Canning meat/what Equipment is needed, how much canning is necessary

[Alana]

I haven't had much problems with sealing, had only one that didn't seal. I generally leave at least 1.5 inches of headroom.

Other thing is to painstaikingly make sure the rime and the lids are clean, as any small particle might prevent a proper seal. I wash them and clean them with vinegar prior to putting the lids on.

In addition to this, a thing that herondancer taught me to do is after you clean well with vinegar the lids and the jar lips, put the lids into a bowl of hot water for a minute or two, and then scoop them out with a magnet wand (looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Harold-Import-Company-Inc-43605/dp/B002PX54XS ) so as not to burn your fingers, and place them on the jars. I think that helps the lids seal better.

 

[SummerLite]

Thank you Alana,

The question about heating the lids came up for me last night as I was preparing to can pork. Because of arranging so many pots on my stove I wondered if heating these was really necessary since I usually have a pot of hot water set on low temp to keep the lids hot on the stove, to hot will damage the lid. I did a quick search on the net (isn't it great to have this resource). As of 2014(?) the Ball lids no longer need to be kept hot just wash with hot, soapy water. Looking at the manufactures instructions for what type of lid you have is advised which I did and hot lids where needed for my brand.

Thought I'd mention that but more research should be done before changing methods to make sure. I have read recently that the Ball lids seem to be the best for good sealing. My more generic brand has done well though except for the bone broth debacle.

 

[SeekinTruth]

FWIW, I haven't had a single Ball jar/lid not seal. Other types, I've had problems with. Fat escaping doesn't lead to not sealing either. Also, when you want to open the canner, make sure that the pressure pop-up thingy is down, as the pressure gauge could show 0, but if still have pressure in there if the pop-up hasn't fallen down. Oh, and when opening, you can lift and tilt the lid away from you to keep the steam away.

 

[SummerLite]

Hey all you highly experienced canners!

I'm looking into how to can fats at the moment since its such a staple of the keto diet but also is healthy for others as well. I'm running into contradictory info on if you can or cannot, can lard. Does anyone have experience/knowledge about this? The search option didn't return much with this.

I'm working on my butter supply and will make my first batch of ghee soon. I suppose this is safer then canning straight butter although that is another gray area. Some say its okay if done correctly others say don't take the chance.

Here's a post from a site I just read that speaks about canning lard and butter:

Oh, and canning lard? The solution there is fairly simple. The temperature you need to reach to kill botulism is 240 degrees Fahrenheit. The highest temp you can get boiling water not under pressure to is 212, hence the need to pressure can low-acid foods or any other food that can support botulism growth. The highest temperature you can get a fat or oil to, though, as opposed to water, depends on its smoke point. The smoke point for lard is something like 350 to 370, so it's not too hard to get a kettle of lard well above 240 through and through but still keep it below the temp where it starts breaking down. Then you can it by hot packing it into sterilized jars and capping it with sterilized lids. That takes care of the temperature penetration problem in a jar of lard (and the fat interfering with seal problem as long as you keep the jar lip completely fat free while filling the jar--use a sterilized wide-mouth funnel). Butter is much trickier since it smokes at 250 to 300, so it may make sense to buy the commercially canned butter from Australia. Clarified butter or ghee, on the other hand, has a smoke point up in the high 400s, so that's even easier than lard to sterile hot pack. You need to have equipment that lets you safely handle very hot (and therefore very dangerous) oil, and you need to understand and use good sterile technique, but many oils and fats *can* be put up at home with no botulism risk at all.

Looks like this person is also canning ghee which may be unnecessary since it will keep for up to a year I believe in a cool dark place.

So what are you guys doing to can your fats?
Thanks :)

 

[fabric]

Hey all you highly experienced canners!

I'm looking into how to can fats at the moment since its such a staple of the keto diet but also is healthy for others as well. I'm running into contradictory info on if you can or cannot, can lard. Does anyone have experience/knowledge about this? The search option didn't return much with this.

I'm working on my butter supply and will make my first batch of ghee soon. I suppose this is safer then canning straight butter although that is another gray area. Some say its okay if done correctly others say don't take the chance.

Here's a post from a site I just read that speaks about canning lard and butter:

Oh, and canning lard? The solution there is fairly simple. The temperature you need to reach to kill botulism is 240 degrees Fahrenheit. The highest temp you can get boiling water not under pressure to is 212, hence the need to pressure can low-acid foods or any other food that can support botulism growth. The highest temperature you can get a fat or oil to, though, as opposed to water, depends on its smoke point. The smoke point for lard is something like 350 to 370, so it's not too hard to get a kettle of lard well above 240 through and through but still keep it below the temp where it starts breaking down. Then you can it by hot packing it into sterilized jars and capping it with sterilized lids. That takes care of the temperature penetration problem in a jar of lard (and the fat interfering with seal problem as long as you keep the jar lip completely fat free while filling the jar--use a sterilized wide-mouth funnel). Butter is much trickier since it smokes at 250 to 300, so it may make sense to buy the commercially canned butter from Australia. Clarified butter or ghee, on the other hand, has a smoke point up in the high 400s, so that's even easier than lard to sterile hot pack. You need to have equipment that lets you safely handle very hot (and therefore very dangerous) oil, and you need to understand and use good sterile technique, but many oils and fats *can* be put up at home with no botulism risk at all.

