Posted: 6/20/2008 5:42:45 PM EDT
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Pressure canning.... I put in my jars, filled with hot water to firstline and cranked up the heat and locked down the lid. When the jiggler starts dancing should I turn down my heat? If so how much? |
| Just till the jiggler jiggles 1-4 times a minute according to my instructions. I just turn it down a little at a time or else the temp will fluctuate to much. I am using a turkey fryer for now but I am trying to rig something up to run on natural gas. Propane is to expensive. |
*dashes off to turn down the heat* Mines dancin the fuckin Macarena back here!! |
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let it jiggle 3 to 4 times a minute, once it starts to jiggle turn heat down to med (on elect stove) that usually works for me. If it jiggles to much (more then 5 times a minute it will boil to much liquid out of your jars and then what ever you are canning will turn a funky color, probably won't hurt anything but I am not sure. I have only used a canner with the weight and have never had any issues with it and that has been for 25+ years. As always YMMV |
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Well everything seemed to turn out ok. I made a vegetable soup last night and did a double recipe just to have some left over to try canning. I canned 4 pint jars which really werent big enough for soup but whatever, this was just a test run. My first question is how important is headspace? I should have had roughly an inch but ended up with well over that, probably 2 or so. Can you have excessive air gap in canning? COuld you, for example, pressure can something that was only half full? Secondly, what about the lids. Can I reuse the lids and also when I'm done canning the lid should not have any movement, such that I shouldnt be able to push it up or down correct? Of my 4 jats 1 had a lid what I could push up and down when I first removed it but by this morning when it had cooled down it was sealed tight like the other 3 (sucked in). Would this jar be considered ok since it did seal up tight, or was it bad due to not being sealed tight when I removed it? Thats all I have for now. I popped open the 4 pints and am recanning them in 2 quart jars as a quart sized jar is far more useful for soup then pints. That and its easy practice. 
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Head space is important usually 1/2" but it depends on what you are canning, the increased head space is caused by two things 1) you didn't get the air out the jar, accomplish this by inserting a plastic or wood small spatula or something similar (I use a chop stick) 2) over pressure in the canner can pressure the juice out of the jars. Lid sealing can occur almost immedistely after you remove the jars from the canner or it can occur after the jar starts to cool, keep them out of a draft, I usually take the jars out of the canner, set them on a towel and cover with a towel. After they are cool tap on the tops of each jar and if one sounds hollow or if you can push down on the center of the lid it isn't sealed. Never reuse the dome lid, you can reuse the bands but wash them and make sure there is no rust on them. I recommend removeing the bands after the jars are sealed and cool, rinse and wipe the jars with a towel, this keeps the bands from rusting on the jars. Get you a good canning book, I recommend the Ball Blue book of canning. |
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Whoa........ You REALLY need to get some directions and read them. 1) Many recipes call for other than simple hot water. 2) Forget lines. Check the recipes. Some items are 1/2" headspace, others are 1/4", some are 1" 3) The jiggler doesn't go on before heat is added. Bring to a boil, allow to vent 10 minutes (in many cases), jiggler is set on, allowed to come to full jiggly action, and then timing is started. 4) Once started, you can turn heat down. How much? Depends on your stove. The jiggler still needs to be jiggling. 1/2 heat on my Natural gas stove does fine. Your post may have simply been a case of not typing much. However, it implies a dangerous lack of knowledge regarding pressure canning. Botulinin toxin will kill you. Spend $10, buy Balls Blue Book of Canning, and read it. |