Simple Canning question
 

I'm reading the Ball Blue Book and it discusses 2 ways of canning; with a presure cooker or with the common boil method. It then lays out all the jellys. jams, etc. directions based on the boil method and the meat or low-acid items with the pressure cooker. My question is simple, can I do it all with a pressure cooker? I would assume so.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

yes..........

Re: Simple Canning question
 

yes...........but..........


Water bath is an easier, quicker method of sealing.....if the food is up to it.

You can simply put the jars in, do the process time ( 20 minutes or so for most water bath approved foods ) pull them out and plunk another round in the same boiling water. With a pressure canner, you have to get the canner up to temp ( putting steam out of the weight port for 5 minutes ) then do the process time, then wait for the canner to cool enough to open......doubles the time of a water bath easy, even if the process time is the same.

Also, pressure canning will soften some foods ( the pears we did first pressure canned were too soft for our taste ) due to the higher temp the canner cranks out. You could "probably" run them a little less pounds on a gauge, and time, and get down to water bath equal, but water bath just turns out easier.....

You can use a pressure canner AS a water bath by simply putting more water in it, and leaving the lid off ( or just put it on but don't crank it around to the seal position ), but you can't use a water bath canner as a pressure canner. SO, if I was gonna buy only one, it would be a good pressure canner.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Thanks Andy, I was just wondering about that. I appreciate all of your advice and the answers to questions that you give.

I am enjoying canning a lot and have questions that come up but I hate to ask them in other peoples threads and often think they might be too simple for their own thread. Should I make a thread with all the questions I have or maybe start several threads with individual questions so they are easier to find? Thanks again for all your knowledge and everyone else who are so ready to help.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

We bought a rival pressure cooker, simple, rugged, plenty of safety features. No gauge and it uses a weighted pressure valve. Nothing to break, only thing really to replace is seal and overpressure plug.

It was cheap, we use it as both a pressure canner and a waterbath canner. We have the water bath canner too, but it doesnt do well on our glass cooktop.

We have used it A LOT. No complaints.


If you want to go big dog, the ALL American pressure cookers are the way to go.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Yes, you can do both with a pressure canner. I have an All American pressure canner but the only problem That I run into with using it as a water bath canner is the fact that it takes so much longer to get the water to boil due to it being such a heavey duty unit..and thats even with using a propane turkey deep fryer base and burner, but yes it will pull double duty tho.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Either is fine....but start a thread.....other people may have the same questions, and you probably get more, diverse answers in a new thread.

Basically, what you will find, is canning is NOT rocket science, and once you get started, you'll find it's pretty easy.


Guy I know from other boards and I were at a board sponsored camp out few years back, and talk turned to home canning using a pressure canner. He had never done it, and was sort of leary of the process. I told him basically the same thing....not rocket science, get one and fire it up.

Now he is an expert, and making videos.....ahahahahaaaa

http://www.youtube.com/user/SurvivalReport

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Thanks for the link Andy.

I seen another thread awhile back, you had another link to a large presure canner. Can you give us that again?

Thanks.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

PCs can do some interesting cooking and very quickly compared to the same dish prepared conventionally. No water bath is going to touch that.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

I'm also in the market for a good pressure canner.

I think the brand 'All American' make high quality pressure canners. Though they are rather expensive, according to what I've read they will probably outlast you. They also don't have seals that need to be replaced.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

That would be the ALL AMERICAN brand canner....made by the Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry.

These canners use a metal to metal seal instead of a rubber gasket.....nothing to wear out over time.

I bought mine from Red Hill General store up in Virginia....but it would be best to check around pricewise on the net to see if you can beat them.

http://www.pressurecooker-outlet.com/americancans.htm

IF you plan to "get serious" about canning, buy the 930 or 941 models, as they are tall and let you double stack quarts....the 930 holds 14 quart jars and the 941 holds 19 ( according to them....I find I can get 20 in mine ) + you can triple stack pints and get about 28-30 of them in it. The 941 is one HEAVY SOB.....probably weighs close to 40lbs empty.

