How to Sterilize Jars With Dry Heat

Jars make wonderful storage spaces for many items: spare change, knick-knacks and other small objects can be stored in these containers. You can also store food and drink in these jars, and this requires some preparation. If you intend to store food and drink in jars, the jars must be sterilized to kill all germs and bacteria that could infect your meals. Applying intense dry heat to these jars will kill bacteria and keep your food safe.

Things You'll Need

• Jars and lids
• Oven

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Place jars and lids into the oven and allow them to bake for 10 minutes.

3. Turn off the heat in the oven and leave the jars in there to gradually cool. If possible, leave your jars in the warm oven until you are ready to fill them, so there is no way they can be contaminated between sterilizing and filling.

Tips & Warnings

• Many home brewers use jars to store the yeast used to make their brews. When you know the jars have contained some form of bacteria, bake the jars at 338 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour to fully remove the bacteria residue and to avoid cross-contamination in drinks.

• Objects made of soda lime glass, such as beer bottles, are highly susceptible to breakage during heating. Be sure that you know your jars can withstand the heat of an oven before you try to sterilize them with dry heat.

References

• KraftCanada.com: Making Jam
• HowtoBrew.com: Sanitizing Your Equipment