# Camp stoves for canning



## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

I apologize if there is already a thread for this - I tried searching but didn't have luck.

Anyways, I definitely want a two-burner outdoor stove for canning for this summer. I can set it up just outside our walkout basement door where we have an overhang and concrete pad. This will allow me to run two canners at a time (I have two canners, but I only have one burner on my kitchen stove big enough to handle a canner), and it will keep the heat out of the house during the hot months.

What I'd like to know from folks is, what stove do you use? Do you like it and recommend it? My concern is that the stove can handle the load of heavy canners (maybe they all can, I don't know, I'm not familiar with them). Also, my canner came with a little slip of paper that said never to operate the canner on an outdoor gas burner - but it didn't say why. I'd like to know why they say that, so that I can make up my own mind about overriding it. 

Even if you don't know what model your stove is, but like the brand, that helps. I'll be ordering one off Amazon, so without recommendations it's pretty much a shoot in the dark. Also, and features you have (and like) or wish you had would be helpful to know, too.

Thanks y'all! :wave:


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

I"d be tempted to try using a couple of turkey fryiers for the burners. they will take the heavy pt put out plenty of heat are usually fine adjustable enough to get the level of constant heat you need after heat up/ those and a good windbreak should do you pretty well


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

I want to know the same thing. I want to get a second cheap secondhand canner for now(saving for the AA canner). 

I have an old Coleman 2 burner white gas stove. This is the Diamond edition stove from the 50s. I love it for camping with the white gas but also have the propane converter for it for longer term. I want to get a new dual fuel stove and a new propane stove as well.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

I use the "turkey burner" (turkey fryer burner).

Do you plan to run 2 canners on the outdoor burner? If so the ones I have seen don't look to have enough room for two canners.

I'm keepin my eyes peels for another turkey burner or any type of outdoor burner.

Actually i am going to go ******* and put a gas range on the back patio too.


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

I just checked the AA instruction manual, the only thing they say is Safeguard #18 it's not recommended to use on a glass top/flat ranges because of the weight, which could break the surface, and because the cooker is bigger than the burner and then it will distribute heat further away from the burner than is intended by the stove manufacturer.

Everything else I found mentioned "heat source" and never said oven or grill or whatever, so from what I can tell, at least for the AA, using an outdoor gas grill should be fine.

I bought a jet cooker from amazon because I originally planned to do my cooking outside because I was worried about breaking my stove top, but I've run maybe 3 dozen runs through my canner since I got it and so far everything is fine on the stove. (knock on wood!)

It's not a two burner but for the price you might be able to buy 2 of them and save the money, however you'd have to get a T valve for the gas hoses so I guess that would eat some of that savings (or you could use 2 gas tanks). I've seen a really sturdy 2 burner outdoor gas grill at costco, but I think the cheapest I ever saw that was $100, maybe $150

Here's the jet burner I got: http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP1-Jet-Cooker/dp/B0002913MI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359321659&sr=8-1&keywords=jet+burner

I took a quick look on costco.com and didnt find the one I've seen in the store, but they dont always have the same inventory available online as in store. With spring on the way soon, they might have them in store again.


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## farright (Mar 25, 2010)

northern tool has propane burners like the turkey burner but at table height i was thinking of a set up like that not sure if the 2 burner would be wide enough for two canners


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## StillStanding (Jan 24, 2009)

Grimm said:


> I want to know the same thing. I want to get a second cheap secondhand canner for now(saving for the AA canner).
> 
> I have an old Coleman 2 burner white gas stove. This is the Diamond edition stove from the 50s. I love it for camping with the white gas but also have the propane converter for it for longer term. I want to get a new dual fuel stove and a new propane stove as well.


When I was growing up we used this same exact stove for most of our canning. The regular kitchen stove was not suitable for the canner (it was an early ceramic cooktop) and besides, this way we could can outside and keep the heat out of the house.

In more recent times I have used a large single-burner propane stove of the type sold for brewing beer and frying turkeys. While these have higher output than a coleman stove they do require propane, which is not a preparedness-friendly fuel.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

Don't you love it when instructions tell you not to do something but give nothing to back that up.

The thing to be careful of with outdoors burners, like turkey burners, is that you have the ability to put waaaaaaay more heat under the canner than compared to the stove top. Just keep that in mind and don't turn it up all the way and you should be golden.



StillStanding said:


> propane, which is not a preparedness-friendly fuel.


It's not?


