Posted: 7/19/2008 11:15:27 AM EDT
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Ok, expanding out from my water bath canner so I can put up low acid foods.. I am looking at pressure canners. While I would really like some gigantic unit, I am going to be realistic about my needs. I am looking in the 22-23 quart range. Presto and Mirro are both competitively priced. Anyone give me any guidance? I am not going with the ARFcom "Get Both" as I would rather: a. have extra space for food storage b. use the money to buy other things c. If I roach a cast aluminum pot, I should be banned from canning anyways. Thanks in advance for the help. |
| Presto/Mirro are workable options. I have a Presto 1750 that does 7-8pts or qts at once. The problem with the non-All American style canners is you must replace the gasket periodically, and it is hard now to find Extension Offices that will still pressure test your equipment for you. In NTX none of them will test your canner any more. AA canners have no gasket to replace. They are built for generations of use. If you plan to can a lot, shop for a discounted AA canner, say, a 921 model. |
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Google turned up that Presto will verify the gauge for no charge if my local extension office won't do it. So the calibration isn't that big of a deal, at least I think.. I have been looking for an AA since early last season but I am to the point where I either have to get one, or abandon it again this year. |
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Hay bro AA canners are the way to go, they don't have gaskets and are built like a brick s--- house . we have canned 5-6 hundred quorts in the last few years and love them' And there is one right here on ARFCOM www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=7&f=126&t=561020 Maybe you have something he needs!! HO Sonoutlaw |
Thanks I sent him a note.. I don't know why my search of the EE for "Pressure" and "Canner" didn't turn up anything?? |
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I have a large Mirro. I think its 22 qt. I am pleased with the unit. It does use a gasket, but i've had no problems. I do like the fixed wieght jiggler types of pressure canner. I do not see why they would need to be pressure tested. The mass of the jiggler does not change. Therefore, the pressure in the canner needed to operate the jiggler is the same each time. No valves. No widgets. Just plain old mass and gravity. Unless gravity changes, the pressure required to overcome gravity and operate the jiggler will not change. Buy the largest you can find. You can run a large canner for a small load of jars, but you cannot get a large number of jars in a small canner. |
I second that, strongly. Being able to get a few extra jars in each canner load not only saves fuel, but it can and does also reduce the number of canner loads you have to run over the course of a day. That can help save your sanity. 
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Helo has a pending local trade for the one posted in the EE.. but I found that Amazon has the 30qt for $234 with free shipping.. I think I will order one at my next payday. Canning 14 quart jars vs the 7 the Presto or Mirro can do is pretty attractive. While it is double the price, it is half the energy and time. Thanks everyone. |
this may not be a problem for you, but on all american's website, they state that you should not use their canner on a ceramic or glass top stove. |
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You know I think this year I'm going to do the canning outside on the coleman stove. Unless we have a nice cool spell or something. If I had some giant old farmhouse i'd have an old kitchen range on the back porch or off the garage or something. I did pick up a second canner though, a coworker of mine got a gift one back unused from the ex girl friend and wanted nothing to do with it. I got that AA 921 for a C note. Now I have a AA 915 and a AA 921. I think I'm good for now! Oh and if you have a smaller one you can cook up corned beeves in record time. Our skeet group used to do that for our St. Paddies day luncheon at the hunting club. Cook up 4-5 corned beeves under pressure to have it tender and fairly fast. Just don't cook the veg's under pressure, boil them in the juice with the lid off. Mmmm mmm. |
You know, there aren't too many manufactured goods out there that I can imagine buying today and being able to pass it on in functional condition to the grandkids. The A-A canners are one of them though. 
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My wife already wanted to move the canning operations outdoors as it heats the house too much. Not to mention that it would be too tight a squeeze to fit on my cook top anyways. I am going to use a turkey fryer outside. Thanks for the note though. |
we use the turkey fryer on the front porch as well. w/ these 100f+ days here, definitely no need to add to the heat. |
That is what I just ordered. 4 weeks ago it was $229.00 and free shipping. Got it in like 4 days with the regular free shipping. Built like a tank for several lifetimes of use. I only wish I could find something to can. My garden just isn't keeping up. Really hate to buy things to put up. I am waiting for others to start trying to give the surplus away and then I will start. I practiced with some extra meat a while back and it didn't taste as I expected but that was only the first batch. you won't regret this purchase. |
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My wife already wanted to move the canning operations outdoors as it heats the house too much. Not to mention that it would be too tight a squeeze to fit on my cook top anyways. I am going to use a turkey fryer outside. we use the turkey fryer on the front porch as well. w/ these 100f+ days here, definitely no need to add to the heat. I am in the process of converting my propane turkey fryer to NG. I need to get a new burner as the redrilling of the original orifice did not pan out. I found one on the 'net from down south for $32.00. It should fit in the fryer stand like the original. I just rand a flex line down from my furnace with another shutoff and I hopefully can run on natural gas instead |
Just curious, but what happened when you tried redrilling the original orfice? Did it go to big, or just not work? I am thinknig about converting a burner for natural gas as well. Do you have any hints? What if you just hook the original burner up to natural gas? I'm thinking that if you had a 125,000 btu burner and ran it on the original orfice you may just get say 50,000 btu, but I'm not positive it works that way. |
it actually worked really well. temperature adjustment is not as fine as the stove, so it took a little bit of fiddling around to get the temp just right. wind, which we always have here, also caused us to have to adjust the flame. our metal building is about 50' from the house, and my wife wanted to do it on the porch versus the wind free metal building.
we have a 300 gallon propane tank, i thought about running a line to the fryer. just not too excited about digging a trench. |
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I guess I'll go against the grain here. If you search reviews on Amazon and other sites, the AA canners appear to have plenty of issues with that "gasket-less" seal. I read quite a few reviews where folks had difficulty with getting it to seal properly. So, you need a gasket every ten years. What is that $7.00 each? I just bought a Presto for less than half the price of AA, and it is heavy, and appears well made. Buy 3 or 4 gaskets and forget it. This Presto model also received better reviews than the similar AA models. It will also heat and cool faster than the AA because there is less mass between the jars and the heat-source. Reviewers also used thiers on glass-top stoves with no issues. HTH, and I'm not bashing. Just my .02 |
Well I have a habit of having bad things happen to me when I play with things that explode. So I had the furnace man drill it out to 35,000 btu size. I think that with the cheapo turkey fryer it was too rich, Tall, all yellow flame. I think the burner needs to be bigger diameter with more but smaller holes. The furnace man gave me another burner, about 6" wide and 14" long and it burned blue with the same drilled out orifice as in the fryer. It is too big for this stand so it will be used for a different project. I think a water heater burner would be a good choice or this: LPCAST www.tejassmokers.com/castironburners.htm |