Build a Super Canner!

From: Mother Earth News

By: W. Brandon Randolph

Summertime and indoor canning go together like-well, on especially hot days, kind of like fire and brimstone. But look: What's that odd-looking device you see in the photos? It's cooled by nature itself . . . and able to process up to 45 quarts at a time while its owners sit sipping iced tea in the shade! It's inexpensive! It's easy to build! It's Super Canner!
A SUPER ALTERNATIVE

To make your own outdoor canning cooker, gather together the materials listed here. Be sure that the 55-gallon drum is clean and free of chemicals, and that it has a bung hole with a screw-type cover at each end (most drums have a large opening at one end and a smaller one at the other).

Now cut the drum and other components as specified. You can use a hacksaw to section the lengths of water pipe and angle iron, but if you don't have a torch or arc welder to cut the drum and metal grating yourself (and to weld the leg-support components together), you'd best find a friend or a metal shop to do the job for you. In any case, remember to retain a little more than half of the drum, enough so—when the canner is filled—the water level will cover the tops of quart canning jars by an inch or two. Also, be sure that the large bung hole, which you'll use to drain the canner, will rest at its lowest point when the canner is mounted on its legs.

Next, make the leg supports by welding each of the 5" pieces of water pipe at an angle of about 45° to a 3" piece of angle iron (see Photo 1). Then drill two holes in each of the supports, and bore a matching pair of mounting holes at each of the canner's four outside corner edges. (The exact location of the holes at each edge isn't particularly critical, as long as all four pairs are positioned consistently.)

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