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

Propane is a wonderful preparedness fuel if you can afford to buy it. it lasts nearly forever and is safer to store than any other fuel I can think of. Wood is easier to resupply and I would think everyone should have wood fired backup to any heat related need. But for leveling out that transition time if you can afford it propane is easiest and the appliances relatively inexpensive and inexpensive to run. Like any fuel source in a protracted breakdown it will run out and be un available but I figure it will be around long after the gas and deisel have either disappeard or become highly suspect. Even kero will nt store as long. Or as safe. Wish I had alot more of it put by just for thinkgs like cooking in teh summer time and canning where Id rather not have to deal with the excess heat surrounding anything you heat with wood.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

jsriley5 said:


> Propane is a wonderful preparedness fuel if you can afford to buy it. it lasts nearly forever and is safer to store than any other fuel I can think of. Wood is easier to resupply and I would think everyone should have wood fired backup to any heat related need. But for leveling out that transition time if you can afford it propane is easiest and the appliances relatively inexpensive and inexpensive to run. Like any fuel source in a protracted breakdown it will run out and be un available but I figure it will be around long after the gas and deisel have either disappeard or become highly suspect. Even kero will nt store as long. Or as safe. Wish I had alot more of it put by just for thinkgs like cooking in teh summer time and canning where Id rather not have to deal with the excess heat surrounding anything you heat with wood.


I'm trying to figure out how to pressure can on a wood fire.


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

Been done alot easier if the wood fire is in a wood cook stove  alot more labor intensive and paying attention and movng the canner around to keep it at the right temp and watching the damper and watching hte wood and lots of work never done it myself but have tolked to those that have like my grandmother. Makes 50 cent cans of green beans start looking a heck of alot better.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

jsriley5 said:


> Been done alot easier if the wood fire is in a wood cook stove


How do you micro adjust the heat?


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

you move the canner to warmer and cooler sections of the stove top, control the air inlet and the chimney damper slow changes with air and fast changes by moving the canner around. just like you would with a skillet of bacon only a hundred times heavier. you don't get to get it all set then go read a book or watch tv thats for sure takes constant monitoring.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

jsriley5 said:


> you move the canner to warmer and cooler sections of the stove top, control the air inlet and the chimney damper slow changes with air and fast changes by moving the canner around. just like you would with a skillet of bacon only a hundred times heavier. you don't get to get it all set then go read a book or watch tv thats for sure takes constant monitoring.


I think I will store a few pigs of propane. :beercheer:


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

sounds like an excellent idea. I"d store all the propane I could afford the labor savings will be worth it, when you have Alot of other stuff to do and fewer of the electronic and gas and deisel powered labor savers to do it with. I need more 20lbers but no money for em. also need to either fill the big propane tank I own or get it converted to hold gasoline under presure for long term storage.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

StillStanding said:


> When I was growing up we used this same exact stove for most of our canning.


The silver framed one with the red diamond logo on the lid? I LOVE it. I've used it to simmer stock and my stock pot is bigger than my canner.


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

PackerBacker said:


> I'm trying to figure out how to pressure can on a wood fire.


So what if you built a brick oven frame, and had a few channels into the mortar at the brick seems to be able to adjust the height of your cooking racks.

And you use the bricks to capture a lot of the heat from the wood fire, and if you were to cut your wood into small manageable pieces... say fist sized chunks, maybe bigger but not too much.

Then you experiment with the canner and see how many chunks you have to keep adding at what kind of interval to sustain the cooking temp. if you use one of those IR temp gauges, and you have a specific spot you can aim at... you can track temp changes based on how many wood chunks added sustained or raised or ended up dropping off temps.

I think the key would be keeping the wood chunks relatively uniform in size, density and dryness. That way it's just like adding more charcoal half way through a big grilling session.

get it so that you have repeatable results and you can test and prove it with the canner weight jiggling away. Maybe just can water the first couple batches until you know for a fact you can produce consistent repeatable temps.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

Dakine said:


> So what if you built a brick oven frame, and had a few channels into the mortar at the brick seems to be able to adjust the height of your cooking racks.
> 
> And you use the bricks to capture a lot of the heat from the wood fire, and if you were to cut your wood into small manageable pieces... say fist sized chunks, maybe bigger but not too much.
> 
> ...


Good ideas. I am also picturing a brick rocket stove of some sort with a adjustable rack. Maybe repurpose a drill press table with the crank to adjust height.


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## StillStanding (Jan 24, 2009)

jsriley5 said:


> Propane is a wonderful preparedness fuel if you can afford to buy it. it lasts nearly forever and is safer to store than any other fuel I can think of. Wood is easier to resupply and I would think everyone should have wood fired backup to any heat related need. But for leveling out that transition time if you can afford it propane is easiest and the appliances relatively inexpensive and inexpensive to run. Like any fuel source in a protracted breakdown it will run out and be un available but I figure it will be around long after the gas and deisel have either disappeard or become highly suspect. Even kero will nt store as long. Or as safe. Wish I had alot more of it put by just for thinkgs like cooking in teh summer time and canning where Id rather not have to deal with the excess heat surrounding anything you heat with wood.


