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bjanuszewski
Stranger danger


Registered: 05/07/13
Posts: 123
Loc: Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Last seen: 8 years, 5 months
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Agar explode
#18226855 - 05/07/13 11:56 AM (11 years, 14 days ago) |
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Hi, I'm fairly new to cultivation. I attempted to make some malt agar (purchased online, just had to mix with 2 cup water)after it dissolved i put in a lid jar with single hole w/ microspore tape on top. the jar was fairly full about 3/4 full of the extract. i put tinfoil on top and had tinfoil at the bottom of my PC to elevate it from touch most of the water at the bottom of my 6 quart PC. once my weight started to rock i set the timer to 45mins. my PC has no gauge but i read somewhere in the manual that its at 15lb of pressure. i believe where i went wrong was after the time was up i took off hot stove top and let cool, i lifted the weight for probably 30 seconds to let some of the steam out, then i walked away and let cool. after completely cooled i open the PC and found that my jar only had enough agar for 1 petri dish (shouldve filled 20) and all the agar was over the tinfoil and water & PC. any suggestions to prevent this since i may wanna attempt this recipe in near future again. what i will do next time is let it cool on its own without lifting weight and probably only fill jars half way with extract will that do the trick?
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PussyFart
Retired Cultivation Extrodinaire



Registered: 04/08/12
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Quote:
bjanuszewski said: i lifted the weight for probably 30 seconds to let some of the steam out,
This did it, for sure.
Never release the pressure early, let it cool naturally, it should drop pressure in about 20 minutes.
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THIS HOBBY IS NOT FOR THE IMPATIENT! PLEASE BE PATIENT, DON'T BE A PATIENT! A Tale of 10 Isolates, GT Cluster Clone Monotubs, RR's Let's Grow Mushrooms DVD, SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber), Monotub Tek, Damion5050's Coir Tek, TL's Tek List, Frank's Tek List, EvilMushroom666's Pasteurization Tek, How It Should & Shouldn't Look - NEW CULTIVATORS GUIDE *** *** AFGHAN KUSH GROW LOG *** ***
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MHbound
Ballin Out At All Cost


Registered: 09/24/07
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Quote:
Notahacker420 said:
Quote:
bjanuszewski said: i lifted the weight for probably 30 seconds to let some of the steam out,
This did it, for sure.
Never release the pressure early, let it cool naturally, it should drop pressure in about 20 minutes.
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bjanuszewski
Stranger danger


Registered: 05/07/13
Posts: 123
Loc: Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Last seen: 8 years, 5 months
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Quote:
Notahacker420 said:
Quote:
bjanuszewski said: i lifted the weight for probably 30 seconds to let some of the steam out,
This did it, for sure.
Never release the pressure early, let it cool naturally, it should drop pressure in about 20 minutes.
argh! yea was my 2nd time using a pressure cooker. hard lesson learned $7 worth of mae
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PussyFart
Retired Cultivation Extrodinaire



Registered: 04/08/12
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But for agar, I leave the bottle in the PC for at least 2 hours past the pressure dropping, to make sure there is no boil over.
EDIT: I also submerge my agar bottle a little more than half way to slow down the cooling process.
--------------------
THIS HOBBY IS NOT FOR THE IMPATIENT! PLEASE BE PATIENT, DON'T BE A PATIENT! A Tale of 10 Isolates, GT Cluster Clone Monotubs, RR's Let's Grow Mushrooms DVD, SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber), Monotub Tek, Damion5050's Coir Tek, TL's Tek List, Frank's Tek List, EvilMushroom666's Pasteurization Tek, How It Should & Shouldn't Look - NEW CULTIVATORS GUIDE *** *** AFGHAN KUSH GROW LOG *** ***
Edited by PussyFart (05/07/13 12:37 PM)
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bjanuszewski
Stranger danger


Registered: 05/07/13
Posts: 123
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what about filling the jars? was it ok that it was close to full w/ the agar? is 1 nail size hole in the lid w/ tape good enough for pressure exchange?
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Ghost4
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Registered: 12/28/12
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Mushroomvideos.com m8, really informative stuff... especially if you are just experimenting...
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bjanuszewski
Stranger danger


Registered: 05/07/13
Posts: 123
Loc: Wisconsin, Milwaukee
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Quote:
Notahacker420 said: But for agar, I leave the bottle in the PC for at least 2 hours past the pressure dropping, to make sure there is no boil over.
is boil over the "explode" that happened to my agar?
Quote:
EDIT: I also submerge my agar bottle a little more than half way to slow down the cooling process.
through alot of the teks ive read you shouldnt put your jars in water, just have them about touch the bottoms during pcing.
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PussyFart
Retired Cultivation Extrodinaire



