Broken Jars when canning

sir-vivor

Well-Known Member
This has not happened in 30 yrs to me but today I broke 6 of my 24 Jars when canning... It especially hurt because it was SOCKEYE :(

SO, What's your theory on this happening ?
 
Did they break right away or during the canning, or after you opened the canner?

If right away it could be a sign your jars and fish were too cold for how hot the water was that you put them into. If it happened during the canning a few things can be the reason. Some include... too full of jars, jars touching the outside of the canner will get the jars too hot, jars touching the bottom of the canner and not on a rack will cause them to break during cooking, if your pressure and heat went too high during the canning like above 15 pounds pressure and too hot a flame under the canner. If they broke after you opened the canner it can mean you opened the canner too quickly and didn't allow the inside temp of the canner to reduce down enough before opening it. The change in temperature can cause them to crack. Make sure you not only leave the weight on the vent and canner closed while the pressure reduces to zero, but also still give it 40 minutes to cool down before opening the canner. Should ensure no cracks after the canning is complete.
 
Did they break right away or during the canning, or after you opened the canner?

If right away it could be a sign your jars and fish were too cold for how hot the water was that you put them into. If it happened during the canning a few things can be the reason. Some include... too full of jars, jars touching the outside of the canner will get the jars too hot, jars touching the bottom of the canner and not on a rack will cause them to break during cooking, if your pressure and heat went too high during the canning like above 15 pounds pressure and too hot a flame under the canner. If they broke after you opened the canner it can mean you opened the canner too quickly and didn't allow the inside temp of the canner to reduce down enough before opening it. The change in temperature can cause them to crack. Make sure you not only leave the weight on the vent and canner closed while the pressure reduces to zero, but also still give it 40 minutes to cool down before opening the canner. Should ensure no cracks after the canning is complete.
Wow great response and yes I was guilty of a few, especially the 15 lbs, it was a propane heater and got away on me to about 17 lbs, so that probably did it or it could have been a few others... I guess I learnt something today... Thanks Chasin Dreams
 
Wow great response and yes I was guilty of a few, especially the 15 lbs, it was a propane heater and got away on me to about 17 lbs, so that probably did it or it could have been a few others... I guess I learnt something today... Thanks Chasin Dreams
No problem. I've cracked a few over the years too lol. It happens but ya going above 15 can do it pretty quickly especially if the jars are pretty full cause they will expand and boil pretty quick when a it gets too hot and too much pressure. Ya sucks it was Sockeye that's my favorite to can!
 
One thing I did notice they were all on the top row .. Any thoughts?
Only thing I can think of if it's just top row jars is that they may have stayed cooler longer than the ones you put into the warm or hot water on the bottom row. If the jars and fish were cool and you brought the canner up hot quickly it would affect those jars not in water in a worse way than the ones that were sitting in the water. And another thought could be different brands of jars? Are they all the same jars. I know some of the non name brand jars have some bad reputations for breaking.
 
I put all my jars I'm going to be using to can in just boiled water before filling them with fish, or other foods to can so that they are nice and warm/hot before going in the pressure canner so that the temp difference is negligible.
 
Sorry to hear about your cracked jars SV. I don't know the brand of canner you have but if it's an All American and you're hitting 17 lbs pressure then you should consider changing from the pressure gauge to a pressure regulator weight. You also need the vent pipe change to go with it. Part numbers on this page are OpcAA68 and OpcAA69. No more standing by and keeping track of the gauge!!
http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamericanpressurecannerparts.htm
 
My canner is a Presto , about 35 years old , same regulator weight and guage. Why do you think I need some new parts B-T ?
Do you think at 17lbs it should have pressured off ?
I place my jars in boiling water for about 5 min to sterilize them , then let them cool to the touch and then put my salmon in and then into the cooker. Don't think that could damage them because it would be more than "just the top row effected", don't ya think?
I have heard from other guys that there were some crappy grade glass used (something to do with sand mixed in them) for canning jars a few years back and they will crack ... I have disregarded this but now its sounding more and more plausible, but to have 6 in one batch crack , hmmmm I must have done something wrong. I wish I would have kept track of the jars which had some slightly frozen fish in them (just crystallized still a bit ) bet that didn't help lol
 
