What about this Bad Boy?

The forum for discussing all kinds of brewing paraphernalia.
User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

What about this Bad Boy?

Post by orlando » Wed Feb 06, 2013 4:24 pm

The cost of autoclaves for sterilising lab equipment is a little out of reach to be justifiable for brewing, but the need for sterility around yeast is still important and as I want to go into "yeast ranching" fairly seriously I needed to address the issue. A pressure cooker will give me enough to provide the level of sterility needed but I wanted one that would take my 2 litre flask and it stands nearly 30cm high. I couldn't find one big enough on eBay but a steer from Aleman saw this arrive today.


Image



Only ordered it January 26th and thought the £20 carriage charge from the States was a little steep but only a 11 day wait made up for it. This is my 2 litre flask sitting in it, which at first didn't fit but when I turned the false bottom support over it went in a treat. It can take my other flasks at the same time so represents a good use of space. £60 didn't seem excessive for such a huge beast when you can pay more for only a 6 litre capacity one, this can take 20.8 litres, practically a whole brew :shock:

Image


Now my next problem is sourcing a single plate electric hob that has a hot plate big enough. I can't use our induction hob with this so am on the hunt for something appropriate, anyone have any ideas?
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

User avatar
vacant
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2167
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:39 pm

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by vacant » Wed Feb 06, 2013 6:52 pm

I can't make out from the packaging whether it can do 15PSI. Some new style pressure cookers only do 12 which means you have to run them longer.

Still quite jealous when I think about my old-school Prestige.
I brew therefore I ... I .... forget

User avatar
jmc
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2486
Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 11:43 pm
Location: Swaledale, North Yorkshire

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by jmc » Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:02 pm

What a beast! :shock:

Very handy though.

From description here looks like it can do 15psi
...This versatile canner includes 5, 10 & 15 PSI pressure controls for a wide range of pressure cooking and canning. Preserves food up to 70% faster than water bath canners; which comes in handy when you need to save time in order to accomplish large amounts of preserving.

Three separate safety features - Over pressure gasket release window, Over pressure release valve, Locking handles....

User avatar
barneey
Telling imaginary friend stories
Posts: 5423
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:42 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by barneey » Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:33 pm

Orlando, could you confirm the actual useable space inside the thing, diameter and depth wise.

Cheers
Hair of the dog, bacon, butty.
Hops, cider pips & hello.

Name the Movie + song :)

User avatar
vacant
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2167
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:39 pm

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by vacant » Wed Feb 06, 2013 8:26 pm

jmc wrote:From description here looks like it can do 15psi
OK, definitely more jealous now.
I brew therefore I ... I .... forget

Belter

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by Belter » Wed Feb 06, 2013 9:24 pm

Was this over £100?

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by orlando » Thu Feb 07, 2013 7:58 am

Belter wrote:Was this over £100?
£60 purchase £20 carriage. However the exchange rate has deteriorated since I bought this so a smidge over £90 now. Go here.

I will check the internal dimensions later, but my 2l flask is nearly 30cm tall by 18cm wide and it takes that with room to spare, see second photo.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

Belter

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by Belter » Thu Feb 07, 2013 8:19 am

orlando wrote:
Belter wrote:Was this over £100?
£60 purchase £20 carriage. However the exchange rate has deteriorated since I bought this so a smidge over £90 now. Go here.

I will check the internal dimensions later, but my 2l flask is nearly 30cm tall by 18cm wide and it takes that with room to spare, see second photo.

This is exactly what I'm looking for. but wont have the cash for it until after my build.

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by orlando » Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:54 pm

barneey wrote:Orlando, could you confirm the actual useable space inside the thing, diameter and depth wise.

Cheers
I measured the diameter at 30.5 cm and the usable depth with the inner tray/rack in place as 27.3cm , my 2 l flask is 26.9. :whistle: Still struggling with finding a single electric hot plate to sit it on though, as most of them on eBay are only around the 18cm mark, which I might get away with but ideally something more than a little over 1/2 of the bottom of the cooker; that's a little precarious.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

Waffty
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 645
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:39 pm
Location: Peoples Republic of Dudley

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by Waffty » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:37 am

Looks just the job =D>

I've been using an old baby bottle steriliser, which seems to work ok but not sure if it will take a 2L conical, it does take a 1L ok. I do two cycles, as each cycle typically takes 10 minutes or so.
Fermenting - Nothing
Conditioning - Nothing
Drinking - Tea
Planning - Everything, if only I had the time ... !!

