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Hindsight
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100% condensation free agar plates pour or no-pour 13
#27189961 - 02/06/21 03:49 PM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Here is a method you can use to easily get all your agar plates free of condensation.
I tried stacking my plates high inside the PC, and outside the PC to cool (even wrapping them with an insulator) and while I'd get a few plates without condensation that way, I was getting a lot more with it, and just wasn't having the luck that some others have using stacking (even with slow-cooling).
So I took a handful of ideas I'd read about here and merged them together with one of my own ideas and I came up with this method which gets you zero condensation on all plates.
If you are using the pour-method (not PCing your plates after you pour them), don't wait for your agar to cool as much before proceeding to Step 2 below (I would pour them at 150-160F).
- I put my plates in the PC on the trivet, ensuring water level is below the trivet. I don't pay any attention to how they are stacked and I don't use an outer container or tin any more. Just bare plates in the PC. PC for 20-30 mins, let cool until pressure is released, then remove them immediately. I used to wait an hour but found the longer they sit in the PC, the more condensation will form on them. Yes, the trick below will still remove all that water, but if big droplets form, it can leave a small amount of staining on the inside of the lids, so the less condensation you have to start out with, the better.
- Then I quickly remove the plates from the PC and set them out flat on a closed cell foam mat on the counter (I put foil on top of the foam to help reflect heat) in a 3x4 grouping (you could use a yoga-mat, foam sheet shipping packing, camping sleeping mat, or anything similar that provides some insulation between the plates and the counter so the agar spends a little more time as a liquid). Note how much condensation you see on the lids here.



- Next I set a metal 9x13 brownie pan on top of the plates and fill with boiling water and then put a lid on top (or foil if you don't have a lid). It's important to use a pan that has a truly flat bottom to contact the entire surface of all lids on all your plates. The bottom of pyrex dishes is not flat.


- Cover the brownie pans with a sleeping bag or a blanket and ensure it covers both the top and sides then let sit overnight, and sometimes longer. You need to let it cool until the water in the brownie pans is room-temp. If you stick your hand under and it's still above room temp (even 10 degrees), let it sit longer or condensation will quickly re-form after you remove them.

Once the brownie pans are room temperature and you remove the blanket and pans, this is what you get:

