I would like to attempt to preserve some of my garden produce this year. I would like to learn to pressure can some of it. Dug around in my granny’s old stuff out in the shed and found her pressure cooker. It is an all American brand, it’s old. It appears I could refurbish it by replacing the stem petcock with a steam vent tube and add a jiggle weight. It should have a small rubber plug in the lid that blows before the pressure gets to a dangerous level. This one is to old and does not have it. It seems one could just get a plug and drill the appropriate sized hole in the aluminum lid and insert the plug and at that point have a fully functional pressure cooker, thoughts?
Does yours require a rubber gasket between lid and kettle? Mine do.
I’d probably have to buy a new one, as it’s not been used in over 30 years… I’m sure the one (new in box) in it, up in the attic for decades, is probably dry-rotted.
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No the all American requires no gasket, it is just aluminum to aluminum. You are supposed to put vegetable oil around the rim before you screw down the big wing nuts , that’s it
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If you have a guage,you have a fully functioning cooker now.
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Yes it would can right now. The jiggler is just an up grade. My real concern would be the lack of a safety pop off plug, also the most difficult to correct
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I recommend converting it with the jiggler. I have an old All American bought on Ebay about 15 years ago with all the original accessories including the original book. It is perfectly usable with the old pressure gauge, but requires a bit of knowledge to make it work effectively. With the jiggler, a lot of the expertise is no longer needed. Note, if you add the jiggler, that goes in the relief valve hole and the pressure guage is replaced with the safety valve.
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Good thought. It’s one of those things that shouldn’t be hard to do but it does need to be done right!
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I was using an old one that had belonged to a relative who died in 1972. The pressure cooker was probably from WWII era. It used a needle on a spring plus a weight, but didn’t use a gasket. I decided the needle might not be accurate any more, so then dug out a different ancient one I had. The gasket had gone bad and the company no longer carried replacements. I decided in 2018 or so to just buy a new one pressure canner from Walmart for $89. It works great. Not worth the risk of botulism to fiddle around with questionable equipment. I use the old pressure cookers to store my garden nets away from the mice when not in use, so I still haven’t lost anything of nostalgic value!
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… prolly safer just to buy a new one (with a new gasket and trivet). I know it’s a lot of money, but what’s inflation for, anyway?
This one will hold 1/2 gallon jars, and you can can apple juice in it at sea level without any more pressure than that.
See:
- United States. USDA. National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Kuhn, Gerald D., et al., ed. Complete Guide to Home Canning. 2009. 2015. Bulletin No. 539. 12 July 2020 <https://www.healthycanning.com/wp-content/uploads/USDA-Complete-Guide-to-Home-Canning-2015-revision.pdf>.
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If you decide to get a new one, this is also the one I use and I love it. A new All American is great, but expensive. Also, get the Presto 23 Qt instead of the smaller one. You will be glad you did or you will end up owning the 16 Qt and the 23 Qt in the future ;).
Also, the jiggler that it comes with is a 15lb and you have to basically babysit the pressure cooker and stove to keep it at 10lbs (but not below!!! Start the timer over if you slip below!). Get a Presto 5-10-15 lbs jiggler and use that instead of the pressure dial. It is so much easier. (and the method is approved by knowledgeable canning people).
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Just to clarify, you take the pressure gauge off and put a safety valve there. The only other port is the steam petcock and you put a jiggler there?
Indeed! I own both, too. My 16qt came with the three-piece jiggler. The lids are interchangeable, however, so I use the lid with the jiggler for pressure canning, not the pressure gauge.
POINT OF CLARIFICATION: USDA says you can process apple juice under boiling water without pressure, so I take the latch out of the lid, using the lid on the big pot and leaving off the jiggler (and pressure gauge). I fill 1/2gal jars with scalded juice, bring 1/2 potful of water to 140°F, set the jars in on the trivet, cover their lids with another inch or two of water to within an inch or two of the lip of the pot, and keep it boiling for ten minutes. Apple juice is high-acid, and processing it does not require a lot of heat for very long. Processing gives it a cooked flavor, so less is better.
BUT SEE:
Low-acid foods must be processed in a pressure canner to be free of botulism risks. Although pressure canners may also be used for processing acid foods, boiling water canners are recom- mended for this purpose because they are faster. A pressure canner would require from 55 to 100 minutes to process a load of jars; while the total time for processing most acid foods in boiling water varies from 25 to 60 minutes. A boiling-water canner loaded with filled jars requires about 20 to 30 minutes of heating before its water begins to boil. A loaded pressure canner requires about 12 to 15 minutes of heating before it begins to vent; another 10 minutes to vent the canner; another 5 minutes to pressurize the canner; another 8 to 10 minutes to process the acid food; and, finally, another 20 to 60 minutes to cool the canner before removing jars.
- United States. USDA. National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Kuhn, Gerald D., et al., ed. Complete Guide to Home Canning. 2009. 2015. Bulletin No. 539. 12 July 2020 <https://www.healthycanning.com/wp-content/uploads/USDA-Complete-Guide-to-Home-Canning-2015-revision.pdf>.
You can call All American and ask how to convert. All American Pressure Canner Parts | AllAmericanCanner.com
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All American says I need a new lid
