# Calling all pressure canning guru's



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Had a new experience this evening and would appreciate any advice.

Have been trying to get a year's worth of dry beans canned before we get busy in the garden. I put a double layer of pts in the AA, noticed it taking a little longer than normal to come to pressure, but since it was climbing, I didn't fret. I left the kitchen to get on the computer and before long, I heard a very large discharge of steam/pressure, must have lasted 3 or 4 mins, or at least it seemed like it. I crept out to the stove and turned off the gas, did not feel comfortable staying close enough to read the gauge, but steam was shooting out from under the weight.

Once it had completely discharged, I checked and the gauge was down to 0, so I removed the weight. It was a little "catawampus" on the post, but I assumed that could have happened during discharge. I loosened the locks and left the room again to build up a little courage. I returned shortly and opened the canner, water in the jars was boiling, but I knew that they didn't have hardly any time at all at pressure, so I planned to replace the lid and start over (once again, after I took a little time to rebuild my courage). Within minutes, the lids started sealing! Now what do I do? I have this load, plus one other to do tonight, so I would greatly appreciate someone walking me through this.
TIA


----------



## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

That's okay if they've sealed. Go ahead and re-can them. Be sure your lid is clean, make sure you see daylight thru the vent hole before you begin again and add any water to the canner you may have lost, hot so you don't break jars.


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Gram,
Do I open the jars that have sealed and start over with clean flats?


----------



## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

No, just leave them as is, the seals will soften again in the heat and re-seal after processing. I've had that happen more than once, they'll be fine.


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

I don't mind telling you that I am scared to death - imagining food boiling in a sealed jar, jar exploding, etc.

Can you tell that I have had a pressure canning accident before? Two as a matter of fact, with my old canner.


----------



## wannabechef (Nov 20, 2012)

The food boils in the jars which is normal.

With the AA you don't have to worry about accidents...it's idiot proof...two safeties built in.


----------



## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

I assume the jars are still in the canner, right? You don't have to take them out or even touch them if you're nervous. Just add a quart of very hot water for good measure, put the lid on and process those puppies. Relax, your fine.


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

I know what you're talking about wannabechef, but these jars have already sealed, albeit prematurely, because of the discharge (still don't know why that happened!)

I am still quite unnerved by the incident. Current plan is to let the sealed jars set on a towel on counter for the night. Empty everything into a big stockpot in the morning, bring it to a boil, then reprocess. Does this sound acceptable? I would hate to have to feed 16 pts of beans to the chickens.


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

It's so late - and I'm so tired. Do you see any problem with just starting over tomorrow, Gram?


----------



## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

Hope everything went well last night Marilyn! Seems to me the beans should be fine to process today. These crazy things always seem to happen when we're tired.


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

marilyn...not bashing you ok....but when learning something new like pressure canning....dont walk away from it.it can reach pressure fast and you need to be there to adjust heat on stove eye.good luck in future canning.


----------



## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I would have just added more water to the canner, then restarted it. Nothing super bad happened. It just got too high in pressure and released it. It doesn't matter if they sealed or not. They weren't finished. Just restart them. But watch the pressure, so you can turn down the stove if it gets a bit too high.


----------



## wannabechef (Nov 20, 2012)

Marilyn said:


> I know what you're talking about wannabechef, but these jars have already sealed, albeit prematurely, because of the discharge (still don't know why that happened!)
> 
> I am still quite unnerved by the incident. Current plan is to let the sealed jars set on a towel on counter for the night. Empty everything into a big stockpot in the morning, bring it to a boil, then reprocess. Does this sound acceptable? I would hate to have to feed 16 pts of beans to the chickens.


Hard to explain, but they will unseal when brought up to pressure and they boil...seriously, you have nothing to worry about. If you were to bring up the temp up for 10 minutes and took the jars out they would be sealed too. The processing time of 45 minutes or so is to bring the entire contents up past the boiling point to kill harmful bacteria.

If every jar inside that thick AA canner busted at the same time I am confident the canner would contain it. It has a blow off plug and a jiggler...one of the best made units money can buy.


----------



## wannabechef (Nov 20, 2012)

Marilyn said:


> It's so late - and I'm so tired. Do you see any problem with just starting over tomorrow, Gram?


