Tip: The Many Homebrewing Uses for Mason Jars

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Most homebrewers have a ton of gear. We don’t start that way but over time, we accumulate toys, equipment, and stuff. I am probably more guilty than most on that front. Some of these things get frequent use and are worth every penny while others sit aside and gather dust. Hey, they sounded great at the time! Some things get replaced as we identify a need (or are sold on a “need”) for the new and improved versions of gear we already have. Then there are some things that are just staples of the brewhouse that everyone should own. I propose that the humble Mason jar is one of those staples. It’s versatile, simple, and best of all, cheap for what it provides your home brewery.

Items Needed

NOTE: For some reason, Mason jars and their replacement lids and rings are ridiculously priced online. Buy them locally from your grocery store or big box favorite.

• Mason Jars of Various Sizes (Recommended: half pint, pint, quart, and half gallon)
• Replacement Lids
• Replacement Rings

RECOMMENDATION: While “regular mouth” Mason jars will serve the same purpose, do yourself a favor and stick to “wide mouth” Mason jars. The larger opening makes the jar easier to use in certain situations and it also makes it easier to clean.

Photo Gallery

Homebrewing Uses for Mason Jars

I use my Mason jars for many, many different purposes so I’ll share some of those for your consideration. I’d love for you to share your uses in the comments below. I, and others, will benefit from finding even more ways to use them!

