I do (not officially required as far as I know), because the little jars tend to slip and slide around and fall over when the water is boiling. You can also stagger them so one is not directly above the other.

To separate them, I've used a toaster oven rack, a cake cooling rack, an old cake/pie pan with holes drilled in the bottom, even a folded dish towel (the last one is my least favorite 'cause it tends to float). Basically use anything that will give the small jars a bit of stability and allow the boiling water to circulate.

Yes you do need something between the stacked jars. If you don't have a second rack you will have to make up one out of sheet metal of some kind with vent holes cut in it or buy a second rack that will fit your canner. Or do it in two batches or some of it in another deep pot. They can't be stacked directly on top of each other.

There are some past discussions here about how to make one so if you need them let me know and I will try to dig it out for you.

Dave

Afraid I'm not too ingenious...never thought about the toaster oven rack..My present toaster oven is too large but fortunately I had kept the rack to a smaller one. In lieu of the big old granite BWB canner I had bought a LARGE stock pot so I could use it for the smaller jars. I now have 11 beautiful jelly jars of Chocolate Raspberry heaven. Tried to squeeze and even dozen but didn't quite make it. With tax that dozen itty bitty jars were $8.18. Highway robbery. LOL I don't want to think about the total cost but fortunately the raspberries were free and that was a big savings.

Thank you all so much.

jude

How important are the holes? I used an old cake pan the other day for a second rack, but I didn't put holes in it. It was the best thing I could come up with on the spur of the moment. Do you think that could have been a problem?

Sorry for the stupid question, but I'm still paranoid over my canning. I just hope I'm not afraid to actually eat anything when the time comes!

Kannapolis, NC/Albemarle, NC - End of July/Beg.of August
Ball canning jars are on sale at WALMART along with the Ball Freezer containers. They are cheaper than they Golden Harvest jars they also have. I had coupons - two $3.00 off when buying 2 cases from Ball/Kerr, obtained in the newspaper inserts earlier in the spring. 12 pint jars cost me $5.29 with coupons. The wide mouth's were $8. Not sure what the quart prices were.
Tractor Supply has all thier canning good on sale, along with FoodSaver bags. You can get a $5 off coupon with $25 purchase on-line at their web site. I believe they have canners on sale as well.
Hope you can find some good sales also!

June Lynn

The holes are to allow for adequate movement of the air and water throughout the pot/container. Water has to be able to freely surround each jar in a BWB and the old "what goes up must be able to drain back down" sort of thing applies. ;)

I suppose that if the sides of the pan didn't touch the sides of the pot and there was room for the water to move freely then it would be no problem but something with holes would work better.

And old metal pie or cake pan that is smaller in diameter than the pot with lots of holes punched (hammer and a screwdriver or ice pick) in it (aluminum pie pans won't support the weight) and set upside down on the bottom level of jars and top level of jars set on it works well.

As mentioned cake drying racks work well too. There are all sorts of cheap metal things sold in the housewares dept. that can be made to work. Yard sales are also a good source.

And if all else fails you can always make a spacing rack using extra rings/bands wired or screwed together in a circle.

Just have to think a bit outside the box (or the pot in this case. :)

Dave

Dave, it didn't touch the sides. There was plenty of room all around the pan and I did add some water to it. I only had one jar in it also.

I didn't think about it needing holes. Well, off to find a drill. Thanks.

iona, I use the rack from the bottom of my pressure canner, it's the right size and shape and already has holes. I'm never using the pressure canner and the water bath canner at the same time, so it works well for me.

So, if you have a pressure canner AND a waterbath canner, that might work for you.

Annie