Pressure canner question

[David_G]

Hi....sorry if this sounds very basic. I'm new to this. Should I submerge the jars in water in my pressure canner?

I did 6 quart jars of red potatos; brine water topped with 1/2 inch of head space; lids lightly snugged; canner water level up to the shoulder of the jars, and after the pressure boil was done half the brine water was gone from the jars.

What did I do wrong?

David

 

[bigdaddy3k]

I was going to jot out that you can submerge the jars but now I want to listen to the experts as I had some canning failures recently as well. Buck up though Dave, someone will have the answers here. It's a great site.

Welcome!

 

[Michael in FtW]

The short answer would be that it sounds like the canner was "force cooled" :

Cooling the canner with cold running water or opening the vent port before the canner is fully depressurized are types of forced cooling. They will also cause loss of liquid from jars and seal failures.

You might read this: Using Pressure Canners

 

[David_G]

Quick cooling

Yes......you're right. I let the weight stop jiggling then took it off to bleed the pressure, then into a cool sink of water.

 

[bigdaddy3k]

Ah! I had this happen with chili I was trying to can but it turned out to be that I did not use a rack. I had the cans on the bottom of the pot so they "boiled" like any liquid on the bottom of a pot.

 

[David_G]

Great link, a lot of good information. Thanks

 

[mcnerd]

Yes......you're right. I let the weight stop jiggling then took it off to bleed the pressure, then into a cool sink of water.

That works for pressure cookers, but pressure canners should never be subjected to any method of rapid cool down -and- after the pressure drops to normal naturally and the regulator removed, one should wait 10 minutes more before removing the lid. This allows the superheated jars to cool down a little before being exposed to the cooler air.

 

[velochic]

No, you don't submerge jars when pressure canning. Most of the time, the recipe itself will tell you how many inches of water to have in the bottom of the canner. It's usually about 2 - 3 inches for vegetables that do not have a long processing time. The steam inside of the pressure canner is what is heated above the boiling point to kill the spores. Three things that I can think of that you did wrong. First, you have to let the canner vent for about 7 - 10 minutes at the beginning of canning before putting the weighted gauge on the petcock so that the air is released. Then, you put too much water in. You only need enough to make sure you have a sufficient amount to create the steam need for the entire process. (You were kind of combining water bath canning and pressure canning together, I guess... never heard of that.) Then, yes, the processing time includes the cool-down. Usually, I just turn off the burner and wait for the safety valve to open back up before attempting to even move the canner.

Good luck next time!

 

[David_G]

Thanks Velo. You're right about my first-timer mistakes. The manual I have for the Miro pressure canner wasn't great, but the website recommended higher up this thread had lots of useful information.

Cheers