Hi! I lost the little measuring thing that comes with ball canning supplies. It was so much easier to measure headspace with it. Are there any tips for doing this without the little measuring tool? I tried a wooden yardstick (all I could find) but it didn’t feel too accurate. The measuring doodad was in a kit with other stuff at Ace for $15 and I did not want to spend all that just for the doodad. Hoping you geniuses have a hack for this!
Picture of my just finished canned dilly beans h
by melismaforte
6 Comments
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This thread posted by member cantkillcoyote shows headspace markings on a mason jar: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Canning/comments/1alktcj/measuring_headspace_without_a_ruler/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Canning/comments/1alktcj/measuring_headspace_without_a_ruler/)
Buy a new measuring tool. You can get them off of Amazon. The “screw thread on the jar” is often not accurate. I’ve had Ball, Kerr, Bernardin, and Golden Harvest jars all not measure accurately.
Buy a new tool, they’re handy. But as a quick fix in the meantime you could cut yourself a measuring jig out of any soft-ish food safe plastic like a milk carton. Make a rectangle that’s narrow enough to fit inside the jar, and cut notches at your common headspace levels – 1/4”, 1/2” etc.
I took a wooden chopstick, measured off 1/4″, 1/2″ and 1″, and carved a dent all the way around the chopstick at each measurement. Easy and cheap since I already owned the chopstick.
They sell gauges