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dabp
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New pressure cooker/autoclave issues
#28434589 - 08/15/23 04:59 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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Hey guys,
Completely new-ish to mycology, but I've done a lot of research and started buying a fair amount of equipment to start with, to get started into this universe.
I just got my new autoclave with built-in heating element: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0C2HY8FBV
Came with a defective pressure gauge, but I took it apart and fixed it, so far so good.
Nothing in the manual about how much to fill the unit, but I filled it all the way up to where the inner tub rests
But as you can see, the heating element gets exposed due to water evaporation over the course of the first 90 minute cycles I've done

I'm afraid that doing longer cycles to sterilize substrate will kill the unit as all water would probably evaporate and the heating element would just burn out...
Any advise for this? The seller on Amazon is completely useless.
The inner tub also doesn't sit very well on the studs and can shift and drop down on the heating element, while in use. All in all I don't recommend buying this unit....
Edited by dabp (08/15/23 05:00 AM)
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AspectOfTheCreator
Mastering the Art of Success



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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: dabp]
#28434591 - 08/15/23 05:06 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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Just want to offer my condolences. I bought a pressure cooker and within a few uses pressure/moisture started escaping through a screw in the one handle. Everything these days comes half broken straight out the box.
Frustrating.
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phenyl
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Registered: 09/03/22
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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: dabp]
#28434597 - 08/15/23 05:18 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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Quote:
dabp said: Hey guys,
Completely new-ish to mycology, but I've done a lot of research and started buying a fair amount of equipment to start with, to get started into this universe.
I just got my new autoclave with built-in heating element: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0C2HY8FBV
Came with a defective pressure gauge, but I took it apart and fixed it, so far so good.
Nothing in the manual about how much to fill the unit, but I filled it all the way up to where the inner tub rests
But as you can see, the heating element gets exposed due to water evaporation over the course of the first 90 minute cycles I've done

I'm afraid that doing longer cycles to sterilize substrate will kill the unit as all water would probably evaporate and the heating element would just burn out...
Any advise for this? The seller on Amazon is completely useless.
The inner tub also doesn't sit very well on the studs and can shift and drop down on the heating element, while in use. All in all I don't recommend buying this unit....
You need to wire a PID controller to it to keep the temperature at 121c rather than it blowing every 60 seconds. Also the pressure gauge sucks hard and will probably fail again, hence the PID controller for saturated steam temperature rather than pressure. So does the janky Chinese plug that doesn't conform to any electrical standard.
Also get rid of the tub and replace it with a pizza tray (you know, the metal kind with holes it in) or something similar. Ditch the silly tip tube too. Holds 10 quart jars that way.
I stuff 4 bags in there and let it rip for 4 hours with no problems
-------------------- The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
Edited by phenyl (08/15/23 05:25 AM)
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phenyl
Stupid person



Registered: 09/03/22
Posts: 328
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Last seen: 4 hours, 20 minutes
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Quote:
AspectOfTheCreator said: Just want to offer my condolences. I bought a pressure cooker and within a few uses pressure/moisture started escaping through a screw in the one handle. Everything these days comes half broken straight out the box.
Frustrating.
Same style of unit? The silicone washers can be misaligned a bit if the factory QA (of which there are several - these are generic units with interchangable parts a la AK47) isn't great. Unscrew it a bit and try to get a good bite against the screw.
-------------------- The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
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dabp
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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: phenyl]
#28434619 - 08/15/23 06:00 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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Thanks for the inputs, however I feel like that's a bit out of scope for this, unless you know of any plug'n'play options that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
I was completely surprised that the unit more or less empties itself, to the point of damaging the unit within 90 minutes, yet nothing is mentioned of this in the manual.
What do you mean by "tip tube"?
Edited by dabp (08/15/23 06:00 AM)
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phenyl
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Posts: 328
Loc: Bat Country
Last seen: 4 hours, 20 minutes
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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: dabp]
#28434634 - 08/15/23 06:44 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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Quote:
dabp said: Thanks for the inputs, however I feel like that's a bit out of scope for this, unless you know of any plug'n'play options that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
I was completely surprised that the unit more or less empties itself, to the point of damaging the unit within 90 minutes, yet nothing is mentioned of this in the manual.
What do you mean by "tip tube"?
Our cycle lengths are insanely long in fairness. PID control costs about £40 in total to build including an enclosure if you're comfortable with basic electrical wiring.
The other option would be using a voltage regulator to modulate the current going to the element, the same way All American autoclaves work. Ghetto but you might have some success.
I wouldn't suggest putting it on a timer since the load is going to act as a heatsink as the cycle progresses and overshoot the initial temperature target unless you adjust the on/off time through the cycle. In other words, as the bags get hotter inside you need less energy to keep the temperature/pressure constant so a 5s on 10s off timer might work for 45 minutes but will then start creeping the pressure up.
The dip tube is just a silicone hose that dips to the bottom of the chamber for steam exhaust from the exhaust valve. Maybe yours doesn't have that.
-------------------- The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
Edited by phenyl (08/15/23 06:48 AM)
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dabp
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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: phenyl]
#28434645 - 08/15/23 07:14 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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Gotcha. I did a quick google search for something relating to PIDs and pressure cookers, but didn't find anything helpful. Do you happen to have a link or searchphrase that might yield results that I could follow?
To be honest, I should have just got the Presto one, I just felt that the built in heating module was a nice touch and meant that I could run it while doing other things on my stove, however many of the things listed in the amazone page were not included in the unit......
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phenyl
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Posts: 328
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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: dabp]
#28434659 - 08/15/23 07:36 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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Quote:
dabp said: Gotcha. I did a quick google search for something relating to PIDs and pressure cookers, but didn't find anything helpful. Do you happen to have a link or searchphrase that might yield results that I could follow?
To be honest, I should have just got the Presto one, I just felt that the built in heating module was a nice touch and meant that I could run it while doing other things on my stove, however many of the things listed in the amazone page were not included in the unit......

