You just need to set up a wind screen of some kind to set them in. Even an old deep cardboard box will work. This shows mine. It extends well out bast the edge of the table and the jars can be set right along side of the canner protected from any breeze. It is only 3 sided because the house wall is behind me so you may need a 4 sided one.

It isn't breakage that is the main concern but too rapid cooling before a full vacuum can form.

Dave

Nah, a breeze isn't enough to break the jars. Just put them out on a towel and let 'em cool off by themselves.

I LOVE canning outside. Clean up is a breeze - just hose it down!

I doubt a breeze outdoors would be enough to be a problem unless you are canning on a chilly day in a cooler climate. Down here I usually pull jars out off the canner and set them on a towel for a few minutes outside while I set up a place inside on the table for them. Taking them in to the air conditioning here is probably much like a breeze around much of the rest of the country (at least to me stepping inside is like a chill breeze even through I often leave the indoor temp at almost 80 in the summer.)

Now if you are out there canning in a jacket and ear muffs, then you might want to be careful.

Dave's setup is ideal, and the burner is from NORTHERN TOOL. Its their triple ring burner where you have a lot more heat control compared to a regular grill burner. It has 3 seperate controls for each of the rings. There are also many posts in other threads about canning outdoors with propane. Suggest that you do a search within this forum, to see the many posts and further info on the burner. As to cracking the jars when removing them from the canner. With pressure canners you leave them in the canner until cool. For BWB canner, you can also allow it to cool down a little and remove the whole jar basket all at once and bring it indoors to cool. Its not good to can outside on a windy day, but as Dave's unit shows, there is a wind shield wrapped 3/4 the way around just to keep the burners from getting blown out by wind.

Here is a link that might be useful: Search info for PROPANE

Our unit is from www.campchef.com and has its own table and windscreen albeit a much smaller one than Dave's. It has two burners that are more like a commercial stove if you choose to look at it on line. I'm not good at posting pictures.

Thanks for all the responses. Next time I'll know and won't worry about it.

Got a Camp Chef like this one?

I love mine. BWB on one side and PC on the other. Works for me.

That's exactly what we have. Thanks for posting it.

IÂm with Malna; outdoor canning is great!

Now my wife and I do all of our canning, both BWB and pressure outside, usually in the evening after work. We do the cooking and filling of jars in the kitchen, then load up the jar rack, or jars for pressure canning in the boxes the jars came in and trundle them out to the kettles on a propane burners.

Have never had a problem with the jars cracking from cooling too fast, but if we left them out there the raccoons would, without question, have a go at the blackberry jam, canned fish, or you name it. So we bring them in to cool and seal.

As others said, the most critical piece of equipment for us is a good wind screen to protect the burner from blowing out when its turned way down for pressure canning. But you may have a more protected location.

Roof

I also outdoor can, use the side burner on the gas grill. Not enough maters this year to worry about setting up another burner.
I have milk crates that I use, put a micro fibre towel on the bottom to take out to canner, then remove from canner and take inside. A small breeze never cracked any of my jars.

Thanks to all.

Dave,
What did you use for under the canner? I want to do this on my porch. Thanks, Ginny

From the picture, it looks like a piece of Corian. I've used slate pieces under our smoker but they are too heavy and hard to move.

I happened to find some 18" x 18" stone floor tiles at our local tile shop - they were leftovers and I got them for $1.00 each. You might try that to protect your porch.

Yeah mine is just a piece of Corian I happened to have but you can use anything thing that is non-flamable. Check a wood stove store for floor protectors. And they sell those pads to go under space heaters that would work at Walmart here. Or some of the brick veneer pieces.

Dave