Tanya,
It is not SUPPOSED to JIGGLE. You have a dial gauge canner. That is not a weight that jiggles.
There are 2 kinds of canners. A dial gauge and a weighted gauge canner. Only the weighted gauge canner jiggles.
Your dial is bad. You need to either get the dial replaced with a new, tested working one, OR get yourself the three piece weight set and turn your canner into a weighted gauge kind.
You don't have a true weight. You have a "counterweight". It is only meant to build pressure and hold it in there. That "counterweight" isn't a 10 lb. weight. It doesn't jiggle during canning... not on a dial gauge canner.
So, until you get a weight set, it won't jiggle during caning.

Here is a link that might be useful: Using pressure canners.

Ok, Tanyak, I figured it out. What you have is a different brand. You have All American. They do have BOTH the weights and the dial gauge.
Here we have different kinds and brands of pressure canners.
We have Presto, which is a dial gauge canner.
Mirro, which is a weighted gauge canner.
All American, which has BOTH kinds on it.
With the All American, yes, use the weight on yours that is the 10 lb. weight. It should jiggle when the pressure is correct.
You still vent for the full 10 minutes. Then put the 10 lb. weight on. Then once it jiggles for the right amount of times per minute, then you start timing. Keep it jiggling for that many times per minute the whole processing time once you get it regulated .
Your canner has a weight Pressure regulator weight with settings of 5 psi, 10 psi and 15 psi. , correct ?
It has three different holes, one for each amount of pressure you would use.
The dial can be used on that one as a reference guide, but if the gauge is bad, then you won't be relying on it.

Here is a link that might be useful: All American Canner.

Here is a link that may help you in using your canner.
You should have the round weight with yours, with the 3 different holes. Use the one for your altitude, according to the chart on the link.
Here most people need the 10 lb. one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Using a pressure canner.

Yes - sorry should have mentioned I have the All American. I think in terms of my problem of the weight either jiggling too much or too little it's just a matter of getting to know my gas burner and playing around with it - we use electricity in the house so I'm not used to gas either - I guess it's just practice practice practice.
Thank you Linda Lou.

Thank you - I'll just add extra water and let it jiggle away then ! Thanks for all your help !

Okay, I just took my brand new all american for a test drive this weekend also (just got it friday and my hubby broke the handle...thanks!)

Anyway, I *thought* that it wasn't supposed to be non-stop jiggling?

The directions basically say, make sure the weight jiggles 1 - 4 times every minute (to make sure you still have the pressure)....but NOT non-stop. Otherwise you let out too much steam.

It took me forever to get it down to the non-stop jiggle stage...but was I correct in doing so?

Since it was my first test drive, I did have lots of water in there so I wouldn't ruin it...then my hubby went and broke the handle :sigh:

Sorry about the broken handle. You can follow the directions for how many jiggles with your canner. The person asking the first question has trouble regulating the canner. So, it really won't hurt to let it jiggle. I do with mine, but I have a Presto. Mine would either stop or jiggle away, so I let it jiggle. Each brand has it's own number of "jiggles" it should do per minute. If you can control yours with the right amount , then that is good.
I can't keep up and remember how many each brand is supposed to ideally jiggle per minute.
I am glad you got a nice new canner !
I just can't pick up the All American canner. I tried at the store the other day. My back just won't handle picking up that much weight. Otherwise I would get myself one. In the meantime, I just use my Presto canners, which work fine.

Linda Lou - I can relate to that. I bought the 41q All American on line as you don't get pressure canners in the stores over here having no idea how heavy it is (and I'm not the biggest person in the world - the pot is almost as big as me:-)) So I have to can outside on a table standing on a bench (I can only carry it when it's completely empty) Well - at least it's good arm exercises lol :-)

tanyak -
I have the smaller 21 QT and it is heavy and big enough! I can definatly imagine the 41Qt would require an outdoor setup :)

This is all from another Newbie...but I thought it might help. When I was canning this weekend, I was canning for an 1 1/2 hours (alought I can inside so the temp is the house is more regulated).

I had to heat my canner up on high (on my oven because it's old)...but then eventually slowly, get it down to medium heat. Otherwise the guage just kept giggling instead of the 1 -4 times a minute.

Anyway, my point was that my husbands thought was those canners are SO big and thick that once they get really hot, it'll be easy to hold their tempature. (Mine took FOREVER to cool down) Again, yours will probably be a little different since you can outside and it's easier to cool off.

I never got my "giggle" regulated ;) until the last 30 min of cooking...but even after 1 solid hour of constant giggle I still had lots of water left in the bottom, I started with 3 inches to be safe since I was a cluless newbie :)

I hope that helps you out some! Good luck!

Laura

Hi,
I'm a newbie and I just got a Mirro 22 Qt pressure canner.
Made the spagetti sauce and set everything up as per instructions. But I can't get the thing to giggle it just
ssssshhhhhhhss away. I'm not above 1000 and I'm using the 10 psi valve. its been 70 minutes and I'm just waiting for the pin to go down to see what I have. Will it be safe to consume 6 months from now?

linnbin: If the pressure stayed at 11 psi it should be, no matter what sound your "jiggler" made. Mine also makes a sissing sound when pressure is released. I have the Presto canner.