http://www.pressurecooker-outlet.com/pics/941.jpg

You can use them on a regular stove ( not a smooth top electric ) but they take quite a while to heat up on them......probably better pick yourself up a propane turkey cooker burner (Home Depot/Lowes/Northern Tool ) and rig a setup like this:

http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...3_p118679.jpeg


Also, best place I've found to buy jar lids in bulk online is Goodmans. If they show "out of stock", call them and find out when they expect more.....I've found they get them in and they move right back out on a pretty regular basis, so allow lead time for a large order ( I've bought a 100 dozen at a time from them ).

http://www.goodmans.net/get_list_534.htm

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Funny how many of us reach the same answer. We use an All American 921 pressure canner that we picked up from Amazon.com (killer prices) with a propane burner from Tejas Smokers. That allows us to can two different items at once: 1) low-acid foods in the pressure canner, and 2) stuff suitable for the water bath on the kitchen stove in a large stockpot. The 921 holds nine pint jars in one stack with no issues and I have put 18 pint jars in the canner at once. I usually only put four or five quarts jars in at once. I have considered the 941, but I cannot justify the outlay for the extra capacity.

I usually can get two to three decent quart jar runs in the pressure canner during a day, which is enough for our family. We can at least two weekends every month. Last weekend, we put up four quarts and nine pints of beef stew. This weekend we are putting up pizza sauce and split pea soup and perhaps some jellies.

I really like the propane burner as I run it outside which is nice when canning on a warm day. The Tejas Smokers burner is made in the USA and the welding is a heck of a lot better than the samples I have seen in the "big box" stores. The cast iron burner does a heck of a job of getting the canner up to pressure/temp, and it is great for seafood boils. A spare propane tank is nice to have to avoid running out of propane in the middle of a session.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

I had forgotten this, but FlaRacingGal did an excellent price comparison on the American canners between Red Hill Store and Amazon, and found Amazon to be cheaper, especially with the free shipping thrown into the factor.

Here is the post:

http://goldismoney.info/forums/showp...3&postcount=92

As when shopping for anything.....shop.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Thanks for the Info., the larger canner seems the way to go. I have a couple of the standard size ones, but the larger on will cut down on the number of runs we have to do.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

I got both my AA 921s on eBay for well under half price.
Be very careful going this route. Pay close attention to pictures, ask pertinent questions and don't bid if uncomfortable. Other than sheer bad-assed-ness the AA PCs also rock for every single piece and part being easily replaceable. Assuming the 2 main halves are well intact and no threads are stripped the things can be maintained for life. One of mine is from the early 40's.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

The All American 30 qt are on sale at amazon for $229 with free shipping. I just ordered one to give it try with some venison this fall.

BP

Re: Simple Canning question
 

I think you hit the nail on the head here. Pressure canner it is.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

For anyone looking for what seems to be a good deal on a 41 quart All-American check out

http://cgi.ebay.com/ALL-AMERICAN-41-...d=p3286.c0.m14

I'd like to bid on it myself but I know my wife wouldn't allow it at this point in time :(

Re: Simple Canning question
 

I have an ancient Mirro pressure cooker. Don't know the capacity but it's the basic pot size. Just big enough for about four 1/2 pint jars. Anyway, the seal is some esoteric size that is not easily replaceable and is very brittle. The trick an old hand taught me was to rejuvenate the seal with vegetable oil before and after cooking. Just dab some on a paper towel and give it a light coat. It will basically preserve the seal in whatever condition it is in. My Mirro spits water as it comes up to temperature but at some point the seal swells enough to hold pressure and it works fine for the duration of the cook.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

I have the All-American 930 and I can tell you it is really well-made. My only complaint is that they claim it holds 19 pint jars, but I can only fit 17. The bottom tier holds 8, the top tier 9. There's quite a bit of space left on each tier, but not enough to fit 9 on the bottom and 10 on top. These are Ball jars; I haven't tried other brands.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

There is an amazing difference in jars.

I have a lot of jars that came from different sources, and the variation between width and height in them can be quite a bit. Never done a volume check, I'm simply assuming the shorter ones are slight wider to give the same volume, but yes, the brand, and even the wide mouth vs. narrow mouth DOES make a difference in how many you get in a canner when you start double or triple stacking. (which you can do in the 941 ).

My guess would be you are using wide mouth pints ?

Re: Simple Canning question
 

I sort of doubt you could damage the rim of an American canner by dropping it......you'd have to take a sledge hammer to it to do that kind of damage.

