whats causing this

[ljones]

i followed your advice and mixed up a small amount of pickel in this container this morning and as you can see the salt in the bottom  is already turning blue.  so i guess i can rule out the container or iron filings , i am going to mix another batch with a different salt a see what happens

[coonhollow]

yes but did you wash that container thoroughly first?

[ljones]

yep washed it out good with hot  water

[coonhollow]

even the salt has a blue tint, do you have hard water?

[ljones]

the salt was pure white when i mixed it up earlier as far as the water its the same well water i have been using in the shop and house for 30 years , like i said in the begining this is something thats started happening in the last 2 months

[coonhollow]

very strange i would try a different salt first. granular mixing salt is better than feed grade salt. then if you still have the issue you well water could have changed. my water is so hard it will stop a brick! but I have no issues.

[misanoel]

True.  Not cost efficient for mass-production, but probably negligible for the home-tanner.  These particular boxes were inherited from my dead grandmother, so I have no idea what current prices run.

[misanoel]

That was in response to coonhollow's comment regarding cost-efficiency.

[misanoel]

How long have you been using this particular bag of feed salt?  Maybe it's chemically different from previous lots?

[George Roof]

I guess I'll never understand taxidermists being a penny wise and a pound foolish.  Since when is table salt/ bakers salt/pickling salt "high priced".  I buy 20 pound bags of bakers salt in the local Food Lion for less than $4. I learned how to salt before I learned how to tan and one pound of salt will go a LONG LONG way if done correctly. The salt I buy has NO additives and never cakes unless I leave it open out in the weather. Saving a few pennies buying cattle food salt makes absolutely no sense to me and if it's costing you that much, you need to raise your prices.

[ljones]

thats what i am wondering if there has been a change in processing the salt   i am going to mix up another small batch of pickle using some table salt and see what happens i will post pictures   not that this blue coloring is causing a problem because its not,  i would just like to figure out what causing it after using the same recipe for years

[elkhunter1313]

BINGO George...i do the same...one thing of salt at the supermarket costs about 25 to 35 cents MAXIMUM...i usually buy the whole tray which equals about 20 rounds of salt...only problem i have is the humidity getting in some of them and hardening it up b4 i get a chance to use it all...but in the end i just strip away the paper break it with a hammer and throw it in the tan.

[misanoel]

If it's going into solution anyway, it will dissolve, no matter how hard the brick is.  The consistency of the salt for salt-drying pre-pickle would seem to be the only problem if it gets really chunky due to humidity.

[coonhollow]

I guess I'll never understand taxidermists being a penny wise and a pound foolish.  Since when is table salt/ bakers salt/pickling salt "high priced".  I buy 20 pound bags of bakers salt in the local Food Lion for less than $4. I learned how to salt before I learned how to tan and one pound of salt will go a LONG LONG way if done correctly. The salt I buy has NO additives and never cakes unless I leave it open out in the weather. Saving a few pennies buying cattle food salt makes absolutely no sense to me and if it's costing you that much, you need to raise your prices.

George you are not buying "Canning or Pickling" salt in 20# bags at food lion! you are buying a food grade salt. my comment was toward "Canning or Pickling" salt which 4# boxes are the norm or smaller. go buy 20# and see what your total is. animal feed grade "mixing salt" is the exact same salt as for human use except instead of testing for FDA  they only need to meet USDA testing requirements. if you think I'm wrong i will give you Cargills number here to verify their process. I use to haul tons of salt outta there and when it comes to granular quality salt the difference is time and money they spend on testing/data collection to deem it for human consummation.

[cyclone]

I would certainly hope that salt meant for human consumption would be refined...

again a quote from their specs page..

USC Ranch House Feed Mix rock salt is a money saving value when calcium and/or sulfur feed supplements are desired in addition to salt. The rock salt continues to be mined from natural deposits 1,500 feet below the earth's surface, as it has since the late 1920's. The salt is crushed and screened for the specific gradation suited for livestock and poultry feeds. An anti-caking agent, YPS, is added to prevent caking and lumping, ease handling, and maintain flow ability.

 

Impurities present in percent quantities..