Yep, you just do them in batches. Go ahead and cap them and just let them sit by the stove while the first batch cooks.

Can tell you what I do: say I have 8 quarts of tomatoes to can. I'll do 4 at a time even though my canner will hold 7. I'd rather have balanced loads. Just don't waste any time between processing the batches. Soon as the first ones are done, remove them and put the rest in.

Dave

PS: Not a stupid question at all. You were smart enough to ask weren't you? :^)

Not a stupid question, just a newbie question - don't forget that we have all been newbies. There is a big difference between ignorance (which can be cured) and stupidity (which is to the bone).

When you make up the jars to put in the BWB, it is best to make a count before hand of how jars many will fit. If you are making pints of pickles, for example, fill only the x number of jars that will fit into your BWB pot. Don't fill any more jars. Leave the rest on low in the brine pot if the veggies are heated with the brine, or leave the brine on low and don't add the veggies if you are doing veggies that will get covered with the hot brine until you are ready for more jars to be filled, then bring back to the boiling point.

If you go only a little over, say with pickles, then you can NOT put them in the BWB but just put lids on and let them cool and then put them in refrig to be used soon.

After you have made up a few batches of whatever you are canning, make a note on your recipe for how many pounds, cups, or whatever, you started up with to fill how many jars and of what size you ended up with. That way, next batch or next year, you can better judge how much fruit or veggies you need to process for each batch. There are lots of variables of course, like some years tomatoes are juicy and some not so for the same weight, so making tomato juice one year may not make as many jars as last year, or more jars, but close anyway.

Nancy

Thanks for answering my question, and for the personal tip on what you do. Very helpful!

Thats exactly what I do. I make more than 15 quarts of something and get them all filled and capped, and the first batch (about 6 or 7 jars) are usually in the put about the same time the rest are getting filled and capped. The hotter it is, and the cap is placed on, the more vacuum it will have at its completion.

You should only fill enough for a canner load at a time. You want everything to be hot as it goes into the canner. Your jars should be hot as you fill them, as well as at least the liquid, if doing a raw packed food. In a hot pack, both the liquid and contents are heated together and hot as it goes into the hot jars.
This will help prevent thermal shock breakage of the jars.
I fill one batch, then process. As they are nearly done processing, I then fill the next batch.
Oh, and don't forget the new guidelines for BWB canning say to remove the lid once processing is over, let sit in the canner 5 min. before taking them out of the canner.

You mean remove the ring band, Linda Lou, not the lid itself. ;) Just to avoid some confusion.

Dave

No, she means remove the lid of the canner, not the jar!

It does pay to see how many jars your recipe makes and how many jars your BWB canner holds--in advance. It's OK to process two batches, but it saves expensive fuel to only do one--since you've already invested all that fuel in bringing the water to a boil. I have several different sized stockpots that I use for canning in addidion to my big black enamel beast. The plus about those big ol' pots is they can process a passle of jars all at once. They take forever to come to a boil though. With the price of fuel, it really pays to minimize the time you are bringing water to a boil by fitting the jar quantity to the size of the pot! I'm a small batch canner so I use my big soup pot more often than my black enamel canner.