Pressure cooker operation

[xpc]

If you can get your lids for $1.00 per 12, ya better git all you can git! Around here they are 2 bucks + per dozen in most places.

do you re-use yours? or at 10 cent is it even worth it.

Next time you can your pears, try doing them in apple juice and add ONE cinnamon stick to each jar. It was hard for me to wrap my head around, but man are they ever tasty!!

I was going to since I had plenty left but wanted to stick with the recipe, I do have many cinnamon sticks left from my spiced mead and will do as you suggest on my next pear run.

Also.....when you have peeled and cored your apples, soak them in Fruit Fresh or citric acid to keep them from turning brown.

Since the apple juice already contained ascorbic acid I did not do this.

Thanks for the info but have one more question, I just let the canner cool for an hour then pulled all the jars, it seems that most of the fruit have shrunken and no longer a 1/4" from the top and are now floating leaving an inch of free liquid at the bottom. This means the tops are not immersed.

 

[xpc]

Yes - the air space, properly called head space, in the jar DOES matter. Too large a space can allow the food to discolor or even (rare) spoil in the jar. It takes PRACTICE and more practice until everything comes out right consistently.

You are doing the right thing. When you jump in at the deep end you usually will learn how to swim! Just keep asking those questions and practicing.

Thanks, I kept all the meats I did the other day in the refrigerator and am slowly eating it all as soups and such, it was good practice. I just bought another 10 pounds of fresh boneless chicken breasts ($1.99lb) 5 pounds of ground chuck ($2.75lb) and 3 pounds of local Hillbilly Hollow hot pork sausage ($4.49lb) to do another meat and spaghetti sauce run.

I'm gonna need a bigger boat.

 

[big brown horse]

I almost wasted some of my vodka tonic on that one!!

 

[SKR8PN]

The Fruit Fresh or citric acid is just another option for you.

I NEVER re-use my lids. $0.02
I figure they are cheap insurance.........

LOVE the picture of you and your boat. I am "in the same boat"

 

[SKR8PN]

Thanks for the info but have one more question, I just let the canner cool for an hour then pulled all the jars, it seems that most of the fruit have shrunken and no longer a 1/4" from the top and are now floating leaving an inch of free liquid at the bottom. This means the tops are not immersed.

Normal. Don't concern yourself.

 

[Farmfresh]

You sure might need a bigger boat! Then again I seem to float pretty well these days WITHOUT a boat at all! Perhaps that is the best option.

Sometimes I reuse canning lids, but never to can. My time and ingredients are too valuable to allow a jar to not seal or go bad trying to save a dime.

I mark used canning lids by using a Sharpie marker or (even better) I spray the tops with paint made for metal. After they are marked I use them to seal jars full of dry goods, like beans, peas, pasta and things that I have dehydrated. Those used lids shut plenty tight for that kind of thing.

 

[xpc]

I almost wasted some of my vodka tonic on that one!! I make some of the best white dog vodka in these parts.

Pressure canner modification - I just voided the warranty on my 3 day old skin grafting device.

With the rubber over pressure plug and the wobble weight stem I don't think you could blow the lid off of a canner but could still make a dangerous steaming mess. If used just for canning rather than cooking the wobble stem shouldn't get plugged with frothing food stuff either.

Note: psig is the standard notation to say it is read from an ambient gauge hence the added "g"
Side note: psia is the absolute value and at sea level would be 14.7 psia or 0 psig

I looked up my Presto 16qt model and it is sold both with or with the pressure gauge, they sell a replacement online for $18. I had a new gauge just aching to be put to use so drilled and tapped a hole for it. Most gauges sold in this size are 1/4" npt (1/4 -18) and uses a 7/16" tap drill, I only had a 27/64" inch bit that would fit my cordless drill (being 1/64" small is ok) the aluminum lid was fairly thick but still only got 3 thread engagements at best so I backed it up from the inside with a brass bulkhead fitting and with a tad of teflon tape it never leaked.

My gauge reads from minus -30" of mercury to 30 psig, the best size to use is anything that reads in the middle of the scale for your intended use. For a pressure cooker a 0-30 psig would be best for a bourdon tube or even a d'arsonval meter movement.

My gauge is a little off and reads high for 500 feet, it should read 0.3 psi but actually reads1 psi. With a 2 quart water test the 5psi weight wobbles when the gauge reads 7 psig, 10 psi weight at 11.5 psig, and the 15 psi weight at 16 psig. Remember the gauge reads high by 1 so the 15psi is right on.

Just like a thermometer on a moonshine still the canner gauge is not necessary but gives you something to look at when making souse while getting soused.

The photo is a bit deceiving as the gauge is really 3" behind the wobbler

This is my diving helmet, 50 pounds of copper and brass - it is a replica and worth around $300 the real McCoy is $5000+ but will still protect me in the event of a steaming botulism explosion. I bought it 10 years ago as tribute to friend who drowned while mooring a ship, hence the death card.

Don't pay no never mind to the dust as keeping this place clean while drywall sanding is pert near impossible.

I would like to add the cautionary statement that modifying this can be dangerous to life and limb and would have no legal recourse if it were to fail and you are injured, regardless if the gauge modification was the cause or not.

 

[Farmfresh]

Sir why is it that you remind me of my GEEK son?

Could it be because the very first thing he ever does when buying a new item is to tear the thing apart and modify the living daylights out of it? I feel for your mother. I bet she never had an appliance with all of the manufactures screws in it either! I bet she understands the slim ray of hope you have carrying a piece of bread to the place where you LAST saw the toaster.

 

[xpc]

These are only a couple hours old - what makes the pears turn hot pants pink?

My first run - low on broth but will try harder next time, they are refrigerated for now. I think I have to do a better skimming job.

 

[Farmfresh]

Did you say before that you released the pressure on that batch of jars? If so that is what pulled the water out of the jars - higher pressure inside the jar than out. Let the canner sit until very cool.

Must be the variety of pear you canned that made it red. ??