Pressure Cooker for Sterilising

[McMullan]

You can get de distilled water anywhere from Halfords to B&Q, or your local aquarium shop. It should be cheap and you don't use much for autoclaving. I heard London tap water needs autoclaving, should you want to use tap water

[McMullan]

Jars no more than half full.

Are we talking about canning wort? Because I just leave a few centrimetres at the top and usually get a good seal.

Your call. Wort at 1.040 can foam a lot leading to some boil over. Sticky jars and whatever else is being sterilised are attractive to bugs. Also makes cleaning a pressure cooker a PITA.

[sladeywadey]

You can get de distilled water anywhere from Halfords to B&Q, or your local aquarium shop. It should be cheap and you don't use much for autoclaving. I heard London tap water needs autoclaving, should you want to use tap water

I did see the halfords and supermarket options but wasn't sure about the food safe aspect given the car battery usage targeting

[orlando]

The tap

Me too, I bring it to the boil first but that is only so I get it going quickly. Didn't see anything about using distilled or deionised in the instructions.

[Aleman]

The tap

Me too, I bring it to the boil first but that is only so I get it going quickly. Didn't see anything about using distilled or deionised in the instructions.

In my case the water here is so low in dissolved minerals that I don't need to bother . . . unless UU change the source on us again . . . but with all the rain we've had in the last few years I can only see that happening when they start Fracking

[barneey]

The tap

Me too, I bring it to the boil first but that is only so I get it going quickly. Didn't see anything about using distilled or deionised in the instructions.

You don't really want to get those gauges / vents clogged up with salts.

My large clave uses about 6l of water the smaller one about a 1l, hence my suggestion of having two.

[McMullan]

6L!? That is big, barneey! Do you sterilise caravans? Most of that volume remains after a cycle, though, with small top ups required between cycles, right?

[orlando]

The tap

Me too, I bring it to the boil first but that is only so I get it going quickly. Didn't see anything about using distilled or deionised in the instructions.

You don't really want to get those gauges / vents clogged up with salts.

No, quite right. My one has three safety devices. The last being a fail safe that wuld blow before the cooker or lid. The first clue that things are OK is a little red button that pops up to indicate that it is ready to expel air, located in the handle. So my first clue things might not be OK is if this doesn't pop up. Next is the main vent, I wait until a strong stream ov vapour starts to exit, once this happens I again know there is no blockage. At that point I can safely attach the 15 p.s.i. weight.

[barneey]

6L!? That is big, barneey! Do you sterilise caravans? Most of that volume remains after a cycle, though, with small top ups required between cycles, right?

http://www.all-american-sterilizers.com ... oclave.asp

Its the electric version of the AllAmerican Canner, so the element needs to be covered, also works slightly different, in that you place the items dry in the stainless bucket with a vent tube into the bucket, steam goes up and into the bucket & eventually vents out the top. Yes quite a bit of water is left afterward to reuse again.

As for cooking wort etc, I only usually fill my wort containers 2/3 to a 1/2 full to prevent boil over + ALWAYS leave to degas/ cool after cycle, I also tend to fill the thing up (if possible) - collection of jars + 2l flask OR 5l bottle




Still having problems with the Photobucket account

[orlando]

Have you moved or deleted the pictures from Photobucket?

[barneey]

Nope just updated a few things which then altered the tags = all 3000+ photo's still there but all the links are incorrect.

[sladeywadey]

thanks for the info guys.

[Hogarth]

Even if the water is super-minerally, won't the steam be pure? After several years my pressure cooker has developed a good chalky deposit under the waterline, this being London, but the lid and valves are perfectly clear. I know it's 'safety first' with pressure cookers but I just can't see the danger here.