need help with my tomato sauce canning

yikes....i need some help

hubby and i cooked up some tomato sauce using a canning recipe.....

the problem we ran into is.....

after we filled the jars with the sauce and added 1tb of lemon juice to our pint jars and placed them in the water bath canner....i had the water hot and ready to go....then the rack wouldnt close down all the way...so we had to pull them up to see what the heck was going on...and heard a ping/pop.....

in a panic we went a head and put lowered the jars back into the water and let them boil for 30 mins like the canning recipe said to do....i found a larger lid and let it sit on top of the rack handle as close to shut as we could get.....after 20 mins or so ....i took a peak and found that the jars barely had enough water over the top

so we hurry up and boil some more water and added it to the water bath canner.....we let them continue to boil until the 30 mins were up....then....we decided to give them another 30 mins to boil (with out the canner lid) just in case...

i need advice from somenone who cans......

is it ok that they pinged before getting their full 30mins?

is it ok to boil the jars in a water bath with out a lid?

should we just put these guys in the frig and eat lots of pasta the next couple of weeks?

*sigh*......we are new at canning....we just made our first jams this week we used smaller jars and they fit just right!

hugs

rose

[quote="FamilyGardening"]yikes....i need some help

hubby and i cooked up some tomato sauce using a canning recipe.....

the problem we ran into is.....

after we filled the jars with the sauce and added 1tb of lemon juice to our pint jars and placed them in the water bath canner....i had the water hot and ready to go....then the rack wouldnt close down all the way...so we had to pull them up to see what the heck was going on...and heard a ping/pop.....

in a panic we went a head and lowered the jars back into the water and let them boil for 30 mins like the canning recipe said to do....i found a larger lid and let it sit on top of the rack handle as close to shut as we could get.....after 20 mins or so ....i took a peak and found that the jars barely had enough water over the top

so we hurry up and boil some more water and added it to the water bath canner.....we let them continue to boil until the 30 mins were up....then....we decided to give them another 30 mins to boil (with out the canner lid) just in case...

i need advice from somenone who cans......

is it ok that they pinged before getting their full 30mins?

is it ok to boil the jars in a water bath with out a lid?

should we just put these guys in the frig and eat lots of pasta the next couple of weeks?

*sigh*......we are new at canning....we just made our first jams this week we used smaller jars and they fit just right!

hugs

rose...stupid canner rack....

I think it's ok to boil the jars without the canner lid on as long as the water was boiling. I have a very large canner that refuses to boil if the lid isn't on, and I think that's why they tell you to put the lid on.

It sounds to me like you boiled them more than enough and they should be fine. However, if you're feeling unsure about it for whatever reason, you can always open the jars, put the sauce into smaller jars, and recan them. I've had to do that before for jam, and it didn't affect the taste at all.

I hope that helps! Don't feel too discouraged. Once you get the hang of canning, it's so simple to do (just a little tedious).

ok a few things:
I usually put the lemon juice and salt into the empty jars before I put the tomatoes in and fill to the required head space.
The water only needs to be covering the tops of the jars, you do not need an inch of water above the lids. BUT you do not want water to boil away and expose the lids so the inch of water above the jars is best.
If the sauce was hot when you put it in the jars, that may be why you heard the pop when you removed the jars. As long as you processed them for the 30 minutes and they are still sealed they should be fine.
Did you have the rack loaded & seated up on the lip of the canner before lowering all the jars at once? The handles of the rack should collapse to allow for the lid to be in place. yes keeping the lid on keeps water from evaporating and your temp steady.
Let me know if I have not answered your questions. One last tip: breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.
http://www.pickyourown.org/water_bath_canning_directions.php

The jars may pop while cooking, usually you don't hear it, for the jars are under the water. The lid releases the air inside of the jar while cooking, then pops down as the jars cool, sealing the lid while cooling.

As long as the jars sealed, (lids down in the center with no movement) and no jars are broken(lids boiled dry while cooking) then you are doing fine.

I've found that some of the newer canning sets, the rack fits, but you may not be able to put jars in the center, to get the lid to fit. When getting ready to can next time, load the canner with jars and rings only and using cold water fit all in with closing the lid and see what will fit in your canner. In mine, I can only put jars around the edge, with none in the middle.

thank you all for the input (and im not sure why my post posted 2 times)
i have two water bath canners.....my old one is really big...and just was a pain to get out to do just a few jars of jam in...so hubby just bought me a new canner that is smaller....it said it holds 1/2pints and pints....with the tomato sauce i used the pint size jars...they fit fine in the rack....but...the rack handles wont fold in after i lower them into the water.....it works fine and folds in when i used the 1/2 pint size jars for my jam.....its like the pint size jars are to fat??

so i was worrid that we didnt kill the *germs* in the tomato sauce because we had to boil them with out the lid on.....

i have to tell you though......it smelled soooo good in my house last night after making the fresh home made tomato sauce....that hubby and i cooked some noodles and opened a jar of that sauce and ate some in bed last night while we watched a movie i dont think i can ever go back to can sauce....LOL....im not kidding

hugs

rose....who now thinks she lives in Italy

Ok, I get a better picture now. Thanks
Well jeeze, if the canner doesn't close when using the jars that it is supposed to hold, I would consider taking the item back to the store because it just doesn't work correctly. My thinking is, what use is a rack if you cannot use it? So if I didn't want to take it back I would probably just use it as the stock pot for cooking everything to go in the cans.

Your jars of tomatoes are probably just fine. What are you canning next?
PS: I love Italy!

well.....let see camprn.....i want to can some salsa.....and i have several large banna peppers and a handfull of pickle size cucumbers......

can i pickle cucumbers and banana pepper together?....use the same brime?...i think they may give the pickles a nice flavor too.....

im also thinking of using some of the banana peppers in with the salsa

hugs

rose who is very excited about canning things.....and (a big fat chicken) cause her tomato sauce is sitting in the frig....for....*just in case*...it didnt can right.... *sigh*