[Zana]

Hi Allen,

Are you packing into hot sterilised jars?

Personally I would skip the alum, as I find it always leads to mushy pickles and a bit of a metallic taste. I also use more pickling/kosher salt than 3/4 cup with that volume of brine.

What is the acidity level of the vinegar that you are using? It may not be high enough, even with that ratio of vinegar to water.

And just a personal thing - which I know is not necessarily what some of the powers that be want posted, if the jars seal cleanly, I don't water bath process them. In close to 50 years of pickling, I've yet to make anybody sick with that method...although I'll pitch anything that even remotely looks or smells dodgy.