Yes, your beans will be overcooked and mush.


----------



## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

It's tommorrow, Marilyn, how goes the beans? I so sorry you're having such a time but, really - you did make more work and worry for yourself than you needed to. I understand being worried when you don't have a canning partner nearby but I promise it'll be okay.

If you haven't messed with them yet, just go ahead and put the jars back in the canner and process them. There is no reason to dump the jars & start all over! - and wannabe is right, if you boil them then re-jar and process they will most definitely be much. AND they are going to boil, sterilize and get up to temp inside the canner.

Oh, and never get on the computer when you're canning - I think I'm just going to be a moment on the computer and pretty soon half an hour or more has gone by.......


----------



## mpennington (Dec 15, 2012)

Oh my, hope you were able to get some rest. I had some seal problems my first time canning with my new All American. I was processing pintos which had been soaked, brought to a boil, and simmered 30 minutes before placing in jars. Canner came up to pressure and stayed at 10#, but had steam release with bubbles at seal whenever regulator ziggled. I turned off heat, let pressure come down to zero, checked water in canner (beans were boiling in jars). I brought canner back up to pressure again and reprocessed. Beans were fine, not mushy. I was using very old beans though as I've read that canning is a good way to use old beans.

If you've reprocessed and your beans are too mushy for you, drain, and dehydrate. One of the jars that I reprocessed didn't seal so I dehydrated them - instant beans that work well in soups, dips or mashed further with seasonings for refried. You could also powder the dehydrated beans and have a bean flour that wouldn't need to be cooked for 3 minutes.

I have also had sudden, constant pressure release from regulator, not long after correct pressure was reached. I was standing right by the stove and was able to further reduce heat. Pressure had climbed from 10 to almost 15 very quickly.


----------



## margoC (Jul 26, 2007)

What probably happened was your vent tube was clogged or maybe the jiggler was stuck on it somehow. 

The reason it seemed to take a long tine is the pressure was building longer. Then when whatever was clogging it became unlodged it was overpressured. Wp

Pressure cookers aren't magic, I don't see what else could have happened. You say youve had pressure cooking accidents before? Cause I have used several different types and have not had that happen. You should examine your utensils more often or something.


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

UPDATE: First, let me thank everyone for your thoughtful concern and helpful hints.
margoC hit the nail on the head, I believe. When I examined and scrubbed everything the next morning, I realized that the area around the vent tube was a little tacky with some darkening of the metal - and the opening at 10lb on the weight wasn't as shiny as the others. I have to assume that reusing the previous day's canning water that could have had some exhausted liquid in it caused the tackiness. Also, I didn't take water level very seriously, I just added some, assuming that a little too much would be better than a little too little. AFTER the pressure/steam exhaust, I still had 2" of water in the canner rather than the 1 1/2" recommended. I have learned my lesson to not _*ever*_ be so cavalier with canning procedures.

Vosey: you hit the other side of that nail on the head. Every single time I have had any issues whatsoever, it has been when I was "canning weary". I'll tell that story at the end of this post, or possibly the next one since I'm not sure of how much room I have.

Contrary to the impression I may have created by my panicked SOS, I really have been pressure canning for quite a while - since my grown kids were wee ones. And while I did leave the canner and get onto the computer, I live in a pretty small cabin, I was only 10-15 steps away. (If I had it to do over, I would have waited for that first jiggle before I split my focus).

GrammasCabin and Wannabechef: If this ever happens again and I am brave enough to follow your suggestion, would it make a difference if the jars/lids were slightly sticky. Would they still reopen for processing when they got hot enough? I think I detected the same tackiness on the jars in canner that I noticed near the vent tub.
(to be cont.)


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

While overtiredness and having far too much to do in the subsequent three days played a big part in this issue, I honestly think my greatest concern was for my work already invested. I know that sounds pretty self-centered, but I had so much to do in such a short time, I _*really*_ didn't want to lose the time I had already invested in this canning session.

