Non Brewing Stuff To Do With Your Brewery.

[ashley_leask]

What is a good pressure cooker? What brands or what features are good?

I have looked on Ebay and am bamboozled by the array of types and brands available.

I have been thinking about a pressure cooker for sterilising vials for yeast etc and then maybe later having a crack at slants. Maybe sterilise some jars too.
Also keen to use it in the kitchen too.

Thinking a 9.5L would be a good size. Also thinking one that goes on a stove is simpler and easier to clean. Gotta be stainless steel too.
Any thoughts from those of you who have one?

Mine is a 7.5L $35 special that turned up as a one off in Woolies. I use it for sterilizing and a bit of cooking, and it fits everything I use bar a 2L Erlenmeyer. Its obviously not the same standard as the expensive American ones but I think it's just as good as one I saw in Big W for over $100.

It does have the safety features someone mentioned like it can't be opened under pressure etc. i wouldn't have bought one if I had to spend a lot on it so glad I found this one.

 

[pyrosx]

Okie dokey, i'm game to chime in on a bumped old thread just for the hell of it.

A pressure cooker can make home made stock in an hour. Chicken (or beef/pork/fish bones) + offcuts of carrots/celery/onion + water, pressure cooked for a solid 45 minutes then cooled, skimmed and strained = best chicken stock evar. Use it to make something where it will make a difference - like a risotto perhaps?

Leftover stock? Freeze it in an ice cube tray, then transfer stock cubes to plastic bag. Not having to resort to that crap powdered stuff will make you feel like a proper chef.

 

[pk.sax]

@ malted. Go to a decent Indian shop and pick up a pressure cooker. Look for an ISI mark on it. It's the equivalent of a CE certificate. They stamp it on the equipment over there. The lids are much thicker steel than what you would find on pressure cookers sold in stores here. They are also rated to higher pressures. Considering they are meant to last through daily abuse they are a lot more reliable too.

Buy one, buy a good one.

If you see the brands - hawkins, prestige, futura (futura are anodized steel with really safe weights etc) then those are the ones to go for. Don't buy one not stamped with an ISI mark. I'll post a pic of mine later.

 

[pyrosx]

with really safe weights etc

Are they the ones with the jiggly weights on top to let the gas out of? Ive not used them.

Mine has a pressure relief valve that engages a lock on the lid. Under pressure = slight pressure relief hiss = locked... hard. Very safe. Short of drilling a hole in the bastard, not sure what could possibly go wrong (oh **** - did I really just say those words of death?)

Bought from Aldi, so i guess made in china, but designed by germans....

 

[srcossens]

I bought one of the 6.5ltr Hawkins pressure cookers from Amazon in the US. It was about $60 delivered. The same one in one of the Indian shops in Manly was upwards of about $120. It also came with a small Indian recipe book which has some great recipes..... Lamb Biryani!!

And as Pryosx said, it makes great chicken stock!! You only need to cook stuff for about one-quarter the time in a pressure cooker, so you save money on gas/electricity.

I've also got a creme brulee torch for flaming the lip of the flasks/ yeast slants/ yeast farming........ making creme brulees!

 

[pk.sax]

Yeah pyroxx. This one Futura at amazon.

I didn't know amazon stocked these. Well, there is another option
The reason why I recommend these over the 'aussie' branded ones is that I suspected my cooktop to be induction and so bough a steel one from a shop here. Piece of ****. Due to the thin crappy lids on them the prv is set really low. It really struggled to cook pulses (black gram, borlotti beans etc...). My old futura has been doing duty forever and no signs of it ever giving up. The jiggly weight is something you get used to but is safer than the old school weights as it hisses rather than build up extreme pressure due to getting stuck and exploding.

The prestige brand pressure cookers have a very convenient to use lid style and are generally heavier aluminum than the Hawkins ones. I think the Hawkins are all steel.

Anyway. For the price in the shops, way better than buying similarly priced Chinese 'aussie' crap. The option to buy em online is just awesome I'm gonna remember that.

 

[Malted]

Brilliant pressure cooker discusssion, thanks guys.
Just as a funny observation: I've looked at those links and why do they often say it's aluminium when the pictures appear to be SS? I am one of those, " i'll not have alumininium in my kitchen thanks' - not so much the chemical thing but ss is more robust, doesn't pit as easily and I reckon it's easier to clean.
He he I noticed ScottC mentioned the brulee torch - yeah mine lives in the shed instead of the kitchen. It's only brought to the house when needed.

 

[pk.sax]

there is aluminium and then there is aluminium....

Its not prevalent here but in India they stamp the thickness of the Al used to make a pan on the bottom. 4.5 mm is great, anything over is just freckin awesome.

The prestige Al cookers are actually a very very very solid piece of kit. You can bash people to death with that and it won't damage.

 

[komodo]

I use my kettle for bottling pasta sauce.

 

[benno1973]

I use my kettle for bottling pasta sauce.

Me too! 50L kettle full of king browns with tomato sauce. Generally we're able to sterilise a years worth of passata in about 4 batches.

 

[komodo]

yep! took me a few goes to think to remove the pick up tube though.
I'm certainly no rocket scientist at times...

 

[stl]

I just mentioned this in another thread...

There's a guy on here selling modified bungs for 5l minikegs. So if you hook up a tyre chuck on a gas hose to your CO2 to give these things gas, you can also inflate any number of things around the house... what better justification for a CO2 bottle and regulator?

 

[felten]

On the pressure cooker topic, I have been eyeing one of these on ebay for a while, what do you think?

 

[tipsy]

I use my kettle for bottling pasta sauce.

I use mine for boiling up yabbies

 

[Steve@PMF82]

I had a mould problem in a bedroom, rising damp- high rainfall area, i tried a few commercial mould removers, bleach, bleach + vinegar, the last combo worked the longest.
When it came back again i made up a bucket of starsan and did all the walls in the room, that was 3+ months ago and its still good. Ive also used it around wounded animals and in the kitchen. I even took it to work once (cleaning school) i did heaps of stuff with one spray bottle that i would have to used several different things otherwise. Yep i am in love with starsan.

Ive done the Sous-vide thing as well, using stc 1000 and a slow cooker, works really well!

 

[Amber Fluid]

What is a good pressure cooker? What brands or what features are good?

I have looked on Ebay and am bamboozled by the array of types and brands available.

I have been thinking about a pressure cooker for sterilising vials for yeast etc and then maybe later having a crack at slants. Maybe sterilise some jars too.
Also keen to use it in the kitchen too.

Thinking a 9.5L would be a good size. Also thinking one that goes on a stove is simpler and easier to clean. Gotta be stainless steel too.
Any thoughts from those of you who have one?

Kmart - Russell Hobbs 8L stainless steel pressure cooker $49
I have had one for about a year now but have only used it about 5 times so can't give a huge opinion on it. Nevertheless, it is quite big but easy to handle.

 

[felten]

Here's one for the OP. I hurt my foot some how the other day and it's swollen and difficult to walk on, so I've been using my mash paddle as a crutch.

 

[Malted]

Here's one for the OP. I hurt my foot some how the other day and it's swollen and difficult to walk on, so I've been using my mash paddle as a crutch.

You must be rather short Felten!


I use my mash paddle for smacking bears:, doesn't everyone?

 

[felten]

Haha it's a good sized paddle, 41" long, made for my 45L BIAB setup.

 

[Malted]

Haha it's a good sized paddle, 41" long, made for my 45L BIAB setup.

Yeah that would be good for smacking bears!