Glass top stove and canning

Is canning on a flat/glass top stove really a risk?  From what I can tell, the weight limit of my glass topped stove is 50 pounds. My canner is flat bottomed so I'm not worried about heat conductivity, just the actual weight of it all.
How much DOES a full batch weigh? Should I forgo water canning and only do steam?  

Are the stand-alone propane burners worth it/viable for canning? I'm in Western WA so weather will definitely limit my outdoor cooking opportunities.

I had a glass topped electric stove and regularly used a canner that held 14 quart jars. The glass top had no problems.   From what is is worth, I eventually switched to LP and canning is much faster.

16 oz of water is a pound. One gallon of water is 8 pounds. Glass pint jar empty is about 9 oz.

Whatever you are putting in the jars you could conservatively assume weighs as much as water.

So you can weigh your empty pot and estimate the rest to figure if you’re getting close to weight limit.

John F Dean wrote:I had a glass topped electric stove and regularly used a canner that held 14 quart jars. The glass top had no problems.   From what is is worth, I eventually switched to LP and canning is much faster.

What is LP? I feel like I'm so close to an AHA! moment on my own but it's just not coming to me >.<

Sarah Soleil wrote:What is LP? I feel like I'm so close to an AHA! moment on my own but it's just not coming to me >.<

I'm guessing Liquid Propane - but don't quote me on that!

Weight is not the only issue with a glass top. My instructions say that a pot can't overhang the circle marking around any burner by more than 1/2". I literally took a measuring tape to the store to see what was the largest diameter pot I could use as a boiling water bath. My pressure canner is simply a no go due to its size, but your first post only mentions water bath canning.

My instructions also say to alternate between burners between batches, so the cook top can cool. So it also depends on how much you're trying to do and how quickly. The trouble is that I'm usually trying to heat up what I'm going to can, so I often have 3 out of the 4 burners in use, and the 4th is a bit useless, so I don't even try.

The pot I bought to use as a water bath is really a stock pot with a really good base on it - not just thin metal. I then bought the correct diameter pizza pan (round with holes stamped in it), to fit in the bottom to hold the glass jars off the bottom. I don't use a fancy metal jar holder. I'm normally just using 250 or 500 ml jars for things like apple sauce, jam, or pickles. That may change if we end up being a multi-generational family, but right now, I'm most often feeding just two people.

Jay is correct regarding LP.   I never measured the burner on my glass cook top. I am sure there was overhang.

I do mean to pressure can as well. I can barely fit more than 2 regular pans on my stove :/

Hi Sarah,

To be clear, I was referring to pressure canning. I rarely do hot water canning.

Have you tried the non pressure water bath ones like this? I've read that they say not to use them with glass tops because they don't heat up enough???

Just anecdotally - I have been both water bath and pressure canning on glass-topped stoves for years. 15 at least. I was several years into it before I learned you weren’t “supposed” to, but I researched it and found enough information out in the world reporting that it was perfectly ok, so I felt comfortable with it. I don’t slam my pots around, my water bath canner is the heaviest, since it gets filled with liquid, but I’ve never had an issue. I believe the glass tops are stronger today than originally.  I want a canning set up outside eventually as well- use my brewing burner and propane or a camp stove- but that’s mostly because I live in a very small house in the southern US, and it gets hot and steamy inside.