No new or additional parts needed if that's your canning set-up SV. I have some jars that are 30 plus years old as well as jars that are newer right up to last year. When I empty a jar of product it gets a good hand scrub and wash and stored with the screw lid covering some wrap to keep it dust free inside till the next usage. Jars go in the dishwasher before refill and are filled at room temperature with product. New snap lids sit in hot boiled water for 30 seconds or so before going on the jars followed by the screw top fitted snug but not tight (tightened first, backed off and then snugged back up). They go in the canner with room temperature water in it. On with the lid and turn on the stove till steam comes out the vent release. The vent gets closed and the canner comes up to pressure. I can my fish @ 10lbs psi for 90 minutes. The gauge might hit 11lbs once in a while but then the weight wobbles and I'm back at 10lbs. After 90 minutes off goes the heat and the canner gets left alone it's completely cooled and pressure gauge is at zero.

I'm not criticising your equipment or methods. Just letting you know what works for me and you can take or ignore my input at your discretion.
 
I've had this problem in the past and I watch all the things CD says I ended up replacing a lot of my old jars and the problem went away I also switched to the small salmon jars from the 500 ml size so when there is a loss it't not so bad
 
This has not happened in 30 yrs to me but today I broke 6 of my 24 Jars when canning... It especially hurt because it was SOCKEYE :(

SO, What's your theory on this happening ?
Sir-vivor: I agree with most points made by Chasin Dreams in his first post. I have canned salmon for over 40 years (thousands of jars) and have had only the occasional jar break during that time (less than 1 in 100). Most of these I attribute to fatigue as some of my jars may have been used 20 or 30 times or more.
Some points that you may want to consider:
-I sterilize my jars in the oven at 225 F for 10 minutes (washed and rinsed prior to oven)
-my jars go into hot tap water in the canner (on rack) which will be similar temp to the hot jars coming out of the oven (handle them with dish towel as they are pretty warm)
- don't overfill jars as suggested (base of threads - 3/4 inch)
-don't over tighten lids
-I process at 15 lb. for 90 minutes which I believe is the current recommendation (used to use 10 lb. for 100 minutes as per my Presto canners recommendation)
-I have a pressure gauge and rocker that starts when 16 lb.+, I have got to 17 lb. before when canning on propane equipment and I don't remember that causing broken jars.
-when your canner has cooled down naturally after processing time (just removed from heat) and the pressure vent has dropped I remove my weighted rocker (top to vent). I open my canner soon after the top is removed (only a minute or two is necessary but longer certainly wouldn't hurt). Make sure to open the canner away from you as lots of very hot steam will be released.
-I lift my jars out with a lifting tool and place to cool on the counter. If they are still boiling on the counter they are going to seal.
Hopefully you can figure out the issue you had.
...Good Luck Rob
 
Thanks for all the responses.

One more question , do you think slightly frozen salmon put in the jars is a problem ?
 
Thanks for all the responses.

One more question , do you think slightly frozen salmon put in the jars is a problem ?

Yes for sure that can be a big problem. Should try to have the jars and contents as close to the temp as the water bath you are putting them into to avoid having them crack from temp difference. I make sure everything I can is at room temp and I pre heat my canning jars in boiled water before going in the canner as well as putting the seals and rings in another pot with boiled water. Soon as it boils I kill the flame then add the rings and seals to that pot. And the jars I do the same with except they stay in boiling water for a few minutes then I kill that flame and leave them in there for a bit before taking them out and filling them with the foods. Try to get any air pockets out too between food layers and always leave about 1/2 to an inch of head space in each jar.
To get all the air evacuated out of the pressure canner after fastening the lid on, put the heat on without the pressure weight on and let it steam away for a full 10 minutes. That gets all the trapped air out of the canner. Then put the weight on and reduce the heat flame and let the pressure build slowly not with too high of heat/flame. Keep your pressure between 10/11 pounds. If it drops under that you need to not count the minutes of time that it was under 10 lbs. I leave mine in for 100 minutes at 10/11 pounds. Then I kill the heat but leave the vent weight on and let the pressure reduce to zero with lid and weight still closed and on. Then when pressure is at zero, remove the weight but still leave the lid on locked for at least 30 to 40 minutes for the whole unit to cool down some. Then unlock the lid and remove the lid and jars.
 
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