Re-Canning

Something weird happened with my tomato juice last night.

When I took the jars out of the canner, tomato pulp erupted from under the lids of 4 of the 6 jars. 

I am not sure why this happened.  I left enough head space.  I wiped the residue from the rims of the jars.  The rings were on tightly.  All of the lids seemed to be sealed - their central "buttons" were down.  But I figure if tomato pulp can get out, botulism can get in, so I refrigerated the jars, and this afternoon when I came home from work, I emptied the juice from all the jars into a pot and started over. 

My best guess is that my jars and juice weren't hot enough when I put the juice in the jars.  Normally, I boil both the jars and the sauce at the same time (in separate pots, of course).  I slide the jars off the burner, and when the water quits boiling I drop the lids in the water to heat them up.  I turn off the juice burner and immediately start transferring it to the jars.  Last night, however, my routine was a little different.  Both the juice and the jars had cooled considerably by the time I decided on the juicing method and actually got the juice in the jars.  I figured that it would be ok, since everything was still moderately warm and would get hot in the canner.

On the other hand, the problem could have something to do with the juicing method.  Mr. LaLane did a great job producing nice, pulpy juice, but it seemed a tad "airy" as I was pouring it into the jars.  I stirred the contents of each jar with a knife to get out the air bubbles, but maybe I didn't get it all out.  Hopefully, boiling it again did the trick.  It didn't seem so airy this time.  Note to self:  cook the juice after the juicing, not before.

In any case, the jars are in the canner again.  If they spew this time, I'm giving up and making one heck of a big Bloody Mary.