Canning Corned Beef Hash!!

[Worth1]

I dont care for some of the new modern electric programmable ones more than likely made in China.
There is a video of one of them exploding on its own.
I'm going to stick with All American Brand.
Some say they are over built but I dont care.
As far as I am concerned you cant over build a pressure vessel.
I have done some research and they are of the same casting as I think their sterilizers that run at I think 20 PSI.
Worth

[Spike2]

Well that was a complete and total disaster!! Not at all sure WTF just happened here. I made 7 quarts of hash. Checked the jars, lids and rings. Had everything hot, put hot stuff in hot jars, released bubbles, left 1" head space, sealed with hot lids, placed in canner and raise the heat and pressure. 90 minutes later, once the pressure went down, I opened the lid and BOOM . . . 6 of the 7 quart jars had the bottoms blown out. >,< This vexes me greatly and this should not have happened. Any idea WTH just happened here? This has never happened to me before and I am at a complete and total loss as to what caused this.

[Worth1]

One inch head space from where and did the pressure go down in its own buy letting it cool off.
And what kind of jars (Brand)?

I had one pop on me making homemade spam on time in half pint jars.
Worth

[coronabarb]

Once the pressure is all the way down to zero, you remove the weight or petcock depending on which you are using (weights or gauge). Then you need to wait another 10 mins. before removing the lid. Sounds like there was still too much pressure in the canner? Seems unlikely that all those jars were defective. Were they canning jars or saved mayo type jars?

http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/ug...s_canners.html

Also, not clear on your wording. Did you process for 90 mins, then let the pressure go down? (that would take considerably longer than 90 mins total). Or did you process for less time than that?

[Spike2]

They were Ball canning jars. Slightly over one inch empty from the top of the jar to get it an inch below the neck (if that makes sense) and I processed for 90 minutes and then let it sit for over 30 minutes till the pressure (I have a gauge) was all gone. Just makes no sense to me at all. I would have been confused if one jar had the bottom fall out but 6 of them? The 7th jar is perfect. >,< These were all my jars that I have used in the past. I could see nothing wrong with any of them. I didn't bang them around or drop them or mistreat the jars in any way?

[Worth1]

That is all I needed to know add another 1/2 to 3/4 head space and you wont break jars.
The instructions say at least not no more than.
Another remedy is once you get to your processing time is to lower the pressure to by way of burner 5 psi and let it set for awhile like 15 minutes to 30 and then turn it off and let it cool.
I know this isn't in the safe food handling standards but it is over kill not under kill.
The problem is the smaller canners cool off too fast.
The addition of the head space allows more room for air to expand.
The dropping of the temps slowly is like decompressing from diving deep.

Worth

[Spike2]

Thanks Worth! I will try what you say next time. I just don't understand why this happened this time since I have never ever had a problem before. Back to the store tomorrow >,< I refuse to be thwarted lol. Also . . . hows about sharing the recipe for corning beef? Please? Begs even!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Spike2

Thanks Worth! I will try what you say next time. I just don't understand why this happened this time since I have never ever had a problem before. Back to the store tomorrow >,< I refuse to be thwarted lol. Also . . . hows about sharing the recipe for corning beef? Please? Begs even!

Recipe WHAT LOL I will have to look it up.
Meat for some reason likes more head space.
Or what happened it is cooled too fast and the pressure in the jars was greater then the pressure outside the jars.
If you have notices when you can even when the food it out it still bubbles after the lid has sealed.
This is because water boils at a lower temperature in a vacuum and also the reason you have to process at a higher pressure at higher altitudes.
My remedy for this is to put a temperature and pressure gauge in a canner because this is what we are looking for.
I have drawings of it on a tread here.

Back to the recipe if you go buy a sack of Morton's Tender Quick it will have the proper solution for the brine.
I use some stuff called insta cure #1.

Worth

[taboule]

Something that hasn't been mentioned: you tightened these jars "finder tight", vs. "super tight" before placing in the canner, right?

I know you said you've done this before, but something seems different now.

[Spike2]

Just finger tight! I been going over this and over this trying to figure out what I did different. The only thing I can think of that I did differently was after I put the water in the canner, I turned on the burner to start heating the water as I filled the jars. I can't even imagine why that would matter since when I am making anything with meat or corn or green beans etc I am running the canner all day long. Load and unload and load back up over and over again. I just don't get it. I grew up with momma and gramma canning and I have continued the tradition BUT it had to be something stupid I did, that I don't realize I did. I will be out again later this week and I will be doing this again. LOL keep your fingers crossed for me!


Editing this to add a picture! This was the beginning of my canning last fall. Just to show that I have canned before.

[Tormato]

If it goes on sale, I just put several in the freezer.

I'm still looking for last years thread on point cut vs flat cut. Since I don't have corned beef that often, it's point cut (cheaper and tastier) for me, always sliced fairly thin cross-grain. The tomato lover in me puts ketchup on his corned beef/rye bread sandwiches.

And, after nearly a year of going through withdrawal, I finally located my Irish soda bread recipe.

[pmcgrady]

Being part Irish part Scotch, none of my grandparents were born in the US... I ate ALOT of corned beef,cabbage,potatoes,carrots,parsnips etc. If you are just making corned beef and cabbage with some potatoes, the cut doesn't really matter, now if you're making sandwiches the next day, like a Rueben, I would go with flat cut.

[Worth1]

I bought a brisket on sale and this evening will show how I make corned beef on this thread.
Worth.

[Worth1]

Okay I have it done and posting pictures.
What I do is trim the fat off of the brisket and cut it in half Flat and point.
I then put the meat in a big container that is safe to use a brine solution in.
I have done the research and my stainless is of a grade you can do this with.
I measure the amount of water it takes to cover the meat.
Once I know this then I know how much of the cure and canning salt I need it isn't an exact science so you can fool with it a bit.
With this 14 pound brisket with some of the fat trimmed I used 4 oz of the cure and around 12 oz of canning salt in a gallon and a half of water.
So I take the meat back out mix the cure in the water and put the meat back in.
Then put it in the refrigerator and make sure it is at least 38 degrees and no colder than around 33 or 34.
Not a big deal you just dont want it to spoil or freeze.
I also do what they call spray pumping to speed the process up but you dont have to.
After about 1 or 2 days flop the meat around and put it back in the refrigerator.
Do this every so often.
In no time at all you will start to see the meat change colors and in about 5 or so days it will be finished.
I wont take mine out until next weekend.
You can add sugar to offset the salt and you can add pickling spices or any other spice if you want.

It is as easy as falling off a log and you can do it with any cut of meat you want.

Worth
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