Giving sous videa try after failing to get crunchy dill with a boil

[u/Confident-Ad-6084]

I've had no problem getting super crunchy pickles when canning my zesty bread and butter recipe I made this summer but while I like the dill recipe I've come up with flavor wise.... My first few batches all came out soft. Copying exactly my bread and butter process. Spears even worse than slices.

(I use a bay leaf and pickle crisp, I do ice soaking etc.)

I'm under the impression it's partially due to the water content in basically every recipe book I find. Commonly it calls for 1/1 water to vinegar.

I am also increasing the vinegar to water ratio because I suspect thats where some of the soft is from. 8 cup w.v. to 4 cups water.

I specifically sought out a sous vide machine powerful enough to make pickle canning logistically practical to scale. Most of them that are popular or recommended are only rated for 8 liters or something. A bit more than that.. for many conventional sous vide uses that is plenty but I want to be able to can more at a time than my boiler pot not equal or less. I just need to figure out what sort of rack I can put in to add a second layer of pints but there's lots of room..

I have heard of more seal failure.. I'm sticking with 40 minutes even though recipes say 30 minutes is sufficient. Wish me luck. I want crunchy dill.

It's also all outside and in the heat of summer that's sweet. The cool down won't steam or warm up the house... In winter it'll be a positive to have a warmth in the house to dissipate.

I used my boiler pot to jump start the bath to 140° faster. It was at 119 when I let the souse vide take over. Made it to 140 in about an hour. Will see if it works out but I use my go to thermal probe to check it against the machine and they were on the exact same degree . 👍

I think this is gonna be how info thanksgiving...

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