Boiling Water Bath Canning: Can You Stack Jars?

“Can I double stack my jars in a water bath canner while doing boiling water bath canning?” That’s the question for today.

While boiling water bath canning, is it safe to double stack your jars in the canner? SimplyCanning.com answers this beginner question.

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Video Transcript (Edited for Clarity)

Today’s Canning Chat question is regarding double stacking jars. Most people know that you can double stack your jars in a pressure canner, but let me tell you that briefly, Yes you can. There are a few things to keep in mind.

2 types of canner racks.

A pressure canner rack looks like this.

It goes on the bottom of your canner to keep your jars off the bottom. If you want to double-layer your jars in a pressure canner, you put your first layer of jars on this rack then you’re going to put another rack on top of that first layer of jars, and finally add your second layer of jars. Then you go ahead and process. This keeps that top layer secure and not tipping over.

If you’re using a water bath canner, you’re going to do the same basic thing, but there are a couple things to keep in mind.

Boiling Water Bath Canning: The Rack

A water bath canning rack looks a little different. It looks like this

It can hang on the side of your canner and you set your jars in there. Then you’re going to lower those jars into the water.

Next you’re going to need another rack on top of the bottom jars for that top layer of jars to sit on. It needs to be secure, because you’ve got water rolling, and you don’t want those top jars to get jostled around and knocked over. another waterbath rack might work but sometimes those handles get in the way because they are too tall.

One thing that I would suggest you could use is a pressure canning rack. It’s the right size. It’ll fit right in there on top of those jars. And then you can set your second layer of jars on top of that.

Keep in mind with boiling water bath canning, the water does need to completely cover the top layer of jars by a couple of inches so that there’s room for the water to boil and those jars don’t stick up out of the water. Pay attention to the depth of your canner.

Jar Sizes & Layering Jars

Most likely, you’re going to do it with smaller jars. You’re not going to be able to do it with quart jars, because those jars are just going to stick up out of the top of the water and it won’t be deep enough.

The other thing is make sure you have a full load of jars in that top layer–well, actually in both layers–because the water is rolling. I would worry about those top jars getting jostled a little bit. If they tip over, then that’s not a good thing.

If you don’t have enough jars for a full layer on that top layer, maybe just put some jars of water in there, something so that they’re in there and it’s all full and they’re not going to just be spaced to where they’re getting dumped over.