Uline has lids wide mouth $7/12.

Canning Jar Lids - Wide Mouth S-19405 - Uline

Wide mouth lids for canning jars. Fits all sizes of wide mouth Canning Jars . FDA compliant. ULINE offers over 43,000 boxes, plastic poly bags, mailing tubes, warehouse supplies and bubble wrap for your storage, packaging, or shipping supplies.

www.uline.com

I have seen videos of people heating old Ball lids in hot water to soften the sealing compound, then reuse them. Some even press the rubber back into shape with spoons or smooth tools.

It can seem to work—jars seal, the buttons pop—but that’s not the same as being safe long term. The compound was engineered for one compression and release cycle. Once it’s conformed and cooled, it loses elasticity.

Botulism or $7?

 

Uline has lids wide mouth $7/12.

Canning Jar Lids - Wide Mouth S-19405 - Uline

Wide mouth lids for canning jars. Fits all sizes of wide mouth Canning Jars . FDA compliant. ULINE offers over 43,000 boxes, plastic poly bags, mailing tubes, warehouse supplies and bubble wrap for your storage, packaging, or shipping supplies.

www.uline.com

I have seen videos of people heating old Ball lids in hot water to soften the sealing compound, then reuse them. Some even press the rubber back into shape with spoons or smooth tools.

It can seem to work—jars seal, the buttons pop—but that’s not the same as being safe long term. The compound was engineered for one compression and release cycle. Once it’s conformed and cooled, it loses elasticity.

Botulism or $7?

Words of wisdom!

 

Bought some about 5 years ago. I finally gave up on them and threw them away. It def could been my fault, but they didn't work too many times.

 

Bummer!

 

I watched quite a few videos from individuals reviewing Tattler lids. I think I gained some pretty good insights. Yesterday I canned 9 pints (3 pounds) of navy beans and had all jars seal perfectly. There is one point concerning head space that I only viewed on one video. Anyway, here are the basic points:

Visual inspection: One lady noted there might be some manufacturing "bumps" around the edges of the plastic lids. She removed those with either fine sandpaper or a utility knife, to keep the bumps from interfering with the metal rings. I found no defects whatever on my lids.

If the rubber seals have been used before, look for impressions of the fine ridges from the underside of the lid. When putting the seals on the lid, the impressions should be toward the jar, and the smooth side of the seal should be against the lid. Don't know how much difference that makes.

Throw out any rings that are stretched or in any way damaged. Visual inspection of jar as usual.

Heating lids and seals: There seem to be different interpretations, but the lids and seals MUST be heated. After washing the lids and seals and wiping the seals with vinegar (y'know, just in case), I paired them and put them in a pan, seal side up, heated them in water to 180 degrees and held them there until I put them on the jars.

Metal rings: I selected rings that spun freely on the jar threads. Sometime they can be a little distorted or something. How they tighten on the lids is a real "thing".

Head space: Here is a question mark. The Tattler box says to follow USDA head space guidelines. One lady says in 2019, she received a bulk order of lids with a sheet of paper that said a headspace of 1" - 1 1/4" should be used with Tattlers. Yesterday I opened a box of new lids from 2022 (I never used them) and there was no such instruction, just a card with the "Follow USDA guidelines". So, this one, I don't know about. The USDA head space for beans is 1", so I didn't have to experiment.

Applying metal rings: Here's where probably a lot of us get it wrong. On one video I particularly liked, the lady placed the filled jar on the countertop (no towel or anything), put on the lid and seal, then, when screwing on the ring, she didn't touch the lid or jar, just screwed the ring on until the jar spun on the countertop. No "finger tight", no finger touching the lid. I had to put a finger on the lid to "start" the ring over the rubber seal, but after that, I let go. The urge to tighten the ring a little more was almost overwhelming! LOL! But I didn't.

After processing and the pressure was zero (30 minutes), took the weight off, waited another ten minutes, took the jars out of the canner, set the timer for three minutes, but the jars were still bubbling vigorously so at four minutes, I cranked the rings down tight.

This morning, success. So that's it. Hopefully success will be a trend.