duel propane heated 16 gallon canning unit

[milligkl]

How hot does a propane heated 16 or 32 gallon canning unit typically get? I heard of one that was 195 and 190 degrees, respectively and I wanted to know how that compares. Also, during the season how many propane tanks do people typically go through? More than one a week?

Thanks,
Kevin

[sugarsand]

To answer your first question, a duel burner canner will more than likely get a lot hotter than what you would want it to. We try to maintain a temp arond 190, when it approaches the 200 mark syrup can become cloudy.
As far as how much propane you use can depend on the units efficiency, temperature, and the amount of canning your doing. I try to can as we boiling before the syrup gets cold, to heat cold syrup in our 26 gal canner can take up to 2 or 3 hours on low to med burner.

[maple flats]

A conventional propane canner can boil syrup. You must monitor the temp and regulate properly. Once you get to bottling temperature you need to shut the burner off and keep track of the temp. When the temp falls you relight the burner. When I had that type of canner I heated to 190 and shut it off. As it got down to 182-183 I relit it and ran it on low until 190 again. Anytime the temp is over 180 but not over 190 you can be bottling. If filling 1/2 gal or gal you will use the syrup up in one cycle generally, if filling small containers you may need to relight 1 or even more times depending on how small the containers you are filling.
On the other hand, I now use a 16 gal water jacketed canner, 240V element. I leave the thermostat set at 185-186 and turn it on or off by the circuit breaker. This canner takes syrup to the 185-186 temp and holds it there. You can hear the heating element cycle on and off as needed to maintain the temp, that's something my old propane fired canner could not do.