My chicken and Turkey would always have a layer of fat. Just the regular fat that comes out from the bird. I usually spoon off the fat when I open the jar. Didn't have any problems, even with jars canned a few years prior.

Here are the 4 really bad ones - it MAY just be clinging to the glass and not all the way across the top but I still think I should open these up and freeze or use them. Kicking myself for putting the meat back in the pan after carving the bird.

Also worried about the other jars, there was siphoning so grease in the canner, don't know if that could cause those seals to fail even if there's not too much fat IN the jars. Plus I almost ran the canner dry - only an inch of water or so in it when I opened it up. I had put 1 gal of water in for the first load (thinking 90 minute processing time but then I did pints so it was 75 minutes) when manual says 3 qts. So I just added 2qts before starting the 2nd load, figuring I had at least a quart left in there. But I think I vented too long on the 2nd load, instead of starting timing when I felt a stream coming out of the vent, I got nervous and restarted it after I could SEE steam so an extra 4 minutes (and then there were times after that when I couldn't see the white steam any more but could still feel it hitting my cupped hand 8" above so that method is probably OK?).

Still learning to use the PC, never figured out the siphoning problem with my tomatoes, did meat once last year and now trying meat again I'm super nervous to do it right.

Oh, here are the 2 worst maybe OK (?) jars:

And the last 2 jars look fine, no fat that I can see, I pulled meat off drumsticks for bottoms of jars, then used some breast meat I had put in fridge to slice for sandwiches (it was still warm) to fill the tops of those jars, so neither the light nor dark meat in those had been sitting in the pan dripping. Still wondering if fat in the canner water, or venting too long/running canner so low could cause a problem with these:

Other than the obvious low liquid levels (siphoning?) they look fine to me.

Dave

Yeah, something with fat in it siphoned, b/c there was fat in the water and inside of canner greasy. But I did 1" HS - NCHFP says 1.25", Ball says 1" and I can't measure more than 1" with the tool so just did a hair under. And they're all about that (some of the "good" ones less), depending on whether you measure the fat layer or not.

So really, Dave, are these ALL good? Or just the 4? Should I keep them out on an open shelf instead of in a box so I can check them every day? I did put a drop of dish soap on each lid and get it wet, smear the soap around and rinse rinse rinse to clean the jars, lids and threads.

I opened what I thought was the absolute worst one, the reprocessed raw pack, and this is what it looked like (outside)

Inside

If they sealed and they were processed for the correct amount of time and the seals hold they are fine. Clearly the fat is just collected around the outside diameter, not as a full layer and that is normal. There is simply no way to can it totally fat free.

This last pic shows a rim with some indications of fat boil-over (siphoning) on the rim itself so that seal probably would have released fairly soon anyway.

The siphoning is your real issue that has to be eliminated if for no other reason than to ensure a good long-lasting seal.

If you aren't comfortable with them then just freeze it.

Dave

Thinking about freezing those other 3 that have lots of fat, maybe siphoning. What do you think of the 2 "good" pairs? Maybe the first 2 I posted a photo of siphoned a little? Can you tell? The last 2 look pretty good, I don't see fat up in the HS.

I think it's this stove - even though the gauge shows pressure holding steady (AFAICT - I didn't watch it the whole 75 minutes) once it hits a max of 12 psi (with 10.5 lb weight) and not dropping until I turn the burner off, and I leave the PC on the burner so it doesn't drop too quickly, I know the burner cycles.

I have the propane camp stove I bought this summer - never opened. Hate to use it when it's freezing outside but maybe after I do the shredded meat/broth (meat times, I pulled SO much meat out of the pot) tomorrow I'll just put the PC away again until tomato season.

Thanks Dave - can you comment on the raw pack too? Those didn't siphon that I could tell, though 1 didn't seal (the one on the far right). Some have more liquid than others b/c I put hot water in half of them to see what happened, after my beef last year didn't make quite enough broth to cover. The raw turkey with no added liquid didn't either.

On Pressure Fluctuation:

With a weight system, gauge is just useless and confusing. The weight system should react precisely. But when it is lifted , there will be some abrupt pressure drop. Say, the weight stands 15 psi. When it is lifted by the 15 psi internal pressure, the pressure inside may drop 1 or 2 psi. This sensitivity has to do with how the venting mechanism is designed. I would say a rocking system would bleed more but a hissing system would have a more micro control.

On Siphoning
I have made some observations in the past.
When you fill a jar with cold liquid (like tomato sauce in my case), with little head space and put it in the water bath and start heating, what happens ? The volume of the liquid expands (thermal expansion). I have left the jar open (No lid). Then I have observed over flowing the liquid right in front of my eyes;

My solution:
--1-- fill the jars with hot sauce/material.
--2--OR if you are filling them with cold material, have more head space than recommend. More head space will give you better seal (higher negative pressure). The only drawback might be the collapse of the weak thin cheap lid.

A Case Story:
I had canned some soup in one of those tomato jars with a solid metal lid. Yesterday I tried to open it. I used every trick that I know (heating the lid, tapping it ...) No avail. Finally I made a hole in the lid. Voila ! No problem . I twisted it right off.

Seysonn