Today I made the zucchini relish out of the Ball Blue Book.  I followed the recipe exactly (except for being about a half cup of sweet peppers short) and it just did not thicken at all.  It basically looks like chopped pickles in brine.

I thought maybe I just didn't drain the chopped vegetables well enough after letting them soak in the salt and water, but I did drain in a seive over a pot, then rinse, and then drain again for twenty minutes.

Anyhow, so I now have two half pints of chopped zucchini pickles (about half of what the recipe said it would make).  I did have a lot of brine left over.  I did pack the chopped vegetables into the jar as best I could and covered with brine.  My question is are these still shelf stable or should I refrigerate them?  I guess my concern is that I had so much brine left that not enough is in with the pickles.  Or that if there was water still in the veggies that it diluted the solution.

Also in the future, if a relish fails to thicken, is there anything that could be done?  I didn't want to just add a thickener (Clear Jel) in case that changed the processing time and I was afraid to keep boiling (would the vinegar evaporate and effect the acidity?)  Any advice would be appreciated.