Good advice from Carol above. Don't try to rush any step of the process. Without a gauge you can't really tell when the pressure has bottomed out and it takes only a very small change in the pressure to cause the siphoning. So be sure to give it plenty of time to cool down before even peeking carefully under the weight - any hiss, leave it on longer and wait. And another trick is once you have done all that and the lid is off, look to see if the liquid in the jars is still bubbling. If so let them sit as is till it stops. Then carefully remove the jars. So it should still be safe even though some siphoned out (I assumed it would be since they all sealed properly). That assumption is usually true but not always. There is more to the process than just getting a good seal. Jars that lose too much of their liquid during processing are not long-term storage safe even if they have what appears to be a good seal. They should be used first and ASAP. Their vacuum and seal is weaker just because of the increased air space inside the jar and the food that boiled onto the rim of the jar during the siphoning and any food above the liquid will discolor shortly. Siphoning of the liquid out of the jars isn't something that is "okay". Sure it happens but it is something that we all work hard to prevent as much as possible as it can create problems in storage. So if you think it happened during the processing because you could smell it, then you likely still have some heat control to learn. ;) It just takes time and practice and doing trial runs with jars of colored water as Ken suggested above is the best way to learn. Once you finish a practice run and open the canner to see water that is as clear as it was when it went in, give yourself a great big pat on the back. ;) Dave

In figuring out how much detergent to use, I think it's wise to try and find the best balance between using enough to clean the clothes and not too much so as to cause the problems stated so eloquently here. Of course, as many have pointed out, this will vary depending on so many factors. Having said that, I don't think one can completely avoid soap buildup in the washer (the main concern of the original poster), unless you use no soap at all. Eventually, there will be some buildup. It may take much longer for some than for others, but it will happen. Our approach has been to use the least amount of detergent we think will clean the clothes and to accept the fact that some buildup in the washer will eventually occur. Then we deal with the buildup by running the tub clean cycle (available as an option on many FL) with WhirlOut. We learned about this product on the website of our washer (LG). They recommend WhirlOut to deal with this very issue. We found it at Home Depot and have used it only once in six months. It was originally made to clean spas but has been found to work well with washers. (I add all this to explain that I have nothing to do with WhirlOut other than as a user).

OK, having said not to be paranoid about bacteria, I have to add a caution. I know a little bit about apple trees, having lived with one outside my house for a few years (they were Cortlands) and also at one time in my life I was in charge of a fall festival at a nature center and we had a cider press and made cider. Plus I grew up in Michigan's apple country. I routinely made applesauce out of organic apple "drops" and it was no easy task because the apples were just full of brown spots and discolorations inside and out. Now these were old apple trees that got no husbandry whatsoever. But yes, good sauce in the end. But I actually washed, peeled, cored and cut them up individually, so I had a lot of control over the apple bits that got into the sauce. But as I mentioned, I'm more of a "boutique" canner than a "git 'er done" canner. I also got to go to an orchard that donated apples for our cider pressing demo, and we were allowed to pick up the drops. We did not give out many samples of the cider though, we bought cider for samples. There is a problem with dropped apples, and that is due to contact with the ground there is a risk that they will be contaminated with E. coli. (Short for Escherichia coli, the species name). Not necessarily the deadly super-bug strain of E. coli found in meat, but the kind that can make you real sick like from contaminated water. There have been cases of people getting sick from unpasteurized apple cider, there was a case in my hometown from a local orchard. The problem with the drops is that on the ground they can come into contact with animal feces, and if you have deer and raccoons and other animals foraging on those apples, you can bet that is possible. Now here's the part where others may want to chime in, because I know that acid and sugar in applesauce takes care of botulism, but I don't know about E. coli. I know that boiling for a certain time will kill the bacteria, I just don't know how the thickness variable plays out in applesauce as far as the boiling, because thickness will affect heat penetration. Since there are no specific cautions that I have found on these Cooperative Extension Web sites about applesauce and dropped apples, I would hazard a guess it is OK. It's not like you get some kind of guarantee that the apples you buy commercially have never touched the ground! I just know drops are not preferred for selling commercially, either as raw apples or for making cider. However, the longer the apples sit on the ground the more likely they are to get some kind of contamination. Maybe a good boiling will take care of that. I would call my Cooperative Extension Agency just to make sure, or maybe someone else can chime in here who has used drops. I peel and cut my apples because I can't afford organic ones and I know too much about what is on the peels to want it coming in contact much with my applesauce. Like I said, the method you are planning on using is fine, I just like chunkier, more "boutique" style applesauce since I give it away as gifts. I have not heard of any cases of E. coli contamination in applesauce, so maybe I am just being overly fussy. I would use them myself, but just not with the method you suggest. But maybe others here have done so with no problems. Whatever the risk I think it is low, and it may be non-existent, so I would like to hear what others have to say.

Some of my experiences cleaning sediment out of a hot water tank, in this case, powered by electricity: The first time was about three years ago. I started to drain the tank in preparation for replacing the burned-out lower heat element. I had attached a garden hose as most instructions tell you to do. At first the water (quite black with sediment) drained out as expected, but in a minute or two, it slowed to a trickle; I was sure the tank could not yet be empty. I soon discovered the outlet valve was plugged, and eventually removed it to get the water running again, directing it to the basement drain across a plastic sheet fashioned into a sort of trench with sides made of some short 2x4s and bricks under the plastic. The sediment came out in chunks up to 3/4" across. They were easily crumbled, but nevertheless had been solid enough to impede water flow through the valve. I reattached the valve, but felt that wasn't good enough. Following some advice from somewhere on the web, I purchased a brass nipple and ball valve from a local plumbing store and installed them to replace the original plastic valve. The inner diameter was now larger and without bends, so less likely to clog. That helped quite a lot. Meanwhile I had removed the old element. So I had an extra access hole available. I rigged up a piece of 1" plastic pipe to the end of my shop-vac hose and was able to insert that into the element hole and pull out a substantial amount of sediment. I also was able to insert a garden hose into the same element hole and flush out more sediment through the new valve outlet. I'm sure I never got it completely clean, but at least the escaping water was now clean and running freely. I installed the new heat element, and all has been fine since then, except of course, I would like to be able to do a proper regular cleaning without removing that heat element. Since that time, I have tried to remember to flush out the tank every six months or so. It hasn't been completely satisfactory, but I think if it's done regularly, at least the build-up won't be too great. Just today, I had some trouble even with that better brass valve. It became clogged as the other one had before. This time I found a good remedy in a length of 3-wire 10-gauge soft-coated electrical cable. It seemed to have just the right amount of flexibility and stiffness. Poking that through the valve and into the tank removed the obstacle. I'm thinking that for my next cleaning, I will try to attach a piece of narrow tubing to the end of a garden hose and push it into the outlet valve to do some back-flushing. At least I'm lucky in a way to have an old unfinished basement with a concrete floor and a big drain hole. Spills are not much of a problem. I'm very happy too with my makeshift "trench" which works very well to take the outflowing water to the drain. It cannot clog like a hose, and I'm even able to make a dam to catch the sediment by means of a simple fold in the plastic sheet.