Pressure Cookers

[Amber Fluid]

I scored an 8L pressure cooker from Kmart the other day for only $25 and am wanting to know how long do things take to effectively sterilize in one of these please?

 

[pdilley]

Basic sterile technique:

1. Have enough water to last an hours boil without boiling dry
2. Have something to raise your equipment inside the cooker off the water layer
3. Start a boil with the equipment stacked inside with the lid on but no weight if you have a weight system
4. After the steam comes through the weight vent, put the weight on

Time is up to your preference but I always go 25 psi steam sterilisation for 1 hour.

Timer is not set to start the one hour count down until after you reach your psi on the gauge, if you have one, or the weight starts rocking if you don't.

Safe cool down means do not open the lid or remove the weight after the hour is up, this will cause any media (if you have any) to boil inside the vessel creating a mess.

If you are worried about sterilsed cool down, do so in a hepa filtered control room, or cover the vent(s) with a cloth soaked in santiser solution to help clean any air entering the pressure cooker.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Wolfy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization...microbiology%29
"To achieve sterility, a holding time of at least 15 minutes at 121 C"

 

[kieran]

Wolfy's is right. The time depends on the types of bugs you're trying to kill.
At work we usually use either 15 or 20 mins at 121C (hitting about 115kpa). We use these.

Follow Pete's instructions to keep the stuff you're sterilising off the bottom of the pan.

Then just steam it up for about 20 mins, let pressure hit 110kpg (~16psi) at 121C (if you can), once done you can vent it, and she's cooked.

If you want to tell if your job's done, invest in some Autoclave Tape. There are strips on it which will turn black IF AND ONLY IF, you've hit sufficient conditions for the right length of time. It's a good failsafe to check that you really are sterilising something. Even with $60,000 autoclaves, we still use it. If the strips aren't going black, you need to modify the sterilisaiton method (either get it hotter, increase the pressure, increase the time, etc). That said, if something's wrong.. you could leave it for an hour, and your stuff still wont be sterile. That's why tape is handy.

cheers

 

[Amber Fluid]

Appreciate the responses, thanks guys.

 

[mwd]

I scored an 8L pressure cooker from Kmart the other day for only $25 and am wanting to know how long do things take to effectively sterilize in one of these please?

Also handy for cooking spuds.

 

[davo4772]

I have this pressure cooker. The pressure setting is 1 or 2. Do these domestic types reach the required temp of 121 degrees ??. Unlike the pressure canners there is no way of estimating the pressure.


Cheers