Do get one large enough to process quart size jars. It's better to have more capacity and not need it. I recently got a 23 Qt Presto and have been trying it out quite a bit. Jerry's got it right about buying up when things are cheap. I bought 50 pounds of potatoes a few weeks ago at Sprouts when they were 70 cents a 10 pound bag. A 10 pound bag filled up 7 quart jars which was one batch in the canner. Next I canned pinto beans which I bought at 50 cents a pound from Rancho Liborio. Lastly I just canned a dozen pints of strawberry jam since strawberries have been so cheap lately. Albertson's is selling 4 pound containers of strawberries for $4 limit 2 with the coupon on the ad which you can grab at the front door. Get the case of bottled water for $2 limit 2 while you're there with that coupon. That's a great price.
So what I've learned since you asked, don't pack the jars too tight/full and don't go higher than what the recipe calls for regarding filling the jars. Even when I cooked the potatoes and beans before packing them, they both still did absorb water in the canning process. I would have liked to have a little more liquid in the finished product. Follow the recipes of course. Tighten the bands no more, no less than the recipe calls for. The bands don't make the seal, the vacuum action on the lids as the finished jars cool down makes it. The bands just keep the lids in place. When preparing jams and jellies, be sure to go all the way cooking the mixture prior to filling the jars. I have made more thin syrups meaning to make jams than I care to admit. The best jams have come from the oh crap I forgot about that mixture boiling on the stove batches. Add a tablespoon of white vinegar into the water in your canner. It keeps the jars clean. If you have a sterilize cycle on your dishwasher you work preparing the jars just got much easier. Use it.
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