Brand new to canning, need help

[rodant12]

Hi I'm brand new to canning, and I have a question about something that just recently happened. I make home made beer, and life is much easier for one part of the process if I have on hand some sterilized preserved liquid malt(aka wort). I looked into a recipe and processing time, and my processing time amounts to 25 min at 15 psi. I use the "All American" pressure canner for this process. I was canning today in quart jars, and when I put the lid on and began fastening it, I noticed that it wasn't applied quite evenly. As it at this point had just started venting, and hadn't built up much if any pressure, I decided to adjust the lid. I hadn't yet applied the weight, so I turned off the heat, undid the four clasps that I had done, and adjusted the lid. While doing so, I heard several pops inside the canner and saw that what had happened is that the sealing lids all went concave(as they do when the process is done). I went ahead with what I was doing anyway, adjusting the lid and processing the contents for 25 min at 15 psi. My question is, will this turn out ok? Do I need to worry about food poisoning of any sort considering that those lids all sealed up pretty much near the start of the entire process?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Rodant.

[Krislady]

Sealing the jars and processing them are actually two different things.

The sealing (when your lids popped) is because the contents of the jar were hot and contracted, pulling the lids towards it.

Processing is what takes the time - it's what makes the food in the jars shelf-stable (as long as they maintain a seal) (keeping in mind, of course, that some quality may be lost if the jars are stored for ridiculous amounts of time).

Assuming you processed your jars for the correct amount of time *and* the jars remain sealed after cooling, you should be fine.

I use an All American canner, too, and sometimes it does look as if the lid isn't on completely straight - drives me nuts! But as long as all the bolts are tightened down, I've never had a problem with pressure.

[rodant12]

Thanks, one more question.
Last night I was canning again, and after I turned the stove off, I forgot about the canner till I came to it this morning. I undid all the bolts, and had no trouble removing the lid. All the Jars were sealed; I know it sounds like a foolish thing to ask, but are these ok? Can I trust them?

[Krislady]

rodant12 wrote:
Thanks, one more question.
Last night I was canning again, and after I turned the stove off, I forgot about the canner till I came to it this morning. I undid all the bolts, and had no trouble removing the lid. All the Jars were sealed; I know it sounds like a foolish thing to ask, but are these ok? Can I trust them?

Yes, I wouldn't have a problem with them.

The first year I started canning tomatoes on my own, I went a little overboard and bought far too many to do at once. We started at about 3AM (we were up for another reason, so we decided what the heck and got started on the tomatoes), and we spent the entire day washing, peeling, processing, canning, pureeing - by the time we got to the last batch, it was after 1 the next morning, we processed them, shut the thing off, and went to bed. They were all fine the next morning.

[rodant12]

Thanks again. Appreciate the help.