# Cleaning and keeping canning rack clean



## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

I bought a big water bath canner at an auction. It holds 9 qt jars. The canning rack was rusty and cruddy so I cleaned it up as good as those things ever clean up. I got tired of the film/cruddy stuff that gets on the jars while using my smaller canner so threw the rack away. Now I just use one of the racks out of my pressure canner.
The new canner is so big I don't have anything else to use in it for a rack short of putting jar rings in the bottom.
Question is: What does everyone else do about the condition the rack seems to always get in? Is there a better way to clean it? Do I just put up with the "stuff" in the water and wash it off the finished jars later?
Thanks


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## netskyblue (Jul 25, 2012)

Not sure what you mean by "stuff." White mineral buildup can & will occur on your jars/inside your canner if you have hard water. Some white vinegar in the bathwater helps that tremendously. Or do you mean how aluminum gets black? Cream of tartar and water should clean it up pretty well.

Or something else?


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## Gladrags (Jul 13, 2010)

You're supposed to clean the rack?

Other than giving it a bit of a spray after fishing it out of the canner (if I remember to do that before I dump the cooled water in the canner), I let it dry on the kitchen table.

Yeah, it's a bit rusty, but so what?


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

I agree.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

SueMc said:


> I bought a big *water bath canner *at an auction. It holds 9 qt jars. ......* Now I just use one of the racks out of my pressure canner.*Thanks


-If you didn't notice, the rack in the water bath canner is designed to hold the jars, not only off the bottom of the canner, but also off each other. Water MUST circulate all around the jars. By using the rack from the pressure canner, you are allowing the jars to migrate to the center of the pot, cutting off the flow of water.


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

SueMc said:


> I bought a big water bath canner at an auction. It holds 9 qt jars. The canning rack was rusty and cruddy so I cleaned it up as good as those things ever clean up. I got tired of the film/cruddy stuff that gets on the jars while using my smaller canner so threw the rack away. Now I just use one of the racks out of my pressure canner.
> The new canner is so big I don't have anything else to use in it for a rack short of putting jar rings in the bottom.
> Question is: What does everyone else do about the condition the rack seems to always get in? Is there a better way to clean it? Do I just put up with the "stuff" in the water and wash it off the finished jars later?
> Thanks


i know exactly what you mean. i use white vinegar in the water and it helps but my rack seems to give off some kind of gunk too. maybe we need to spray it with oil too?? i was thinking it is reacting with my water.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks all for the input. I'll just have to wash and dry it and forget about it! Sally, the rack from my smaller water bath canner did not separate the jars like the rack in this big canner. It has wires dividing the rack into 9 compartments. The smaller one just held the jars off the bottom and did allow them to shift somewhat.


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## Feisty Farm (Apr 10, 2012)

SOS pads work great to remove rust. If you feel the need to give it a good scrubbing, I would use one of those.


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