure cookers? They have the pot style on weds and electric on sat. Both 6L. Any thoughts on why you would get the pot instead of the electric one?


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## Camo6 (27/5/14)

I can get a bit forgetful at times. The electric one has a timer. Just select the cooking time and walk away. When finished it has a keep warm mode. I can fit 5 or 6 regular jars in mine or a basket of test tubes.


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## Yob (27/5/14)

Markbeer said:


> does that mean we should be boiling our wort over a 3 day period too?





Markbeer said:


> i wasnt referring to no chill but instead comparing the risk of infection from boiled water for five minutes vs other more likely sources. basically putting things in perspective


I was predominantly replying to the first bit of the above posted.

regardless, 5 minutes isnt long enough, agreed.

As far as the stovetop V's Electric, I usually shut mine down on the stove after about 10 minutes, it will stay pressurised for some time after that... if they were the same price, I'd probably go the electric for the reasons Cam has stated, set and forget ability


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## lael (27/5/14)

Any chance it would fit v8 jars?


And do you put the lids on the jars (Not sealed)? Or just in the cooker?


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## Camo6 (27/5/14)

Nah. I use standard pasta sauce jars. The big dolmio ones fit. Lids get left on half a thread then placed on bench and allowed to cool for a few minutes before sealing.
Like Yob said anything bigger can go in the oven.


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## Truman42 (27/5/14)

What's wrong with just sanitising the jar with some starsan? It's what I've always done. 

Does starsan not remove all bacteria?


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## Yob (27/5/14)

Not "all" in the true sense of the word, enough to be considered "enough" in realistic terms. 

For flasks I'll generally add boiling water and perc, rinse, starsan and use.


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## Camo6 (27/5/14)

I've never used the oven myself as I just pbw the flask and boil initial starter volumes in that. But I like having the sterile water handy for rinsing yeast or any long term yeast storage. Its really handy having cooled sterile water and a cooled sterile jar available any time. Having sterile wort handy at ambient temps is a bonus too as it saves me boiling and cooling wort for stepping starters on a week night.
Nothing wrong with boiling or star-san-ing or both. Its how I always did it. But for $50 I now use a method that is more thorough and more convenient. A no-brainer in my mind.


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## stux (28/5/14)

SWMBO is going to hate it when I steal all her mason jars to make sterile water/wort


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