Canning question.
 

Today was the last day of the deer season in Indiana. This year that had a two week doe only firearms season from Xmas until today. I had only killed one doe earlier in the year and was hoping for another. I had seen many and finally got another today on the last day.

Anyway I am going to can quite a bit of the meat from this one. A guy I met last year gave me a jar and I was hooked. He uses a cold pack and add's one beef bouillon per pint and then topped the jars off with a little bit of beef broth. I must say that I was impressed with the jar he gave me and so was the people I fed with it.
I have never canned before so I have been watching some vids. The only thing I see conflicting info on is how much water to start with in the pressure cooker. Some people add a couple inches and some people said to fill the cooker up to almost the top of the jars. Any tips, tricks, or input for a newbie to canning I am all ears.

Flyinlowe--You are going to be processing for awhile, MO Ext. Service says to process quarts for 90 minutes or pints for 75 minutes at 11 pounds. The big danger is boiling dry, so I would have the water half up on the jars when I started. If I was afraid that I was going to boil dry, I would cut the heat, let the pressure go down, open it up and take a look. You can add water if needed and then process it again. If it boils day it usually ruins the canner, my directions say. After the first run you will know how much boiled away. I don't like the water too near the top of the jars, but it may not hurt anything, I don't know. Whatever you do, stay with the canner while it is on a hot burner. Pressure can build quickly if you are not watching it and can cause bad things to happen. Good luck!

I was reading on a canning forum briefly last night and it said to cover the tops of the lids with water. I am going to do some more research but according to the article I was reading it is now common belief amongst the canning community that the jars should be covered during the process. Again I just skimmed the article and am going to do more research.

I can and pickle all the time. Meat however is somewhat off limits to me. Get yourself a airtight sealing machine like Foodsaver. WORKS GREAT. Just need a freezer. My meat tastes as good 6-12 months later. Fish too. Just something about the canning of meat that gets me. I Food Saver a whole deer in 1 hour. 1 1/2 tops. Anywho......

I notice that you mentioned the other guy used a "cold Pack" method. I think that is usually a term used when a water bath canner is used. Those are the blue enamel jobs that do not build up any pressure. They are great for canning garden foods that are acid, or have enough acid added. In those you cover the jars completely with water. It is easy to get the directions confused, some are for water bath canning, others are for a pressure cooker. In a pressure cooker I don't think you want to get the water too high because the rigorous boiling may throw water up into the pressure gage and the steam valve. But you do want enough that you do not boil it all off in 90 minutes. My pressure cooker directions say to have about two inches of water in the cooker before the jars are added. I usually top it up a little after the jars are added, I don't want it to boil dry. I have never had it even close to boiling dry so maybe that is an unnecessary worry. If your state has a Univ. of Indiana Extension Service, call them up. They will have some directions that they will send to you about how to do it right.

http://www.gopresto.com/downloads/in...ions/01781.pdf
go to this short cut from Presto pressure canners dont confuse your self between pressure canning & hot water bath method. water will not boil dry in a pressure canner. read all instructions on pressure canners they can be dangerous to use if you dont be careful

I think from what I have read we are using to different version of the term "cold pack". As far as the pressure cooker goes some people brown the meat first and then put it into the jar, and some put it in raw. The raw meat into the jar is also called a cold pack, even in a pressure cooker.
I was speaking with a neighbor of mine who is Amish and was surprised when he told me that he cans hundreds of pounds of meat a year and does not use the pressure cooker. He said they just use the large blue pots and boil them. He said the boil it twice as long as the pressure cooker recipes call for but he said they have never had problems. I am new to this but told him I didn't think you were supposed to do meat that way. He said his dad did it that way and he has done it that way for 30 years. He packs the raw meat in the jar and boils the jars for three hours. Since they don't use electricity he says they butcher entire cows and can the entire animal that way.

Stretch I am not doubting you as I am obviously the newbie here but I have been told by several people that a pressure canner will go dry if there is not enough water added. And I am sure the people I am talking to are not confusing the two. One of the people are the owners of the canner I bought from. It is an All American that is about 40 years old and they have been using it for a long time.

I came across this video earlier and thought it was pretty decent. The guys "seems" to know what he is doing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC93nOHMkEs

Flyinlowe--That guy in the video(Steve Hall??) seems to know what he is doing. He does give a little longer processing time then my directions give, but that won't hurt anything. I think you are right, cold pack and hot pack can be used for both procedures. Congrats on getting a fine canner. The All American is the Cadillac of canners. They also have a web site like Presto's and you can download directions, parts list, etc. there. I also have one of them, I got it used too and didn't know what a good canner it was until I checked around. I have not canned meat, but I will can some of my next deer. I am always short on freezer space, the wife keeps them filled with "bargans". I garden too, and garden stuff fills freezers fast. I think you probably have a good handle on the deer canning bit, just do what the video said, except you will have to watch a pressure gage like I have to. The newer All Americans have a weight on the lid like that Presto has, you don't have to watch a gage with them. Good luck.

I know the guy goes on and on about how good the canned venison is but I can tell you based on experience that he is correct. The small jar I ate last year was by far the best venison I had ever eaten. It was fall apart tender and had a great flavor. The best thing about it is that like the video mentions even the tough cuts come out good. The guy I got the jar from last year told me he butchers about 10 deer each season. All the stuff that he called "junk" cuts are what he cans. He said the meat that is not good enough to go into the sausage pile or the grinder gets canned. After eating that one jar I decided I was going to kill an extra doe this year and can a bunch of it. The doe I killed yesterday will have the loins and back strap removed and then about 15 pounds for summer sausage and I am cubing the rest of it up. Depending on how much I end up with I am going to grind about 10 pounds or so and can the rest. I have no idea how much cubed meat the pint jars will hold so I have no idea how many jars I will have to can or I will end up with.
I also looked inside the canner I bought and the original manual was in it. It is in pretty rough shape but had a lot of good info in it.