Home canned baked beans safety???

I canned up some baked beans Last night, did a batch of 20 jars. I followed the baked bean recipe from the USDA online canning book.

I did add bacon. I cooked it up, separated the meat from the fat and ground the meat up in my blender making about 4oz of of shredded bacon. Keep in mind this is spread out over 20 jars.

Three things I did to step outside of the tested recipe.

1.) I used more molasses, like a cup and a half.
2.) I poured in cane sugar to taste. If I had to guess it would be about 4 cups.
3.) Instead of canning 65 minutes, I went 75 minutes (Using pints).

It was somewhat soupy when I canned it but boy has it really thickened up after sitting 24 hours. Quite frankly I'm worried that it was too thick for the heat to penetrate properly. I even tipped a jar upside-down to illustrate.

Definitely would love to hear some thoughts on the safety.

Hi Benjamin, and welcome to Permies!  

I usually only keep them at temp/pressure for 15 minutes for jars without meat, though beans can take longer, and your 75 minutes is long enough for meat, so you should be good to go.  When I do beans I make sure they're cooked first and hot pack them, mostly so that they aren't dry or in need of more cooking when opening the jars.  75 minutes is plenty long enough for the heat to conduct to the centre of the jars.  

How did you find us?

Timothy Markus wrote:Hi Benjamin, and welcome to Permies!  

I usually only keep them at temp/pressure for 15 minutes for jars without meat, though beans can take longer, and your 75 minutes is long enough for meat, so you should be good to go.  When I do beans I make sure they're cooked first and hot pack them, mostly so that they aren't dry or in need of more cooking when opening the jars.  75 minutes is plenty long enough for the heat to conduct to the centre of the jars.  

How did you find us?

Just googled "Canning Forums" to find ya. :)

Yes, the beans were dry Navy beans. I brought them to a boil, let sit for an hour, drained and brought back to boil and then dumped in a huge steel tub to be baked for about 4 hours. There was at least an inch to two inches of the mixture above the beans the whole time. They were plenty cooked by the time I jarred them up. In my opinion they were too done. But the left overs that didn't fit in the canner was tasty!

Seems like a lot of headspace in some of those images.  You might want to fill your jars a bit more.  I'll leave it to others to comment on your food safety questions.

recipe?
here's my formula for dry rub for smoking meats, I've been learning the fine art of meat smoking and barbecue

1/2 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup smoked paprika
3 tbsp each garlic powder--pork loves garlic so add more if you like
2 tbsp tbsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin

cover meat with this powder, smoke at 225-250 degrees till done, digital thermometer help here
on long smoking sessions misting with apple juice after first hour and then in 45 minute intervals helps keep meats moist
mop on your favorite bar b due sauce, wrap in foil and put back in smoker another 15 minutes or so

my quest continues for bar b due sauce formulas and baked bean formulas

Did you use a pressure canner? When my grandmother taught me about canning her #1 rule was if it contains any meat at all use a pressure canner.

I'm certainly no expert but it does look like a little much head space. I personally wouldn't worry much about that unless it is stored for many years. The meat would bother me if it wasn't sealed under pressure.

Phil Gardener wrote:Seems like a lot of headspace in some of those images.  You might want to fill your jars a bit more.  I'll leave it to others to comment on your food safety questions.

There may have been some liquid loss in that particular jar. They were processed at one inch headspace.

Mike Barkley wrote:Did you use a pressure canner? When my grandmother taught me about canning her #1 rule was if it contains any meat at all use a pressure canner.

I'm certainly no expert but it does look like a little much head space. I personally wouldn't worry much about that unless it is stored for many years. The meat would bother me if it wasn't sealed under pressure.

Yes, definitely used a pressure canner at proper pressure range for my attitude. All low acid foods need a pressure canner. :)

My headspace was one inch per recipe instructions.