A.k.a said:

Me too.

I started pouring the first three and then adding the rest of the stack on top of those and pouring from there.

It always feels too awkward lifting the whole pile to do the first one or two plates.


Besides the occasional problem with the first plates, usually bacteria under the agar, I rarely see contamination on the rest.

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Me too!
I work with only 5 stacks, but the glass ones are heavy!
Anyway, ya the bottom plates are getting contam.

AlsetAlokin said:

Here's some contamporn for all those that haven't seen something bad on agar in a while.

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"haven't seen something bad on agar in a while."

      Immaculate contam! 
We're in the club!

Maybe did better last time, nothing yet.
I'm wiping the SAB,rack, and all with a towel of Clorox and then letting it
sit an hour. All plates get wiped, scalpel, gloves, clorox towel goes under the rack.
No bumping the SAB, slow movements, 

AlsetAlokin said:

Here's some contamporn for all those that haven't seen something bad on agar in a while.

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I can contribute to this.


Tonight I thought I was going to drop a wedge to my first grain jar. Had a nice sized puck ready to go and it fell off the scalpel and landed face down on a wet towel. FML. Looks like I'm starting grain in about another week and a half or so if I don't drop the damn thing again.

tryptkaloids said:

I'm looking for a stainless steel straw (preferably locally) for them perfectly round transfers.

I plan on taping my scalpel to the other end so I can hold em both with ease

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I made one of those about a week ago. Found the straws at my local grocery store.

A.k.a said:

I was gonna say I’ve been seeing metal straws all over the grocery stores here. Just in random spots where they’ll hang some small shit or little toys from the shelves.

And the camping section.

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Yup. After watching D3's thread a couple weeks ago and not being the type to wait on ordering a punch set online, I started looking for alternatives.

Found mine at Target off the bay end of the camping section on sale for like $4 for two straws with silicone bendies on them. I wanted something like Dr. Mario's with the actual curved steel part, but either were pricey or didn't seem like the size I wanted. $4 seemed worth the risk of failure. lol

Usually the kitchen section or camping sections will have a variety, as well as the bay ends or impulse buy gauntlets near the registers of stores.

The one criteria I was making sure to check was the material that they are made of. The straws I got were 18/8 Food Grade Stainless Steel. I didn't want to pick something made of some strange alloy that'd melt or get weird on me.

My knife skills aren't that great yet, and having a perfect puck you could slip your blade into made it easier, pick up a piece and gently flip it over onto a plate with less chance of fumbling it.

WFG