Canning Mistakes... guidance requested

I had another batch fail.. and so I obviously am getting something wrong.... I have an idea of where I could've gone wrong but what I want to know is CAN I PROCESS ONLY A COUPLE JARS IN MY CANNER??? OR DOES IT HAVE TO BE FULL???
it would be nice to just fill up a couple jars at a time and process them, until I get this system figured out... less waste if there are failures.

 

Hi Katy, THANK You for a response.

1st try - sweet potatoes from my garden.. pressure canned, but a GOOD portion of the syrup came out during canning... now the jars are between 3/4 and 1/2 full of syrup but are still sealed.
2nd try - baked beans early this week... everything was going well I thought until I pulled them out the next morning and most if not all the liquid was gone again!!! And now just 3 or so days later, they are popping and so are no good

1st try I may have not gotten the head space correct and I didn't remove air bubbles.. well I didn't see any so I didn't see the point
2nd try... I did the headspace right I'm sure, and tried to remove air bubbles...

then I got the Ball Blue Book from the library, and it says I should be pre-heating my lids to soften the stuff around the rim and that I should start my "10 minute count" as soon as the steam starts escaping.. where my cooker book says I shoudl wait until it's a steady stream of steam... big difference in the timing there... 10-15 minutes or so really..

so maybe I cooked the last batch of beans too long? and I didn't heat the lids prior...

sooooo... I don't want to keep wasting food, and I figured I could try smaller batches of just 3 or so jars each until I figure out what I'm doing wrong.

 

Water bath canning has gone well, yummy pickles

Now I'm pressure canning. I have all new stuff, new lids everytime (not rings though.. I am reusing those in excellent condition).

I canned by the books, Utah Canning Guide & my cooker's book, 65 minutes for the sweet potatoes & baked beans

but maybe I let the steam vent too long???? See my previous post on that

 

Well... I have a pressure weighted canner, so no guage.

Book says to wait until steady stream of steam escapes, then count 10 minutes.. then add rocker (weighted) and when it begins to rock gently, start the cooking timer.


added:
Today I'm going to try a couple of jars of white potatoes...
Tomorrow a couple of jars of black beans.. using a bean soup recipe that is practically identical to my black beans recipe.

This time:
I will heat the lids in water
MAKE SURE I have gotten all the air bubbles
TRIPLE check the headspace
And start the 10 minutes once steam begins to escape instead of waiting for the steady stream.. as it says in the Ball Blue Book I have here
Then add the rocker, wait for it to begin rocking and count my cooking time

 

Quote:I have the whole "kit" for canning, including the headspace measurer and if you flip it around your supposed to use it for bubble removal too.
No.. with the sweet potatoes, I waiting a couple hours and removed them
But then either the Complete Guide to Home Canning or the Ball Blue Book said to wait until the pressure was completely gone, and if that meant leaving them overnight that would be fine so that is what I did.. when I opened them a few hours later it was still hot & steamy in there. Overnight for me means 5 or so hours.. thats all we sleep around here.

Katy.. the guage has weighted rings you can remove or add. No added weight = 5lbs.. 1 weight = 10 lbs ... both weights = 15lbs... when the rocker is moving then it is the correct pressure.

It is a Presto Pressure Canner from Walmart.. I can only can pints... but can hot water bath quarts.