Looks like this person is also canning ghee which may be unnecessary since it will keep for up to a year I believe in a cool dark place.

So what are you guys doing to can your fats?
Thanks :)

Funny enough we just canned 22lbs of butter today! I read something similar to the above quote and with tallow/lard, I just simply ladle it into sterile jars and put the lid on. As it cools down it will self seal and can be kept for years. Just make sure you strain it with a cheese cloth so no chunks get in it. Animal fats are very shelf stable as long as they aren't exposed to air. Even when they are they can hold out pretty well before it goes rancid.

Butter is still kind of a grey area for me too. I've read up on different methods and there seems to be 2 common ways - pressure canning and water bath canning. I decided to err on the side of caution and pressure can, though people have water bath canned and haven't had issues. However in a SHTF scenario, when you are likely to be digging into your canned stores, last thing you need is a case of botulism. Now, when you pressure can butter, you actually kinda turn it into ghee by virtue of the temperatures it's exposed to. When they come out of the canner, you can see the milk solids have separated and have sunk down to the bottom. If you want butter, you'll need to shake it every 20-30 minutes or so to mix everything back up or what you'll end up with is ghee.

Here are some vids that I found were pretty helpful when I was canning butter:

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIWAEuWiobo
_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcV3aXTqKvg (here she makes into ghee first then cans it - but you could probably skip that step and put it directly in to jars like with lard)

And if you don't already have one, a canning funnel is your friend :)

 

[SummerLite]

Thanks fabric! Perfect!

I like the first method for canning butter with the pressure canner and will go with this. One question I had that wasn't covered is how long do the jars need to cool before shaking them. I would say at least several hours to make sure the seal is seated. I think this is a great method and hadn't heard of it before. Much easier then making ghee on the stove top I think.

Also, how long do you simmer or boil your lard or tallow to get it hot enough to kill off the bugs? I'm referring to the little clip I posted which says:

The smoke point for lard is something like 350 to 370, so it's not too hard to get a kettle of lard well above 240 through and through but still keep it below the temp where it starts breaking down. Then you can it by hot packing it into sterilized jars and capping it with sterilized lids.

Does a temperature gauge need to be used or what? I'll need to find more info on that process. I'll post if I find a good one.

I have 9lbs. of butter so far, all grass fed. At $6.25 a pound its a bit pricey and may buy something cheaper down the road. But working on the grass fed for now. Canning is a lot of fun, I'm enjoying it. I may just can 1 lb. first for practice.

 

[fabric]

Once the canner is cool enough to remove the lid, they are probably well sealed, but the jars might still be pretty hot depending on how long you waited. The one I've got is an All American canner. It has a pressure gauge and basically when that is at 0 you are okay to remove the weight. Normally I wait a couple of hours after I've turned off the burner then slowly let the any air vent out by moving the weight so it just hisses lightly. This so I don't shock the jars by suddenly changing any remaining pressure. Once you have the jars out of the canner, you can shake them as soon as you can hold them without the jar burning your hand. In my case they were quite warm but not so hot I couldn't hold them. Don't forget to re-tighten the bands before shaking! I checked the seals before I put them away once it they all stabilized.

If you have room in your fridge, you can speed the process up a bit by putting them in there and giving them a good shake every 10-15 min. The ones I did at room temp took about 3 hours to stabilize while the few in the fridge took about 1 hour. You can experiment and see which way works better for you.

With the lard/tallow, I usually render it and by the time I've finished getting all the goodness out of the fat, it has been on the stove simmering for 3-4hours. You can use a heat gun to check the temp (that's what I have). They are pretty handy and can find one for $20-30 but any thermometer will do.

I thought about using organic butter but it costs 3x the price what I can get a Costco so I just used regular butter, however in Canada they don't add all that extra stuff to the milk like they do in the US.

 

[SummerLite]

Thank you for your response fabric.

My jars are sealed after removing from the canner as well. I guess the confusion about the shaking comes from material in the Ball canning book which states place hot jars to cool for 12 hours and don't move the contents around in any way, which can cause seal failure. So I thought the seal was still forming as the jars cooled completely. hmm, still a bit miffed by this. Ball is the Bible but may have its glitches I guess.

