I found a Presto Canner at a yard sale for $5 on Saturday. I wrote Presto and I also took it to my extension today. The dial gauge checked out fine. I will probably order another gasket even though it looks fine, no cracks, not brittle, and flexible. It has a pressure plug and came with a jiggle weight and a canning rack. It's got "MOD 01/CA 21H 0675 (I think it's a 21H, hard to see the 2, but the bottom part of the number is clear). It does have 409A at the bottom, which I understand is on all Presto models, indicating the product listing at UL labs. I could not find anything about it at PressureCooker-Outlet.com This is the reply I got from PRESTO: "It is a 21 quart canner and can still be used as long as you put rubber parts in it. We suggest you replace the sealing ring. The extension office cannot tell if it is good or bad by looking at it. You will need sealing ring 09907 This is a steam dial gauge canner. The weight if it is the correct one is going to be 15 pounds. As to its age, the date code of 0675 indicates it was made the 6th week of the year 1975. For your second layer of pints or half pints you stagger the second layer ( in other words put the top jar between two of the bottom jars." I have never heard of 'staggering' jars like this without a canning rack (from this site at least). Can you stagger them this way without a canning rack? I did ask her about using one. Or is that the way you do it WITH a canning rack? THAT makes more sense to me. It is the Harvest Gold canner, next to my green Sears Maid of Honor, which works quite well I might add. One of the interesting things about the Presto is the wooden handles with wooden pegs, not screws. It's too bad it doesn't extend more over to the side for release when it's hot. My ext. agent said she's seen a lot with wooden handles. She also mentioned how clean the inside of the lid was. She said you wouldn't believe what she sees. It WILL be tested with water first, absolutely! It's a 'find' I couldn't resist and always when you aren't looking for one! Im thrilled that I found one that I can double-stack pints. Now that I have a still-to-refurbish All-American and these two, maybe I will become the Pressure Canner Lady (ha ha) and sell any that I don't want to keep.

I have two All American pressure canners that are identical to the one that was pictured. In my opinion they are the finest pressure canners ever made. I have never had one problem of any kind with them. The gauges are accurate, and I have them tested at irregular intervals. As much as I use them, I have NO problem maintaining whatever pressure I want. (yes, I confirm that the guage is at the correct pressure by looking) When I am canning, that is the only thing I do except clean in the kitchen and stuff like that. Listening to jiggling or bouncing weights is just not my bag. :) Incidentally, they can be used for canning using a hot water bath, as well. Just don't put the lid on them. Have fun.

OK, I just removed them from the canner. Floating tomatoes as I expected (had this with the BWB also), very little siphoning, but prob a very small amt since the water has a faint yellow tint and I did use some orange tomatoes in a couple of quarts. Will have to see how they sealed when they cool, but it doesn't look like I will have a problem. Time will tell. Only opening and using them will tell about the quality/flavor, I think. Total processing time: probably 10 minutes to come up to steam (I used a instant hot water faucet in my kitchen that starts the water out at 190 degrees), 10 minutes of venting steam, then 15 minutes processing, 30 minutes to cool so the pressure came down, then removing the weights and another 10 minutes cool down before removing the cover and jars = 75 minutes, probably 20 minutes more of coming up to temp and then steam venting the first time = 95 minutes! It may have needed less than 30 minutes to cool before moving the weights, but I only checked it after 15 minutes and then 30 minutes because I wasn't willing to stand there and watch it, lol. So I can't see that it saves much time, though probably a little, if you do it right the first time and when you add the time it takes to come up to a boil to the 85 minutes processing time required for BWB. Still, if it is safer or better quality it is worth it. At the least, I will have the canner if I decide to can items that can't be done by BWB.

Thanks again for the wealth of knowledge! The forum is so helpful! Our second batch (20 pints of creamed corn) went MUCH smoother. This time we removed the canner from the stove element and it seemed to cool quicker...maybe 20-30 minutes. I followed the instructions at the NCHFP website for cooling: " 9. After the canner is completely depressurized, remove the weight from the vent pipe or open the petcock. Wait 10 minutes; then unfasten the lid and remove it carefully. Lift the lid with the underside away from you so that the steam coming out of the canner does not burn your face. 10. Using a jar lifter, remove the jars one at a time, being careful not to tilt the jars. Carefully place them directly onto a towel or cake cooling rack, leaving at least one inch of space between the jars during cooling. Avoid placing the jars on a cold surface or in a cold draft." Maybe I missed waiting another 10 minutes between removing the canner lid then removing the jars? We had quite a canning day yesterday! We canned 20 pints of creamed corn, 5 quarts and 7 pints of peaches, and 4 half pints of peach butter (had to do something with those extra two pounds of peaches!). The height of the 23 qt presto made for easier HWB quart canning versus my granite ware HWB canner. I have two more questions... 1-when we canned our peaches, we followed the recipe in the ball blue book for peaches canned in syrup. We went with the hot pack method in heavy syrup (50/50 ration of sugar to water). Now that everything is processed, the peach slices have floated to the top of the jar. I know it'll taste the same but it doesn't look as pretty lol. Any recommendations? 2-when using the presto to pressure can, I've waited until the safety button pops up to start timing the ten minutes of continuous steam coming from the vent pipe. Typically there is a funnel shaped flow of continuous steam before the safety button pops up, but I guess I just want to be sure I'm expelling all the air. Is there any harm in doing it this way? Thank you everyone for your expertise! I'm so excited to be canning!