What you could do with ANY canner lid by dropping it is damage or shear the pressure gauge off I guess, and have to use an 'easy out' to back the threads out before installing a new gauge......but I personally make it a policy not to drop the lid. :biggrin:

The choice to buy an American over a type with a seal is simply a personal one.....sort of like I can buy a screwdriver from Harbor Freight import place or I can buy a Snap on....both will do the job, but I find more often the cheaper one tends to fail with the tip twisting or breaking, and I have yet to ever break a Snap on tool. I simply like lifetime tools with the least amount of points of failure built into them.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

I heartily second the recommendation for Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry pressure cookers/canners. I bought the 921, a 21-1/2-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner for $170 in October 2007. I only mention the price because it seems to jump around a lot.

I love it, both for the metal seal and the fact that it is big enough to do 7 quart jars or 19 pint jars at a time. The pressure gauge is an awesome feature. You can easily see when the pressure is getting close to full and adjust the heat accordingly. Most other pressure cookers make you guess based on the amount of steam coming out or the rocking of weight. Guessing made quite nervous when I was a newbie at pressure cookers.

It's an awesome cooker. You won't be disappointed.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Some AA's ship with the port for a weight. Get that out of there and drop in the spring loaded stop-cock. Not only are they great for minutely blowing off some steam but they also are tensioned to release before the blow-out valve. You can get them for different tensions, I use the 25psi versions myself. The blow-out valve goes at 35psi, I have learned that the hard way and let me tell you it's a heart stopper. but it makes you appreciate that little valve. Get a few extra stop-cocks and blow-out valves and gauges to keep on-hand. I keep thinking I should get some bakelite knobs and pins, too but they don't seem to be wearing out at all.
Oh, yeah, the other big plus to a the spring-loaded stop-cocks is when you use the PC as an autoclave to sterilize something the stop-cock will prevent outside air from being drawn into the PC during cooling meaning the items inside remain sterile until the seal is broken.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

No, I'm using Ball and Kerr small mouth jars, all recently purchased within the past six months.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Noob question here, 1st session this morning. When exhausting the canner, do I start timing from the first puffs of steam from the vent port, or does it have to be a steady stream of steam coming out? The instruction manual wasn't very clear about that.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Depends on your cooking temps and the density of the contents in the PC.
For a 15psi cook I let the gauge show 10psi and drop to 5psi then when it shows 15psi I drop it to 10psi. By the time it hits the final 15psi I have the stove dialed in and it will maintain 15psi with very little maintenance from there on. This process takes 15-20 minutes starting with a cold PC and only around 10 minutes with a hot PC.

Note that depending on what you are cooking you may not want to follow this procedure as you could end up with contents boiling out of jars. If done with the right touch and familiarity with your PC there will be no problems.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Thanks SLV, I was worried about not exhausting the air for long enough, but after about 25 minutes without a steady stream coming out of the vent port, just a few puffs every 30 secconds or so, i just put the weighted gauge on and started timing when it started rocking. 10lbs @ 90 min for my elevation, and let go about 6 or 7 minutes longer, then turned off propane and let it cool. Steadily read between 11 &12 lbs on the gauge. I hope that was long enough. I just wasn't sure if I had exhausted the canner properly.

Anyway, I had no jar leakage and all the lids seem to be concave and sealed.

I'll let'em cool till after work tomorrow, and check the seals.

One other thing, all 7 quarts on the bottom rack had a thin film of powder on the lids, like they were calcified or something. We have the crappiest water system in this town, so I attributed it to that or the aluminum racks.

Thanks for the help.

Re: Simple Canning question
 

It's your water for sure......aluminum rack won't do that.

As to your question, the timing is supposed to start once you have exhausted the air in the canner and see a steady stream of steam out the weight vent port....put the weight on, wait for it it get up to whatever pressure is called for, then start your timing from there.

The steam is often very hard to see, as pure, high temp steam isn't very visible. You have to get sort sideways to the canner, and in the right light to see it. Sounds like you did plenty of time....

Re: Simple Canning question
 

Thanks Andy, That's what I was trying to find out. And Thanks for the LP burner idea, I had one buried in my basement. I almost bought a new range to replace the glass top we have.