APPLE JELLY

It has taken us two days of work, but we have finally processed all the apples off the first tree.  If I didn't mention it before we had some nice what I call AA quality apples without blemishes.  I am storing them under a cabinet (dark and cool) in a flat box in a single layer.  I decided on this method because keeping my onions in the same cabinet and flat box is preserving them so well.  I also read that I should keep our potatos in a cool dark place.  I have a plethera of pillow cases we don't use so I have them in the pillow case.  This seems to be keeping them wonderfully, though time will tell. 
    So today I processed 36 half pints of apple jelly.  Todays jelly is much darker than my previous batch.  I am using SureJell instead of my previous Ball fruit pectin, but I don't know what that has to do with it.  Also, I read that you can add 1/2 tsp margarine or butter to prevent foaming, which I did this time but not last time.  I am not sure if this has made my jelly the honey color it is.  The third thing is that I decided to process 14 lbs of apples at the same time.  This made 7 1/2 quarts of juice, which required 4 boxes of Sure Jell plus the 1/4 cup of the Ball fruit pectin I had left over from my previous jelly making.
     Since I wanted to do it all at once (all recipes I have seen have discouraged against making a double or larger batch; I have had no problem with this, which is why I am putting my experiences in this blog).  I used an extra canner that I no longer use for canning (I seem to have misplaced the lid in a couple of moves).  So I poured all the juice into the giant canning pot along with all of the pectin and 1 1/4 Cups of the premeasured 20 cups of sugar.  I was attempting to bring it to a boil while stirring constantly, but I ended up getting distracted and didn't stir constantly enough and it started getting burnt on the bottom so I emptied the juice mixture into two smaller pans.  I intended to cook it in 2 smaller pans, but I am impatient and didn't want to waste that much time. 
So I washed the canner good and poured all the juice back into the pan; don and I continued to stir constantly for about an hour til it came to a rapid boil we could not stir down. while he continued to stir I poured in the remaining sugar (18 3/2 cups).  It took quite awhile (maybe 40 mins) to get the mixture back to a full rolling boil, then to boil it for one minute, but the result was a perfect jelly that I am very proud of.  It is clear even though it is an amber color.  I know most apple jelly is a clear amber color, but I was quite proud of my previous golden yellow jelly. Todays jelly is somewhat thicker which was a goal.  I did feel the first batch was a bit too thin.  I found out that we are high altitude so I am processing an additional 5 mins. (brining time to 10 mins).  once the water bath comes to a full rolling boil.  I forgot to leave the jars in an additional 5 mins as I mentioned before (in another post) but it does not seem to have affected the sealing process or the jelly as far as I can tell. The lids are popping almost immediately after taking out of the water.  If I have not said so before, it is important not to put the hot jars right out of the canner onto a cool counter; always lay a towel on the counter to put the jars on, this keeps the jars from cracking when they come in contact with a drastic change in temperature between the boiling water bath and the cool counter.