Shandy Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I've been using this canner for years. This year I ran into trouble twice. The first time, there was steam coming out the side. I turned off the heat, waiting till the thing cooled down, opened it up, took off the vaseline coating and put it back on, then started the process over again, carefully tightening down the bolts in the order it was supposed to go. And then things went smoothly from there on out. Now this morning, I'm canning stewed tomatoes. Did everything the way I always have, but as it's canning, I notice little bubbles of water all around the underneath of the lid where it meets the canner. The pressure was staying up, but I did notice that I had to raise the heat higher to keep the weight working. I didn't notice that I wasn't hearing the weight wobble for about 10 minutes or so. And then...weird...the whole thing cooled down in half the time it normally does. It usually takes 45 to 50 minutes. This time, it was pressure free in 20 minutes. Should I reprocess? And does anyone have any idea of what exactly I might be doing wrong here? Anyone ever have this happen to your canner? Link to comment
Canned Nerd Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 If you lose pressure (wobbling) at any time you MUST bring the pressure back up and start your time from the BEGINNING. If you did not do this the contents are not yet safe. You must complete a successful processing from beginning to end. Reprocessing must be completed within 24 hours. Sounds like you need a new gasket. I'm not sure why you were adding vaseline to it, but normal use it doesn't require anything. Link to comment
Violet Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 She has an All American.They have no gasket. They have that metal to metal seal with bolts. Folks use Vaseline on them to get a good seal. It may be time to take a light steel wool to the tops of the sealing surfaces, I don't know. Why not try emailing the company ? My concern is that if they cooled down too fast they may be underprocessed. The time it takes for a canner to get to pressure and cool down is all part of the processing time and is factored in. Link to comment
Shandy Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Right, Violet. That is my concern also...the fact that it cooled down so quickly. I'm going to go ahead and reprocess them. Thank goodness they are stewed tomatoes. Reprocessing isn't going to hurt them any. The lids are all sealed and pretty. I have always removed all lids and put on new ones when I've reprocessed. But I've never had a situation quite like this one. Do you think I should change them all over for new as usual? I will email the company. I've had it for so many years, and have never done anything more than take a plastic scratcher to it every once in a while and at the end of the season. It might be that I have some build up on some edge somewhere. Thanks, Violet. Link to comment
Violet Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 You need to bring them all up to a boil, heat new lids and process all over. Stewed tomatoes need a hot pack. I am so sorry you have to do this ! Better safe than sorry. Link to comment
Shandy Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 I agree. Everything is still pretty warm, so I was just going to replace the lids. But I'm not into taking shortcuts since my kids eat these foods. I'll redo it. Tomatoes are easy. It could have been *much* worse. And I did find what could have been a tiny bit of build up. We'll see how it works when I get this next batch on. Link to comment
Canned Nerd Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I learned something new...that the All American doesn't have a gasket (and the use of Vaseline. Always nice to learn something new each day. I shall research that more. Thanks for the correction. Link to comment
Shandy Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Canned Nerd, you should have seen how confused I was about a 15 pound weight on a Presto Canner. Never having used one of those, I was feeling mighty sorry for the lady with such a mixed up canner. LOL Link to comment
Robert Z Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 sounds to me like you might have a leak? I would contact all American as suggested before. Link to comment
Shandy Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 Thanks, Robert. I think my husband found the problem. We did indeed have a leak, but it appears it was caused by one of the bolts being out of whack. He cleaned it up using some kind of tool he has for making screws, and after that, things seemed to be back to normal. I'd been having trouble this year with getting the lid off after canning. I guess the lid was sitting on just a tiny bit cockeyed because of the screw. I'm keeping a close eye on all my canned goods this winter to make sure everything was canned properly. Just in case. Link to comment
Robert Z Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 sounds like one of the bolts got cross threaded, and he chased the threads with a thread cutting die. Makes sense, it would get hard to turn giving you the illusion that it was tight. It also makes sense why your lid was hard to remove, if it was warped out of round caused by all of the bolts being tight except one it could get bound up. I learned my lesson the hard way to make sure I put vasaline EVERY time. When I first got mine, I canned everything I coudl get my hands on. I inadvertently processed 3 times in a row without renewing the vasaline, that third time I broke the plastic handle on top of the lid trying to twist it loose when it wouldn't budge. I ended up having to use a screw driver to force the lit to twist. Once it was off it was fine, just learned another valuable lesson! I am glad to hear you guys got your canner straighted out, that is the sort of thing that makes me loose sleep! Link to comment
Shandy Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 Originally Posted By: Robert Z sounds like one of the bolts got cross threaded, and he chased the threads with a thread cutting die. Yes. In man language, that is what happened. I just don't know the right words for what happened and how he had to fix it. LOL OK. Now I don't put vaseline on the threads every time. You do? If you do, then maybe I should be doing this. Tho I've been using this particular canner for years and this is the first time it's happened. But like you...I'd lose sleep over it if I thought this was going to affect all those jars of food in my pantry. Link to comment
Robert Z Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I do not put vasaline on the bolt threads at all, I put it on the sealing surfaces between the lid and the pot. I do renew this coating EVERY TIME now, not because it really needs it every time, but because I know I will not forget to do it every 3'rd time and get my lid stuck again. Link to comment
Shandy Posted October 16, 2008 Author Share Posted October 16, 2008 OK. Got it. Thanks, Robert. Link to comment
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