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by orlando » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:47 am

I will not know till I use it in anger but have now bought a single electric ring. Not as big as I would like but it only cost £12 delivered so I can try it and see if it works. I figure that I am not trying to boil a lot of water (1 litre?) so it should handle that easily, I'm just hoping it can give a steady amount of power. Anyone who uses a pressure cooker to sterilise with can you tell me whether you use tap water or something like deionised? Also when you cool these things I understand that they effectively pull in "fresh air" which suggests it is undermining a little of what I'm trying to achieve but there has to be a compromise somewhere I suppose.

Has your autoclave been made redundant then?
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

darkonnis

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by darkonnis » Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:57 pm

Heres an alternative, havent tried it myself but its cheaper: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-MIRRO-T-F ... d82&_uhb=1

User avatar
jmc
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2486
Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 11:43 pm
Location: Swaledale, North Yorkshire

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by jmc » Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:13 am

orlando wrote:I will not know till I use it in anger but have now bought a single electric ring. Not as big as I would like but it only cost £12 delivered so I can try it and see if it works. I figure that I am not trying to boil a lot of water (1 litre?) so it should handle that easily, I'm just hoping it can give a steady amount of power. Anyone who uses a pressure cooker to sterilise with can you tell me whether you use tap water or something like deionised? Also when you cool these things I understand that they effectively pull in "fresh air" which suggests it is undermining a little of what I'm trying to achieve but there has to be a compromise somewhere I suppose.

Has your autoclave been made redundant then?
I add freshly boiled water (from kettle) to my pressure cooker. I mainly use mine std sized one to sanitise glass jars and vials for yeast storage. These are filled with boiling water and lids rested on them. I leave mine 4 mins to cool down / lose pressure then open and tighten lids using rubber coated gauntlets. If I was to sanitise a flask I'd add 1cm water to pressure cooker and 2cm to flask any cover flask top loosely with foil. Once its cooled down I'd leave on foil and just pour away any water in flask before using it.

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: What about this Bad Boy?

Post by orlando » Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:30 pm

jmc wrote:
orlando wrote:I will not know till I use it in anger but have now bought a single electric ring. Not as big as I would like but it only cost £12 delivered so I can try it and see if it works. I figure that I am not trying to boil a lot of water (1 litre?) so it should handle that easily, I'm just hoping it can give a steady amount of power. Anyone who uses a pressure cooker to sterilise with can you tell me whether you use tap water or something like deionised? Also when you cool these things I understand that they effectively pull in "fresh air" which suggests it is undermining a little of what I'm trying to achieve but there has to be a compromise somewhere I suppose.

Has your autoclave been made redundant then?
I add freshly boiled water (from kettle) to my pressure cooker. I mainly use mine std sized one to sanitise glass jars and vials for yeast storage. These are filled with boiling water and lids rested on them. I leave mine 4 mins to cool down / lose pressure then open and tighten lids using rubber coated gauntlets. If I was to sanitise a flask I'd add 1cm water to pressure cooker and 2cm to flask any cover flask top loosely with foil. Once its cooled down I'd leave on foil and just pour away any water in flask before using it.
Thanks for the tips.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: What about this Bad Boy? UPDATED with pics

Post by orlando » Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:17 pm

Finally I have got the whole package together. Scored a single electric hot plate (1500 W) from Amazon for £12 delivered. Had some concerns that it might not be man enough but because so little water is needed it is really only the huge space in this that slows things down.

This is how the set up looks: Note the shiny hot plate :D


Image


Thar she blows! Got my 2 litre flask in there my big hop tea ball strainer and some vials for making yeast slants and a lot of room to spare!


Image

I was a little worried at first that it wasn't pressurising properly but a couple of tries with it and a little vaseline round the sealing gasket and it looks like I've cracked it. Something that has occurred to me is I can now use a large number of kilner jars for sterilising wort and store till I need it making for a very quick starter make up.So I can now say recommend it.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

Post Reply