Registered: 04/08/12
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It is ok for the water to come an inch or so up the jars, for agar, more water is recommended.
http://www.mushroomvideos.com/Agar-Petri-Dishes
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THIS HOBBY IS NOT FOR THE IMPATIENT! PLEASE BE PATIENT, DON'T BE A PATIENT! A Tale of 10 Isolates, GT Cluster Clone Monotubs, RR's Let's Grow Mushrooms DVD, SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber), Monotub Tek, Damion5050's Coir Tek, TL's Tek List, Frank's Tek List, EvilMushroom666's Pasteurization Tek, How It Should & Shouldn't Look - NEW CULTIVATORS GUIDE *** *** AFGHAN KUSH GROW LOG *** ***
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BloodKil
Mangler av era mödrar slida


Registered: 03/16/13
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Also want to point out op that for safety its probably not the best idea to be moving around a pressurised cooker... Don't move it off the burner when your done, just let it cool/drop pressure right where it is.
Other than that hacker not only provided you with how you should be PC your agar, but a nice link as well. Hope your next batch is more of a success.
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OICU812
NC Tree Farm owner


Registered: 11/06/11
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Quote:
bjanuszewski said: what about filling the jars? was it ok that it was close to full w/ the agar? is 1 nail size hole in the lid w/ tape good enough for pressure exchange?
I use the 1 Qt. juice jars pictured below just like Aloha Medicinals. I make 500 ml. of agar in each, which fills it about half way. I then put the original cap w/seal on the top so that the cap contacts the rim of the jar but is not tightened. No holes, no foil, just the cap.
When I take the jars out of my 75x sterilizer, they seal pretty quickly. They are relatively easy to open when it is time to pour.
I don't worry about not venting as I was amazed when I saw them do it this way at Aloha. Their comment was that is the way the jars are processed when the juice is packed in them and the jars they have survive hundreds of cycles without any problems. I figure, if it is good enough for them, why should I try to re-invent the wheel?
BTW, I never open my sterilizer until the pressure reaches 0.00!
-------------------- -------------- "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" --Benjamin Franklin "Those who give up liberty for security won't have, or deserve, either.". . . Benjamin Franklin ----> Read: The Fight of our Lives - Defeating the Ideological War Against the West - by Victor Davis Hanson
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MonkeyJesusFresco
am i suspended in agar?



Registered: 10/09/12
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Quote:
hard lesson learned $7 worth of mae
next time it could be your flesh, read the instruction manual!
-------------------- LAGM v 2.024 - endo cabendo
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Quote:
Notahacker420 said: But for agar, I leave the bottle in the PC for at least 2 hours past the pressure dropping, to make sure there is no boil over.
Once the pressure has dropped to atmospheric you can cool as fast as you like, within reason.
Agar has a nasty tendency to boil all of a sudden and foam out all over everything. Once it boils you usually don't even have time to pull it off the heat in time.
When you spill, let it cool before cleaning up. Trying to wipe it up while warm usually just spreads it around and makes it harder to clean up. It's no fun growing contams all over from spilled agar.
-FF
-------------------- It drinks the alcohol and abstains from the weed or else it gets the hose again. -Chemy The difference between the substances doesn't matter. This is a war on consciousness, on our right to the very essence of what we are. With no control over that, we have no need to speak of freedom or a free society. -fireseed "If we are going to have a war on marijuana, the least we can do is pull the sick and the dying off the battlefield." -Neal Levine (MPP) I find the whole "my drug should be legal but yours should be illegal" mindset disgusting and hypocritical. It's what George Bush and company do when they drink a cocktail and debate the best way to imprison marijuana users. -Diploid
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wildernessjunkie
Reshitivest



Registered: 06/13/10
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Re: Agar explode [Re: fastfred]
#18235457 - 05/08/13 11:33 PM (11 years, 12 days ago) |
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A little something to learn here:
Boiling is not just a function of temperature, but also of pressure.
This is why the boiling point of a liquid is lower at high altitude, and higher at high pressures. (Like in a PC).
The minute you released that pressure, while still at a high temperature. That liquid (agar) flash boiled, and wanted to escape that bottle immediately. Its just not a good idea to try and reduce pressure while maintaining a fairly constant temperature.
Next time, just wait a bit longer, and you'll be good to go.
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RogerRabbit
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Registered: 03/26/03
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Quote:
once my weight started to rock i set the timer to 45mins. my PC has no gauge but i read somewhere in the manual that its at 15lb of pressure.
If the weight is rattling, the agar will boil over too. You didn't just lose it when you popped the weight off-you lost agar during the whole process. At the very first sign of the weight jiggling, reduce heat so it stops, but a small amount of steam still vents. RR
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