Jesus, 300 euros for that. I paid about £130 on eBay. Returning it for false advertising and defects etc and buying the presto is probably your best bet. Those aren't much better made but you don't have to play electrician to get it working properly either.
PID controllers are pretty easy to build if you're reasonably competent with domestic electrical work. You'll usually find hobbyists building them to control home-brewing equipment and the like.
I'm sure you'll find plenty of videos and such
https://archersmushrooms.co.uk/how-to-build-a-mushroom-steriliser-temperature-controller/ and here's a guy who built one for a substrate steamer.
For reference regarding the temperature probe, the holes in our autoclave are 14mm so an M14 threaded probe will probably be better than 1/2 inch BSP. Obviously add silicone washers and PTFE tape since M14 isn't a tapered thread and comes in coarse and fine thread pitch flavours so it won't form a proper seal by itself.
The hole for the heating element when it inevitably burns out is 40mm so it fits standard homebrew kettle elements. Here's the aftermath of the plug melting before I replaced it. Note how the ground is shorter than the phase so it will be the first thing to come out if you tug it, lol.
-------------------- The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
Edited by phenyl (08/15/23 07:47 AM)
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dabp
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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: phenyl] 1
#28434798 - 08/15/23 10:11 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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Ordered the Presto and starting return process for this unit. Not even going to bother trying to get this to work. Thanks for your inputs
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phenyl
Stupid person



Registered: 09/03/22
Posts: 328
Loc: Bat Country
Last seen: 4 hours, 20 minutes
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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: dabp]
#28434800 - 08/15/23 10:18 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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Quote:
dabp said: Ordered the Presto and starting return process for this unit. Not even going to bother trying to get this to work. Thanks for your inputs 
Smart move. If you want to be extra fancy get a nice hot plate to emulate the heating element functionality An induction compatible Presto might be worth the extra $20 to be able to use a nice responsive induction hotplate with a built-in timer.
Glad I could help.
-------------------- The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
Edited by phenyl (08/15/23 10:34 AM)
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AspectOfTheCreator
Mastering the Art of Success



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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: phenyl]
#28434875 - 08/15/23 11:53 AM (5 months, 10 days ago) |
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The presto was the one that leaked from the handles screw for me, so just be vigilant.
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dabp
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Last seen: 4 days, 11 hours
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Re: New pressure cooker/autoclave issues [Re: dabp]
#28497406 - 10/09/23 09:10 AM (3 months, 17 days ago) |
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So just to follow up, the seller offered me 50% back on the unit to keep it, so I started using the autoclave for doing LC jars instead as that only needs a short runtime, but the heating element has already crapped out. Got around 10 runs before it died. Absolutely cannot recommend this in any way, unless you build a PID as mentioned earlier for it. It'll kill itself without it for mycology work.

And my new presto has been run 10-15 times and has started to go concave in the bottom(running it on my normal glass top stove). 
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