Pressure canning problems
 

I've never seen anyone pressure canning anything, so all I have to go on is crap for instructions.

I pressure canned 6 qt jars of soup today. I filled them to about 3/4" from the top. I put them in the pressure canner with 4 cups water, got it up to pressure, then kept it there for 60 min at 10 lbs and then turned off the heat, waited 15 min, then cooled the top of the pan.

Well, it was a mess again. They had all boiled over and most were down almost 2", and one was down 3". The bottom of the canner had lots of soup broth in it.

What am I doing wrong? Or are the instructions wrong?

Any help would be appreciated. I plan to can turkey soup after thanksgiving and don't want yet another disaster.

Re: Pressure canning problems
 

"then cooled the top of the pan."

By running water over it ? That's your problem.

You can do that if you are using a small pressure cooker to simply cook a food product, and want to access the inside quicker.

You CAN NOT do that in the canning process. The inside of the jar is at 10 psi over atmospheric pressure. When you lowered the canner inside pressure suddenly by cooling it, the pressurized, hot boiling liquid in the jar will try to equalize to it's surrounding pressure ( in the canner ), lift the lid and dump the contents into the canner.

Bottom line......DO NOT ARTIFICIALLY COOL A PRESSURE CANNER WHEN CANNING JARS.....because if the jar can't lift the lid and dump, ( ring screwed on TOO tight ) the jar will also break from the pressure difference.

Also, 3/4" is probably not quite enough head space in the jar....you will get some leakage out of jars if you don't leave enough head space ( air ), but not what you experienced.....that was catastrophic decompression.

Re: Pressure canning problems
 

The instructions for our AA930 say to let the cooker cool gradually, and to never hasten cooling by applying cold cloths or water. Also says to remove the regulator weight slowly, and not release the pressure too rapidly, because liquid will be drawn from the jars.

We're doing our 2nd session this morning. 14 qts of pea soup.

Re: Pressure canning problems
 

ok, i'll try that next round.

Should I be using 10 lbs or would 5 lbs be enough?

How much headspace do I need to leave? 1.0"? 1.5"?

Re: Pressure canning problems
 

Hey Bob, 1 inch is what it should be, but for the pressure it depends on your elevation 10lbs for under 1000ft, 15lbs for over 1000ft..hope this helps

Re: Pressure canning problems
 

And don't do what I did. I remover the "jiggler" right when the time was up, and got the results that Andy described. Mine has a pressure gauge, so not I allow it to go to zero FIRST, then remove the regulator weight.

Dang things work right when ya follow the instructions. <banghead>

Re: Pressure canning problems
 

Pressure canned 7 qts of turkey stock last night with no problems. Turned off the heat and went to bed.

Thanks for the help.

Re: Pressure canning problems
 

I think most non-acid foods need 90 minutes at 10 lbs.