# I think I messed up



## Sandy_01 (Feb 13, 2015)

I purchased a pressure canner a few months back and have been wanting to try canning some food. So yesterday I made a big pot of black beans so we could have some black beans over rice for dinner with lots of beans left over. So when I got home from work today I got all the things together to pressure can the rest. It all went very well and I was feeling a bit more confident. That is up until the processing time was done. I turned off the heat and without a second though I immediately removed the pressure regulator. Then I turned around to check the book. âDoh!â The book says not to remove the pressure regulator at this time. Now I am afraid to touch it, I think I will let it cool a while before I look to see if it is ruined.
So do you think I totally messed this up?


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## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

There is a chance that you may have broken jars. So do be very careful.

I would wait a bit for more advice on this, as I am not really sure as to what safety issued may or may not be in play here. Suitcase Sally, or Marilyn may know.

I'm sorry you had a mistake right off the bat, please do not let it deter you from canning again though.


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## BlackFeather (Jun 17, 2014)

All I can say is I took the pressure regulator off once while cooking a roast and it was very dry by the time I got it out. So from this I would assume that it might pull the water out of the jars. Depending on how long it was left off the beans may seal ok or else the jars may not seal due to lack of water in the jars. You'll have to wait and see.


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Oh my Sandy, I bet that just about scared the socks right off of you! 

I wish I could answer your question, but don't feel qualified. I'm curious, what condition were they in when you opened the canner?


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

The reason you leave the giggler on is to allow things to cool slowly as the pressure drops.It should not draw water out of the jars. The water leaves the jar while it is under pressure. This is what creates the vacuum needed to seal the lid.The cooling creates the vacuum.
I think if no jars are broken the only problem "could" be the lids bending from being cooled too fast.
Let us know what you find.

Wade


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## Sandy_01 (Feb 13, 2015)

So, I let the canner cool for about an hour give or take. I very carefully opened the lid and was pleasantly surprised to see that none of the jars had a catastrophic failure. Lol. No big mess to clean up, I am so happy about that. There was still a small amount of water in the bottom of the canner, so I didnât damage the canner at all. After doing the happy dance about that for a while I pulled the jars to cool on a towel on the counter. I let them cool for several hours while I took a nap. Lol. I started with 6 jars and 3 jars failed to seal. I put the 3 that didnât seal in the fridge to be eaten first and the other 3 are on the shelf for later use. So overall I think that I was very lucky as this mistake could have had much worse results. I could have lost both food and new canner. Right now I am a happy camper and I will accept the lesson learned. Thank you all for your input.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

The three that failed were probably due to not leaving enough headspace and it allowed matter from inside the jar to be pulled up between the jar and lid.Headspace is critical.

Wade


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

1shotwade said:


> The reason you leave the giggler on is to allow things to cool slowly as the pressure drops. It should not draw water out of the jars. The water leaves the jar while it is under pressure. This is what creates the vacuum needed to seal the lid.The cooling creates the vacuum.
> I think if no jars are broken the only problem "could" be the lids bending from being cooled too fast.
> Let us know what you find.
> 
> Wade


Wade, I usually agree with most of your posts, but this is one I have to question. According to my manual for my large Mirro canner, there is a section on troubleshooting and it says that by _not_ allowing the pressure to drop naturally (hastening the reduction of pressure) the pressure in the canner drops faster than the pressure in the jars, forcing liquid out of the jars.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

suitcase_sally said:


> Wade, I usually agree with most of your posts, but this is one I have to question. According to my manual for my large Mirro canner, there is a section on troubleshooting and it says that by _not_ allowing the pressure to drop naturally (hastening the reduction of pressure) the pressure in the canner drops faster than the pressure in the jars, forcing liquid out of the jars.



Yah,I'll buy that. The point I was intending to make was that the water has already boiled out of the jar as the pressure builds. When the pressure in the canner becomes less that the pressure in the jar more liquid would boil off. I didn't do a very good job of saying what I was meaning.

Wade


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

I still didn't say that right did I? That is presuming your jar content has expanded beyond the head space you allowed! I must be having a senior moment here. Some kind of mental blockage! Yes, I was 100% wrong presuming enough head space was left to begin with! Sorry!

Wade


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

I've found that with one of my canners I add more than the recommended amount of water. It gets lower than I'm comfortable with. It's my lightest one so maybe that's why??


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

If you are referring to the construction of the canner, I don't think construction has anything to do with loss of water. Loss of water comes about thru the venting of the canner. Perhaps you are having it jiggle too often.

I, too, put extra water in my canner, especially if the product is going to be processed for 90 minutes, or if I am having trouble keeping the jiggle times down to a reasonable number. Sometimes it's either too fast or if I turn down the heat even a tiny bit, it will cease to jiggle at all.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

suitcase_sally said:


> If you are referring to the construction of the canner, I don't think construction has anything to do with loss of water. Loss of water comes about thru the venting of the canner. Perhaps you are having it jiggle too often.
> 
> I, too, put extra water in my canner, especially if the product is going to be processed for 90 minutes, or if I am having trouble keeping the jiggle times down to a reasonable number. Sometimes it's either too fast or if I turn down the heat even a tiny bit, it will cease to jiggle at all.


That may be it. I always figure better safe than sorry and add the extra water.


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## Werforpsu (Aug 8, 2013)

I was having problems with liquid "syphoning" out of my quarts of tomatoes. When I looked it up, I read that I was not allowing the canner to cool slowly enough and naturally enough. 
the directions for mine say to let it return naturally to room pressure, then remove the weight but leave the lid on for an additional 10 minutes. then remove the lid. I was touching the weight to let steam escape every once in a while and I wasn't waiting those ten minutes.
when I changed what I was doing, it stopped happening.


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