Most of the video's I've found on lard are how to render your own as you do. I was considering purchasing the ready made and canning that. I'll see if I can get the actual fat and make my own.

I found this site that looks very good, full of all kinds of information on prepping. Here is a list of a few of their radio shows.
/http://prepperbroadcasting.com/

Todd Walker “The Survival Sherpa”
Life Hacks When Technology Fails
Building the Herbal First Aid Kit!
The Collapse Experiment Pilot episode
Enter to Win… The Silver Fire Rocket Stove!
Every Day Carry Emergency Kit
The self sufficient home!
Obtaining suitable water!
6 Tips to Lay Low Post-SHTF
Triage, Post-Collapse Priorities

Knowing how to store fats effectively (when you don't raise animals, long term ideas)
/http://prepperbroadcasting.com/2012/12/06/knowing-how-to-store-fats-effectively/

This is 30 minutes I believe, haven't listened to it all. Katzcradul is the speaker.

 

[liam1310]

Canned my first batch today :) kept it simple bought cheap meat pork and beef from the discount section in the supermarket enough to fill
six jars have the jars cooling in the kitchen at the moment seems like I got a good seal middle of the lids are sucked in so happy days think I done everything right kept the pressure gauge between 12-13 for 75 min using pint jars.

 

[Meg]

Canned my first batch today :) kept it simple bought cheap meat pork and beef from the discount section in the supermarket enough to fill
six jars have the jars cooling in the kitchen at the moment seems like I got a good seal middle of the lids are sucked in so happy days think I done everything right kept the pressure gauge between 12-13 for 75 min using pint jars.

Congratulations on your first batch! It sounds like it was a success. :D

 

[Zar]

Great thread guys, will start my canning in march once my jars arrive.

 

[Yupo]

I can ghee as soon as I make it. I put jars and lids on a baking tray in a hot oven. I pour the hot ghee through a filter and funnel into the hot quart jars and pop the hot lids on them, then rings.
The jars seal. I keep some around on the shelf, but for long storage I put the jars in a freezer.
When I make it, I run it through a filter before it goes into the jar.
I don't make the assumption it is sterile.
If I didn't have a freezer, I would keep in in a cool cellar of some sort.
Have not tried lard yet. I keep some grass fed tallow and lard in the refrigerator.
Lard is sold at room temperature in the store.

I have never tried to pressure can the fat. I think the fat can get to a much higher temperature in a pot on the stove than it will in a pressure canner. Also I don't like the idea of steam environment around fat. Theoretically it shouldn't matter, should not affect the jar contents.

If I'm doing little batches, I usually just top off the current jar I am using.

 

[Yupo]

Here are some thoughts from World Affairs Brief on canning:

PREPAREDNESS TIP: CANNING LIDS by Andrew Skousen
As I said in the first canning tip, the most important component in the canning process is the seal in the lid. The most common lids are from the Jarden Company (Ball, Kerr and Mason brands) with a built-in silicone sealing gasket where the lid touches the glass. If you avoid the Chinese imitations, these lids work very reliably but they are not very reusable. The sealing gasket conforms to the glass rim and develops a permanent depression. Many jars failed to seal.

If you use this popular canning system (and most people do) you will need a lot of these one-time use canning lids in your stockpile. How many lids? That depends: How good you are at other food preservation methods? You should learn to dehydrate food and build a root cellar for keeping raw food fresh, but bottled food is a very nice in-between. On that note, I recommend the book “Putting Food By” (old editions were better) for many preservation techniques including canning processing times and root cellar storage.

When will lids come back to stores? Hard to say. When hard times hit everyone will want jars and lids. Depending on rationing of metal, glass, etc. it could be a very long time before they reappear in stores... if ever. I fully expect the notion of “hoarders” to be demonized in society (more than in WWII) so anything symbolic of home preparedness might become blacklisted. Authoritative governments and dictators hate self-sufficient individuals because they aren’t coerced as easily.

How many jars do you have? 100 canning jars per small family is a bare minimum. With a good garden and a few fruit trees you can easily put away several hundred quarts each year. Get enough lids to bottle food in every jar you have at least 10 times over. Considering their excellent bartering potential (especially among the right kind of people) I would stock up with extra lids and jars. Note that half-gallon jars will hold twice the food per lid as quart jars. Bulk lids can be bought online for as little as $0.16/lid for regular lids (70 mm) or $0.21/lid for large mouth (86mm)—it is even cheaper if you buy by the case. For comparison purposes consider the cost for putting up 100 quarts every 10 years: for Mason jars (and 1,000 lids) it is about $250 for regular and $350 for wide mouth. Most of that cost is lids. Compare that with these options:

