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.

Good luck. I have been canning venison for several years. Filling the canner with water up to the collar on the jars per that video seems excessive. Check your manual. I have a middle of the road presto canner and the book instructs to add 3 quarts (12 cups) of water to the canner once the jars are placed on the rack. This only brings water up several inches on the jar. Once the cap goes on the vent, I think its impossible to lose the water as vapor from a pressure canner. I process my pints for 75 mins @ 11 lbs. Later, when it cools and I remove the cover, I have about the same amount of water as when I started. Best thing to do is check the manual. It will tell you how much water to add.

I would guess that if a pint is a pound roughly in liquid measure, then that is about how much deer meat it will hold. The liquid in the meat almost fills the jar and the liquid would be where most of the weight is.

I usually put a couple of inches of water in my canner then put the jars in. The jars will make the water rise some. I have never run dry, but I have not kept it going for an hour and a half. I think, once you get the pressure up, you do not lose much steam(water) just holding that temp. If that is the case, you would not use much water. If Steve Hall puts water up to the bottom of the ring on a pint jar, that is not really all that high. If I was using quart jars, I would not try to have it up to the ring on them, I think that would be too high. Do a cooking of pint jars with the water at the ring, you should not run out. After it is done and cooled, see how much the water level went down before you take the jars out. That should give you an idea. Let us know.

I am sure you know that you use Vasoline on the edges where the top and bottom come together. Not much, just a little to make a seal.

This is the first I have heard about vasoline is it for the lid and the bottom of the cooker? What top and bottom are you talking about. My cooker does not have a rubber seal. Confirmed with the manual that it is not supposed to.

Flyinlowe--Those All American canners do not have a gasket between the bottom and the lid. There is an area where they meet that is polished very smooth. When the lid is correctly in place it will seal if there is just a film of Vasoline on the surfaces where the lid and bottom meet. Also, there is a little arrow near the edge of the lid pointing down. This arrow needs to be pointing to a verticle mark on the canner body when the lid is on, otherwise you may harm the canner when you tighten the screw-downs. The lid is made to fit in one position only--when that arrow is pointing to the line. When you tighten the screw downs you do it like lug nuts--tighten them evenly, not just on one side real thigt and then do the other. They do not have to be real tight, just snug. This is made of aluminum, which is a soft metal so be careful. Do not bang the lid or body with anything on the sealing surface, a little damage and it may not seal again. All this should be in your book. If it is not, get on-line with the company, they did have instructions there. Also, not a bad idea to take it somewhere and get the gage checked to see if it is accurate. The Ext. Service does that here for free, mine was off a pound, but if it was way off that could be a problem. They say to check it every year.

Thanks again. The prevoius owner used a marker and made two huge arrows to make sure the lid lines up right. The book does say to evenly tighten to screws across from each other to keep it even.

Flyinlowe--You can see the directions on-line at allamerican-chefsdesign.com. They sell parts, etc. there and at store.wafco.com. I was reading in the directions that they say to put one and a half inches of water into the empty canner, then add the jars. I use two inches. They say never to fill it where the canner is 2/3 of the way full. Good luck.

Well I did my first batch tonight and all went well. I was a little nervous at first because once it got over 15 PSI I had my stove turned almost all the way down and it stayed at 15 PSI. I was beginning to think the gauge was stuck. One of the videos I saw the guy said he leaves his burner on med-high to maintain pressure (7 out of ten on the dial). Mine was between simmer and the number 1, I could here it boiling inside so I left it alone. Once I turn off the heat it lowered as it should and when it got just above zero I slowly opened the valve and it released a small amount of pressure and then dropped to zero so I know the gauge was OK. Once the pressure was gone to zero I carefully removed the jars to cool and have not touched them. After 5-10 minutes the seals started popping so I think all is good. I ended up filling pint jars, I used 1 beef bouillon cube per jar and added a little beef broth as well. I will let you know tomorrow how the final product turned out.
I put the jars in and added water until the jars were about half way covered. There was plenty of water left in the canner when it was done.

Once its up to pressure 10# at low elevation, you need barley any heat to keep up the pressure. Running it to hot will over pressurize the 10# weight that controls the PSI.

Thanks
I learned that lesson quickly and it went a little better on my second batch. Once it got to 15 I turned it down to simmer and it stayed very close for the entire time.

Congrats Flyinlowe. Sounds good, wish I had some deer to can. Next year for sure. Does your canner have the weight that has the three settings and wobbles around to control the pressure? Mine does not, you have to keep track of the pressure with the gage and adjust the heat to keep it like you want it. The newer models have the round weight that wobbles, I like that better, you do not have to adjust the heat as much with them, I am told.

Thanks for the lessons. My wife and I have put up jellies,fruit and veggies but never Venison. Now that I have the info I intend to give it a try.

Definitely give it a try. My cooker has a gauge as well not the weight.

You got a good one, Flyinlowe, I need to convert mine. Let us know how the canned deer turned out, taste wize.

Turned out very good and tender. You can shred it between 2 fingers.