• Storing grain – As my photos show, I like to keep extra grain around so I have things handy when I want them. For larger grain purchases like base malts and flaked additions, I use a combination of Vittles Vaults (holds 50+ lbs) and 5-gallon buckets with a Gamma Seal lid (holds 25 lbs) and both work incredibly well. For smaller amounts like specialty grains, I use Mason jars. A pint size, holds 8 oz near perfectly. A quart size, holds a pound. The half gallon holds two pounds. If you have more than two pounds, you can split them into multiple jars. An additional benefit of using Mason jars, besides having some stock on hand for convenience, is that Mason jars can be vacuum sealed using a vacuum sealer machine (which has many uses of its own) and a Mason jar lid attachment. Vacuum sealing the grain jars helps keep the grain dry, reduces oxidation, and maintains freshness for a longer period. Once I’ve sealed it, I add a strip of masking tape so I can write the grain, its maltster, its Lovibond rating, and the date purchased.
• Storing hops – In the photos, you probably also saw that I use my Mason jars for storing hops. (You may have also seen my stock of frozen gel ice packs and my frozen yeast bank!) I like to buy hops in 8-16 oz bags, both for convenience and cost savings. Buying in bulk reduces their per ounce price to half or less compared to retail. I then take the larger package and split the hops into smaller mini-packs of 1, 2, or 3 ounces (another use for the vacuum sealer machine!). Then, I put those mini-packs into a Mason jar and vacuum seal its lid. The final step is labeling the jars with masking tape to show the hop, that hop crop’s alpha acids percentage, and the crop year – all of which come straight off the original bulk package. Of course, the jars are stored in the freezer to lengthen freshness. Using this approach, my hops are less expensive, they stay fresh, and I always have what I need available.
• Canning yeast starters – As you’ve hopefully read before, I also like to pressure can my yeast starters in bulk. By doing so, I can make a yeast starter in 5-10 minutes and without all the measure, boil, and cool hassle.
• Capturing blow off yeast for future use – I’ll be writing a Homebrew Tip in the future on how to build your own yeast capture jar but in the photo gallery I show my current yeast capture jar. Effectively, I’ve drilled and added rubber grommets to a Mason jar lid so I can use a blow off tube for collecting the blow off krausen yeast from a beer that I’m fermenting. If you aren’t prepared to make your own frozen yeast bank (or even if you do), this is a good way for you to capture yeast from one batch for use in a future batch. In the photo, you’ll see there are two holes in the lid. One is for the incoming tube where the blow off yeast will enter the sanitized jar. The second hole is for either an airlock or an outgoing gas tube which would then go into another jar of sanitizer. Once you’ve captured the yeast, you remove the jar lid, and swap it out with one that has been spray sanitized and has no holes. Make sure to label the jar of yeast with strain, producer, and date packaged. Into the fridge with you!
• Blow off tube container – Speaking of blow off tubes, I also use my half gallon Mason jars for holding sanitizer that I can drop my blow off tube into. Simple and effective!
• Yeast storage container – Another way to save yeast from one batch for use in a future batch, is washing a yeast cake or simply pouring some of the mixed yeast/trub cake into a sanitized jar. In this case, you’re reusing the yeast
  cake (bottom yeast) instead of the krausen yeast (top yeast) as you would with the yeast capture jar mentioned above. Still, it’s a perfectly viable alternative. A sanitized pint Mason jar is usually the tool of choice for this purpose.
• Water additions container – I like to measure my water salts and lactic acid additions the night before I brew while I’m measuring out my hops and grains. Half pint Mason jars are ideal for saving these water additions until they get dumped into my water. I put the water salts, typically gypsum and/or calcium chloride, into one and my lactic acid addition with a bit of water, into another. When it’s time to add these to my water, I open the jar and dump it in. Because it’s a glass container, I can even scoop up some water from my kettle/tun and swirl it to make sure I’ve gotten the full addition.
• Making tinctures for flavor additions – I like to make teas and tinctures for use in my beers. It allows me to add flavors at packaging rather than having multiple attempts at mash, boil, and fermentation additions to determine whether a flavor is going to work well with the base style. I can make a tincture, say a habañero tincture like in the photo gallery, and then add a few drops to a pint of my beer to see how it tastes. It may not be perfect but it gives me the general idea. I could see if a habañero sour is a good thing without wasting a whole batch. (Side note: If you’ve done a peppered sour, please let me know how that turned out.) Sometimes, I know the flavors work well and I’ll make enough tincture to add to a full batch. Regardless of the circumstances, Mason jars are perfect for making tinctures.
• Cryopreservative container – I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll mention it again. If you’ve not started building your own frozen yeast bank, you should definitely consider it. The first step in that process is to create the cryopreservative that will get added to your yeast to prevent cell damage during freezing (sounds technical but it’s easy to do). I pressure can my cryopreservative and it lives in a Mason jar until its all used up.
• Small yeast starter container – If you’re a small batch homebrewer (sub-3 gallons), it’s probably not worth purchasing a stir plate and flask set up but you can still make a simple yeast starter to ensure yeast viability or yeast vitality. You can make a simple starter in a half gallon Mason jar and use the shake method.
• Capturing and cooling your wort samples – When I’m brewing, I measure my pre- and post-boil gravity samples using a hydrometer and a test jar (I know, I’m considering a refractometer). Since I know I need about 7 ounces of sample wort to lift my hydrometer, I will fill a half pint Mason jar with wort (8 oz), put the lid on it to seal, and then place that jar in my sanitizer/water bucket to chill. The bucket of water displaces the heat of the sample faster than just letting a test jar sample sit on the counter to cool. Once it’s cooled, I pour the sample from the Mason jar to my test jar and drop in the hydrometer. Rinse and repeat as needed.
• Small batch testing – While I’ve never done this, I plan to use half gallon Mason jars in the future for small batch testing. I could brew a 2-3 gallon batch and split it into half gallon Mason jars, add different things (yeast, fruit, dry hops, etc.) to each jar, and then ferment with a Mason jar fermentation lid. I think this is an exciting way to test flavors without making a full 5-gallon batch. It’s also a great way to learn the differences between various yeast strains. If you have a frozen yeast bank of small yeast samples, this would be another great way to use them. I already have my jars and my lids so once I get around to doing this, I’ll write it up to share on Homebrew Notes.
• Pre-mixed sanitizer storage (courtesy of u/ScienceOfBrewing on reddit) – It’s always handy to have some pre-made sanitizer around. If you haven’t already made a sanitizer spray bottle but you have some Mason jars, you can make small batches of sanitizer and store them in a jar.
• Beer drinking glass! (courtesy of u/wisenuts on reddit) – As a Southern boy myself, I am fully on board with a Mason jar pint glass. One might even argue that the narrowed neck makes smelling aroma easier. 🙂
• Weighing container (courtesy of u/Headsupmontclair on reddit) – Whether you’re using your food scale to weigh out your smaller grain amounts, your hops, your water salts, or another addition, you’ll need something on your scale to hold the thing being measured. I use my Mason jars on my scale. I put the jar on it, turn it on, and confirm it’s at zero. If not, I hit the tare button and weigh what I need. The jar is a great size for these smaller additions.
• Storing dry supplies (courtesy of u/cliffx on reddit) – Storing your dry malt extract or powdered cleaners (PBW/OxiClean Free) in Mason jars will prevent them from absorbing moisture from the air and clumping – especially if you vacuum seal the lid!
• Performing a forced diacetyl test (courtesty of u/KFBass) – I can’t do this justice since I’ve never done it and KFBass sounds like a professional so I’m going to share his comment. “Here is one you don’t see often, but I do almost every day at the brewery. Forced Diacetyl test…yeast doesn’t make diacetyl. It makes a tasteless precursor that turns into diacetyl. Diacetyl gets broken down and reabsorbed. Doing a forced diacetyl test lets you know if there is any precursor left and if you are good to crash the beer…method we do is basically take two samples. One we keep at room temp, the other we stuff into a mason jar in a hot water bath, sealed. Then we cool it back down and give them both a sniff. If there is diacetyl, I know to let it rest for a few more days before crashing. Or let Escarpment labs explain it cause they’re way smarter than I am.” (Looks like I’ll be testing this soon!)
• General container – There are a number of times where I’m transferring things from one vessel to another and I need temporary storage for whatever it is I’m transferring. A Mason jar is a quick and easy container for that purpose.
• Other household uses – While this goes beyond the scope of homebrewing, I don’t want it lost that Mason jars can be of use in many, many more ways around your house. We use Mason jars in our house for storing food. We make sous vide egg bites similar to those at Starbucks using half pint Mason jars. Hell, I even use one to store my pens, scissors, and other frequently used items beside my keezer.

NOTE: Reddit user u/EngineeredMadness recommended Tattler Lids for those who are doing a lot of pressure canning (like pressure canning multiple yeast starters). Metal lids shouldn’t be used because they’re less likely to form a good seal the second time. According to EngineeredMadness, these Tattler Lids are reusable as many times as you want.

Those are the uses that come to mind but I know you homebrewers are a creative lot. Please share in the comments other ways you’re using Mason jars in your home brewery!

Now that you’ve read this Homebrew Tip, let me know if you have a question, recommended improvement, or other thoughts in the comments below. As I mention in About Homebrew Notes, these are living documents and your feedback is appreciated!