Pressure canner recommendations?

Hoping I can tap into the wealth of experience here. It has been on my project list (for quite a few years now) to begin pressure canning my own dried beans... but I never got around to buying the pressure canner. A TV pressure cooker infomercial got me thinking about it again; but when I read some of the reviews, I found out that it was really unsuitable for canning.

Researching further, there are tons of pressure canners... and many of them have mixed reviews. Can I assume that pressure canners with gaskets should be avoided? Are some models safer than others, in terms of pressure release? And since most pressure canners seem to be made of aluminum, would the metal-on-metal seals corrode over time?

I browsed through some of the canning threads (found the one on dry beans!), but didn't see any that really addressed the choice of canner itself.

I've had great success with a Presto canner.

THANX RICH

We like our All American pressure cooker #921. DH does all the canning, so I don't know much about it, but he says it doesn't corrode because it is dry. And then added, when you want something to last, you use metal, not rubber.

I also have the All American 921 canner. I adore it. I call it The Beast. It is heavy machined aluminum, no rubber gasket. The lid is precision machined to fit on the pot and it bolts down. After years of using a rubber gasket canner with the dial gauge that I had to constantly regulate, I finally got the canner I really wanted. The All American is the only pressure canner made in America. It has the dial gauge and also comes with the weights that you place over the vent pipe to regulate how many pounds of pressure, so much easier to use! I can double stack pints in it. I can't say enough good things about my All American 921!!

I bought mine from here;

https://www.everythingkitchens.com/all-american-pressure-cooker-921.html

After using my canner, I run a THIN film of olive oil around the edge with my finger.

The All American pressure canners are one of those that I am considering. It just strikes me as odd that nearly all of the better canners are made out of aluminum... I would have thought steel would be more common.

Zeedman said:

The All American pressure canners are one of those that I am considering. It just strikes me as odd that nearly all of the better canners are made out of aluminum... I would have thought steel would be more common.

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Aluminum is lighter weight than steel. When I tell you that I named mine The Beast, it is because it is HEAVY and THICK. If The Beast were made out of steel, I'd need a crane to lift it to the stove!

Between weight and the 2 facts-aluminum heats up and cools off faster and doesn’t rust, best possible material to make a canner out of.

I am looking at an All American canner too. I would love to get the 30 quart, for the capacity, but it would be a tight fit under my range hood and may be too heavy when loaded for my glass cooktop. So I guess I'll settle for the 21.5 qt.

After canning several hundred jars in my ancient Old National #7, I have spent enough money on gaskets that I could have already bought a new canner. The first gasket that it had when I got it must have been a better quality rubber than those made nowadays. It lasted quite awhile. If any oil gets on them, they warp and sabotage you mid-batch and make you wish you had thought to have a spare on hand! I'm looking forward to having a gasket-less canner.

On the newer canners, there are safety features, so all of the newer ones (and even my old one really) are quite safe if used properly. Probably the greatest risk would be wandering off and forgetting about it. They all have fail-safe over-pressure release valves though. The new canner I'm looking at has a jiggler and a gauge as well, so you can be doubly sure you are at the correct pressure. This has more to do with attaining correct temperature to kill germs than it does with blowing it up. You'd have to negligently let the valves get all plugged up with crud for something to go wrong.

In Mo. you used to be able to take your canner to the local Univ. Extension Center and they would test it and give you a new seal for the lid.
I don't know if they still do that or not.

THANX RICH