Tattler makes reusable plastic lids with rubber ring seals. These rings can be used until they break (some say they have used the same rings since the 70s). Tattler lids have some pros and cons include a higher failure rate to seal, difficulty assembling the hot lids and rings and the plastic “breathes” slightly. Their competitors claim these lids have lost up to 50% vacuum in jars over time. I suspect the white plastic (even though it is BPA free) also releases trace amounts of chemicals when under high heat and acidic environments (especially pressure canning), but in hard times I’ll be happy to keep canning even if it has a trace more of chemicals. The upside is big: Tattler lids are the cheapest reusable option. Even though they cost more (bulk price: $0.60-0.70/lid depending on size) they quickly pay for themselves. 100 jars, lids and rings that could last for 10 years can be had for only $150 for regular jars or $165 wide-mouth (this includes the cost of the jars but not S&H).

What did they use in old-fashioned times? Glass lids with rubber rings (or “jar rubbers”) held in place during processing by baling wire clamps. The USDA now recommends against this type of canning jar because supposedly you can’t tell if the seal was lost if it is still mechanically fastened. Don’t throw these jars away if you have them—just release the clamp after they seal. Test the jars in storage by periodically lifting slightly on the lids. There were also zinc lids with porcelain inserts and rubber rings, but those rings reportedly didn’t last long. You can find old parts on eBay and at Lehman’s but most sellers are demanding collector’s prices.

Looking for a modern version of the old-fashioned jars? Consider the European Weck Jars. Sturdy glass jars and glass lids with wide, chip-resistant rims sealed with reusable natural rubber rings—this is the “Rolls-Royce” of canning jars. The FDA requires them to say that the seals need to be replaced every time, but they can be reused dozens of times until they become brittle and crack enough to spoil the vacuum. Unfortunately there’s also a Rolls-Royce price: The cost for 100 jars, lids and seals is about $350. That’s over twice the cost of a Tattler lid setup but comparable to the accrued cost of buying wide mouth lids for 10 years. Weck doesn’t have bulk discounts and the jars are rare enough you won’t find any replacements in hard times, but for quality, health and durability these are the best.

My recommendation: if you haven’t filled out your jar inventory yet, buy about 100 of the liter Weck jars (roughly equivalent to quart jars) and use them for canning now and in hard times. The rest of your jars should be cheaper Mason jars but set aside Tattler lids for hard times. Buy metal lids in bulk for peacetime use and later barter.

As a side note: Most commercial glass jars (pickle, jelly, ketchup, etc) with metal lids have a silicone seal (usually white). These bottles and their lids could be reused in an emergency—although expect a higher failure rate. Careful, the lids retain flavors so don’t put peaches in what was once a pickle bottle.

 

[Yupo]

With the one piece lids, and also with Tattler lids, I think you have to re-tighten the lids as soon as you pull the jars from the canner. When the jar cools, a vacuum will be formed, sealing the contents. The outer ring can then be removed from the Tattler lid. I get more failures with Tattler lids, very few will Ball lids. Walmart lids are awful, IMO.

How many jars to buy? I would say to buy what you need, as you need, to put up one animal and one season of produce. Some you can freeze, some you can dehydrate, some you can can. I canned a lot of milk when I was getting it from a cow.

 

[lainey]

I have had a shot at canning. I have gone from being terrified of it to wanting to can all the time

I had a look at getting an All American Canner which I think is what most folk use, but the postage and import fees for the UK are wild and pretty much double the price of the canner. So I settled on this lil guy:

It's a 12L Kuhn Rikon Duromatic Hotel from Amazon. It's the biggest one they had - nowhere near the big baths I've seen - but I think it is fine if you are a one-man operation on a tighter budget.

It'll fit 7x 500ml jars in it, perhaps 5x 1L jars but I haven't bought and tried them yet. It also comes with a rack for the bottom so you don't need to order an extra trivet for it.

There is a gauge on the top that pops up once pressure starts building and once it gets to "two red lines" that means it is at the right pressure for doing meat (it gets to 11.6psi and I read meat needs at least 10psi)

I've done a couple of batches with no seal failures and no breakages and I'm so chuffed with the results

I got Kilner Mason Jars for the first batch, though in the UK getting the right jars is really freaking expensive. I did find a website that would send a batch of 100 jars though they weren't branded. I ordered a small batch of 6 to give them a shot and see if they were any good before thinking about getting a load of them.

The first time I used it, I sat in the kitchen with it eyeballing the red lines on the pressure gauge as if that was going to stop it from suddenly exploding which is what I thought would happen if I took my eyes off it for one second but once I did it once and found the "sweet spot" for keeping the heat under it at the right temperature to keep the pressure steady (which is super low) I allowed myself to enjoy the process.

So, if you read up enough about it, read other people's "troubleshooting" and read the instructions on your canner it's actually real easy and fun!