There may be some slight staining on some of the lids that had heavy condensation right out of the PC but as you can see in the photo, it isn't a big deal and there is no active condensation.
I had read where someone used a coffee cup of hot water on top of a single plate that had already cooled (and the agar set). He said it worked but the condensation came back a few days later. This is because the agar was already solidified and couldn't reabsorb the moisture that the hot water cup vaporized from the lid. The key is applying the hot water while the agar is still hot and in liquid form.
Edited by Hindsight (11/08/21 01:47 PM)
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gdphanboomers
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: Hindsight]
#27190119 - 02/06/21 05:37 PM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Awesome I'll have to try this. The stack and hot cup o water trick is only semi successful for my no-pours
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Hindsight
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: gdphanboomers]
#27190185 - 02/06/21 06:16 PM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Yeah I had the same results as you with the cup of water on top of the stack. I really wanted to hit 100% clear and am happy I was able to get there.
Here is a link to cake pans that will work well and have a lid: https://www.amazon.com/T-fal-84840-Signature-Covered-Nonstick/dp/B07BT45VLN
The first time I did this I put a folded towel on top of the cake pans as insulation, and the second time I did a folded up sleeping bag. Both worked but the sleeping bag seems to make things slightly cleaner.
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Inthepit
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: Hindsight] 1
#27190199 - 02/06/21 06:24 PM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Hmmm, that's funny. Now I recall pouring in the SAB and I covered the SAB with a blanket because we were going to have someone come to store some stuff in the room. The plates came out really nice!
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Sunny Skies
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: Inthepit]
#27190303 - 02/06/21 07:25 PM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Nice one with the brownie plate with water.so easy there is no need to bookmark!
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Hindsight
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: Sunny Skies]
#27190990 - 02/07/21 05:31 AM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Yup, I boil the water while the PC is cooling down and then it takes about one minute to set the plates out, put the pan on top, pour the boiling water, add lid to pan, and cover with sleeping bag or blanket. Quick and easy.
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bodhisatta 
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: Hindsight] 2
#27191079 - 02/07/21 06:57 AM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Nice, If you pour at the perfect temp and stack your dishes only the top 1-2 will have condensation to deal with. Obviously this is for no pours but if you ever do move to pour agar you'll have an easier time avoiding condensation in the first place if you hate condensation that is.
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Hindsight
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: bodhisatta]
#27191125 - 02/07/21 07:31 AM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
bodhisatta said: Nice, If you pour at the perfect temp and stack your dishes only the top 1-2 will have condensation to deal with. Obviously this is for no pours but if you ever do move to pour agar you'll have an easier time avoiding condensation in the first place if you hate condensation that is.
Thanks Bod. I tried waiting to pour until the agar temps were really low (around 120F), then stacking 5-6 high in mason jars in the PC but the results still came out as shown in the top photo (immediately out of the PC). But I do know it works for a lot of people from all the reading I've been doing here. I haven't tried the pour-style method yet but plan to experiment with it once my grow is under-way.
On another note, thanks for all your contributions here. I spent weeks studying your Teks before getting started. Saved me from asking a lot of questions in the forum.
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Inthepit
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: bodhisatta]
#27191168 - 02/07/21 08:09 AM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Very true Bodhi, I didn't want to bag on No-Pour (Pre-Pour), but IME it's been a sloppy mess.  So...my cat litter plates worked great last time. I heat them in the oven and put on top like this:
. BTW that's red RTV on used plates there...
After pouring in the SAB...to be clear...
Edited by Inthepit (02/10/21 04:41 AM)
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Hindsight
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: Inthepit]
#27209507 - 02/16/21 02:03 PM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Updated with some clearer pics, and additional pics.
Also noted with this last batch that you really have to ensure the water in the brownie pans gets down to room temp before removing them. I let this last batch sit overnight and the pans were still a bit warm this morning. After removing them, some light condensation started to form so I put them back on, re-covered with a blanket and let it cool fully to room temp and that allowed the plates to clear up.
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nektar61
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Re: 100% condensation free agar plates pour or no-pour [Re: Hindsight]
#27269142 - 03/25/21 04:14 PM (2 years, 9 months ago) |
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Hindsight
This tek looks great.
Are your Petris screw-top? Look like it.
Will this work with non-screw pour Petris (glass) for if they're parafilmed shut first? Or do they need the gap for condensation water to escape?
I would be nervous about doing this with non-screw top Petris without parafilming them first.
Thank you.
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Hindsight
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Re: 100% condensation free agar plates pour or no-pour [Re: nektar61] 1
#27269269 - 03/25/21 06:04 PM (2 years, 9 months ago) |
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Yes I’m using Alien’s PP5 “Holy Grail” containers which have a threaded screw top.
It should work just fine with your setup- though the parafilm adds a dimension I haven’t tried. Even with the film in place, it SHOULD still work. The condensation doesn’t escape out to the surrounding air, it get mad reabsorbed by the agar.
Just out of curiosity, what’s the reason for concern with doing this without parafilming first?
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nektar61
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Re: 100% condensation free agar plates pour or no-pour [Re: Hindsight]
#27269408 - 03/25/21 08:30 PM (2 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Hindsight said: ...Just out of curiosity, what’s the reason for concern with doing this without parafilming first?
It seems to me that leaving my un-threaded poured Petris without parafilm or cling wrap for long is inviting contams.
I heard somewhere that when poured Petris cool, the heat difference sucks ambient air in.
I do leave poured Petris (wrapped with parafilm) for a week at room temp before using to make sure nothing is growing.
I'm no expert, I've had contam issues with poured that I did not have with Pasty no-pour plates, though I think I've fixed them by spraying the inside of the SAB with lysol.
I was using soapy water, since Bod uses that, if I recall correctly.
I'm also now wiping the scalpel and my gloves with ISO alcohol, even though I'm also using a torch (outside the SAB) on the scalpel between transfers.
FWIW, here is the worst plate I had before I fixed the problem. I find something beautiful about this very fucked up pic.
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Edited by nektar61 (03/26/21 05:35 PM)
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Hindsight
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Re: 100% condensation free agar plates pour or no-pour [Re: nektar61] 2
#27269423 - 03/25/21 08:45 PM (2 years, 9 months ago) |
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I hear you. Though the common wisdom seems to be contams only fall - they don’t travel upward. I believe that and my experiences with contamination vs clean plates and jars reflects that. There is one exception to the rule that I have seen and it’s not much of an exception really, but that is if you have a strong and sudden force of air then yes that can pull things in. A perfect example is if you have a mason jar with a metal lid on it that’s under a vacuum inside due to having PCd it and let it cool off. If you crack that lid seal, you’ll get a fast rush of air moving in. That can pull contams in (especially done outside a SAB or without a flow hood). But a Petri dish slowly cooling without a tight seal or vacuum just won’t be strong enough to pull in contams IMHO. Take this for what it cost you though, as I don’t have any experience with petris or poured agar. The screw top no-pours are really clear and have performed perfectly for me so I’ve just stuck to them and always have a bin of 20 or so ready to go just sitting out at room temp for weeks, even months at a time without any contams.
Edited by Hindsight (03/26/21 04:02 AM)
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TheBoJim
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Re: 100% condensation free agar plates pour or no-pour [Re: Hindsight] 1
#27269546 - 03/25/21 10:48 PM (2 years, 9 months ago) |
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I don’t wrap my plates until I use them. They usually sit unwrapped for a week or two.
Edited by TheBoJim (03/25/21 10:49 PM)
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nektar61
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Re: 100% condensation free agar plates pour or no-pour [Re: TheBoJim]
#27270662 - 03/26/21 05:33 PM (2 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
TheBoJim said: I don’t wrap my plates until I use them. They usually sit unwrapped for a week or two.
Do you leave them in the SAB, or how do you store them before you use them?
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TheBoJim
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Re: 100% condensation free agar plates pour or no-pour [Re: nektar61] 2
#27270965 - 03/26/21 09:19 PM (2 years, 9 months ago) |
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I store them in a shoe box that sits in a cabinet. Also leaving them like this helps all the condensation disappear in a few days
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shinear
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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: Hindsight] 2
#27690917 - 03/11/22 11:22 AM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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off topic but I love Hindsights picture of flush in the tin pan.....catering a shroom party comes to mind.....
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Eminence



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Re: 100% no condensation no pour plates [Re: Hindsight] 1
#27873754 - 07/23/22 05:41 AM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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Looks like we use the same containers. Do you PC those while closed or do you loosen them? I posted in aliens no-pour agar thread about condensation and mentioned that I keep getting bacteria around the outside edges in unopened plates when I do his tek for some reason and I feel like it's dirty air being sucked in when I open the PC, even though I waited an hour after it hit 0 psi before I opened.
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JHOVA
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Re: 100% condensation free agar plates pour or no-pour [Re: Hindsight] 2
#28164113 - 01/30/23 10:19 AM (11 months, 21 days ago) |
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Nice tek Hindsight. Here's a
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