Now, to those two previous pressure canner incidents. Warning: This could get boring. Both of these occurred with my old gasketed Mirro with a weight only, no pressure gauge. The first occurred after a 10 hr work day with 2 hr roundtrip commute. When I put the lid on the canner, a portion of the gasket slipped and dropped out of place. I didn't notice this and sat at the kitchen table reading while waiting for it to come to pressure. It was some time later when I realized that it just wasn't going to attain pressure, so I turned it off, waited the prerequisite hour before opening the canner and finding the problem. By this time, most of the water had cooked away, so I added _*very*_ hot tap water to the canner, being careful to pour alongside the edge. Unfortunately, the water touched a jar, I heard a pop, and for a split second I saw soup being propelled out of a round hole in the side of the canning jar. I saw it splash right to the side of the canner before it splashed on my glasses, blinding me. I was not burned at all (small miracle), but I had one mega-mess on my hands. There was turtlehead's beautiful Taco Bean Soup all over me, the stovetop, the upper and lower cabinets, the counter, the floor and that skinny little area between the stove and cabinet! It took several trips from stove to sink and back to just clean the floor to the point of being able to walk safely, (I was barefoot). That brings us to the second miracle of the night. After numerous trips to the sink and back, I had finally cleaned my was towards the sink - and right in my path - was the round piece of glass that broke out of the hot canning jar.


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Sorry, comp glitch, this is carrying over to a third post. (I told you that it was going to get boring - and you will soon have much more information about me than you ever wanted).

The second canner issue happened when I wasn't even canning! There was a flood in my small town a few years ago, and since I lived up on a ridge, was unaffected by the flood, so we were cooking and taking meals down to the fire station. 

I had not yet purchased a good-sized stockpot, so I was using my pressure canner as same in order to prepare a huge amount of beef and noodles for the fire station. Up until the point that I had added the noodles (and filled the pot), I was using the lid in an upside down position to cover the pot while cooking. When the pot was very full, I was concerned that the thick gravy stuff might get into the vent tube if I continued using it upside down, so I carefully set the lid on in the upright position. I opened it for stirring, without problem a few times, but the last time I ran into trouble. Big trouble.

When I tried to lift the lid for stirring again, it was stuck. I erroneously assumed that some gravy had gotten up there, so I just wiggled it a little to loosen it. Even though the lid wasn't twisted to lock, the rubber gasket tried to do its little duty and sealed the canner. When I wiggled it enough to release, a wave of beef and noodles whooshed up and out one side of the canner. This time I wasn't so lucky, ended up with second and third degree burns on my left thigh and foot - barefoot once again.

I assume that past experience kept me from being gutsy enough to follow GrammaCabin's instruction. When I reprocessed the next morning, I didn't boil the beans, but did heat them through; and yes, they are pretty soft. The reason they may not be complete mush is that the beans had some age on them. I am rotating them out of storage. One good thing that came out of this is that we learned that pinto beans are really tasty without anything but salt for processing. Who would have thought?

Once again thank you for all of your concern and tips.
Marilyn


----------



## margoC (Jul 26, 2007)

Wow! At least you didn't give up canning after all that! I come up with bright ideas when I'm tired too.


----------



## wannabechef (Nov 20, 2012)

The water level of 1.5" is not critical...if its more its ok, less would be ok most likely but you want to make sure you don't lose the water through steam.

As far as the lids being tacky, yes you would have been fine (you can reuse lids) not advised, and I don't but it just goes to show they are not one use only...try it one day just canning water.


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

I reuse lids also, but only after a thorough scrubbing with a toothbrush and a little longer simmer before use. Now, heaven forbid I have another experience like I did Thurs night, would the lids still "unseal" if I tried to immediately reprocess and there was tackiness from any exhaustion? As I think through the process, it seems as if they would just from all of the moisture.

Also: Do you mind me asking about your signature line. I'm quite curious.

margoC: I know I shouldn't can when I am weary, it just seems like that's the best quiet time to tackle it. (Used to do most of the family canning after the kids went to bed so as to avoid kitchen traffic.)


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

I was just thinking about this and was once again nearly overwhelmed with all of the concern and helpful hints. Please let me thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have no idea how close I came to just listing my phone number and asking for collect calls


----------



## blooba (Feb 9, 2010)

Marilyn said:


> Also: Do you mind me asking about your signature line. I'm quite curious.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molon_labe


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Thank you blooba. I had no idea.


----------