If all you're going to do is store fuel on site and then use what you've stored, propane is great.

The thing about it is that it is not practical to transfer from one container to another, which poses all kinds of logistics problems in longer-term low-tech scenarios. If you have a large tank of propane you can't split it up among 10 people even if you have empty tanks to put it in. If you are cooking a meal for 10 people you can't have each of them contribute a little propane. If you find a tank of propane that is too large to transport you can't (easily) split it up for transport. If you have one tank of propane you can't use it for both lighting and cooking unless you have a T and hoses that will reach. Appliances designed for propane can't be adapted to other more readily salvaged fuels.

Kerosene, unleaded gasoline, and white gas (coleman fuel etc) can all be poured from container to container which helps with all this stuff.



PackerBacker said:


> I'm trying to figure out how to pressure can on a wood fire.


If outdoors, all you really need is a heavy piece of steel large enough to hold the canner and extend 12" or so on each side and something to support it (rocks, soil, concrete blocks, whatever). Build the fire under it, put the pressure canner on top.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

StillStanding said:


> The thing about it is that it is not practical to transfer from one container to another, which poses all kinds of logistics problems in longer-term low-tech scenarios. If you have a large tank of propane you can't split it up among 10 people even if you have empty tanks to put it in.


Transferring propane from one tank to another is actually pretty simple. Plan ahead and have the fittings and hose you need you need.

We do just that with NH3 all the time.

You can buy adapters already to fill 2lb tanks from larger tanks


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

jsriley5 said:


> I"d be tempted to try using a couple of turkey fryiers for the burners. they will take the heavy pt put out plenty of heat are usually fine adjustable enough to get the level of constant heat you need after heat up/ those and a good windbreak should do you pretty well


I've wondered about turkey fryer burners. I'd hoped to find some on sale after Thanksgiving, but no luck.  Luckily, the concrete pad outside the basement walkout does have a windbreak to it.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Thanks for the comments that a two-burner might not be big enough for two canners. That makes sense. Guess I'll re-vamp and look for two single burners.

Ultimately I'd like to have an outdoor kitchen, but this is a start, and something that can be transferred to an outdoor kitchen.

I'd also like to build a rocket stove for canning. But that's more of a long-term goal (although the economy make make it short-term ), but for now I'll start with a gas burner.


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## StillStanding (Jan 24, 2009)

PackerBacker said:


> Transferring propane from one tank to another is actually pretty simple. Plan ahead and have the fittings and hose you need you need.
> 
> We do just that with NH3 all the time.
> 
> You can buy adapters already to fill 2lb tanks from larger tanks


Can it be done? Well, sure.

A fact to consider is that frostbite injuries from liquid propane are now the most common source of ER visits from Boy Scout jamborees.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

StillStanding said:


> Can it be done? Well, sure.
> 
> A fact to consider is that frostbite injuries from liquid propane are now the most common source of ER visits from Boy Scout jamborees.


Your worried about frost bite? :laugh:


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

StillStanding said:


> Can it be done? Well, sure.
> 
> A fact to consider is that frostbite injuries from liquid propane are now the most common source of ER visits from Boy Scout jamborees.


heh that reminds me of the time the Jamboree was at Jack Murphy Stadium. We had scouts stacked up across and all the way down the spiral ramps.

We brought some towed artillery and an AMTRACK I think, the SEALS were there too, they had a massive collection of guns. There were barely any scouts around the guns though, mostly just us LOL!

anyway, the scouts were lined up for what turned out to be the main event. Hook 'em up, "ON RAPPEL"... "ON BELAY" and over the edge they go! we were throwing scouts off the side of the stadium as fast as we could go, the line took hours and some of them were going through 2 or 3 times!!! :laugh:


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Yeah, propane is awesome for storage, basically as long as the container lasts.
Canning on a wood stove (cookstove) is easy, just move it around to keep it the right temperature. Directly on a fire you would need some way to regulate the heat constantly, am sure it could be done with distance from the flame or a sheet of steel that could be adjusted.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

If you keep your eyes open, Coleman did make a 3 burner stove years ago. I picked one up at a pawn shop for $25


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## Startingout-Blair (Aug 28, 2012)

cnsper said:


> If you keep your eyes open, Coleman did make a 3 burner stove years ago. I picked one up at a pawn shop for $25


I have a brand new 3 burner Coleman I just bought at Walmart about 4 months ago


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