pressure canning leakage..

[trunkman]

Every time I pressure can I get leakage from whatever I'm canning, is this normal or am I doing something wrong? For instance, last night I canned Boston baked beans and when the beans were cooking I had a slight smell of the beans and when I was done the water had a little bit of a brownish tint to it. Any advice would be appreciated...

 

[hoodat]

You probably are not leaving enough headroom for expansion as the jars heat and some of the food is forcing its way out. Mark those jars and keep an eye on them to be sure they stay sealed. If some of the beans got between the jar edge and the seal they could spoil.

 

[patandchickens]

It may be a headroom problem, but a lot of people just DO have problems pressure-canning things that contain previously-dried beans, because the flesh of the beans can contain enough air to upset your headspace calculations. I am not sure how much you can actually do about this though?

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Ridgerunner]

This gives some reasons you might have leakage. To me the three big reasons are head space, not getting the rings tight enough (Don't overtighten them though or you'll have other problems. I've done that.), and dropping the pressure too quickly.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/general/cannedfoodproblems.html

I see that you are just using dried beans as an example. I've never tried canning dried beans or anything with dried beans in it. It's just too easy to put them in a gallon sized zip lock bag and freeze them. I have put over-ripe beans, what I call shelly beans, in soups that I can and have not noticed any problems like this.

A little leakage is not usually a huge problem. As long as the jar properly seals and you don't lose enough liquid to drop the level too far in the jar, you should be OK. But it is sure aggravating when your hands get sticky handling those jars. I've been known to wash the jars after they are properly sealed and before I put them in storage. If I wash them after I remove the ring, I know they are properly sealed.

 

[journey11]

I've also heard that cooling the canner off too fast or fluctuations in temp while the canner is processing (dropping the temp too quickly) can cause leakage.

My neighbor showed me how to can dried beans. The advantage to that is that you don't have to wait 8+ hours to soak, then a couple more to cook--you can just pop open a can of beans anytime you want them. I think they taste better too.

 

[hoodat]

I cook dried beans in the slow cooker before I fill my jars. Just be sure the beans are thoroughly cooked before you can. If they are the slightest bit underdone they will expand during pressure cooking.