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triaxiom
Curiouser andcuriouser...


Registered: 05/04/07
Posts: 17
Loc: The sub-real
Last seen: 17 years, 4 months
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Best brand of pressure cooker in UK?
#7205462 - 07/21/07 04:40 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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For the life of me I can't find anyone that will ship an All American pressure cooker to the UK. So I'm looking around at other PCs and the only analogs to the All American I can find are the Hawkins. Anyone know anything about these?
Any reccs for other brands?
Thanks.
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Visionary Tools



Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 7,953
Last seen: 2 years, 7 months
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Re: Best brand of pressure cooker in UK? [Re: triaxiom]
#7205469 - 07/21/07 05:00 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Why are pressure cookers recommended for sterilisation? What's wrong with sticking the items that need to be sterilised in an oven at 180C for an hour?
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figgusfiddus
Arrogant Worm


Registered: 02/02/07
Posts: 2,126
Loc: Figgus, Fiddia
Last seen: 16 years, 3 months
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Re: Best brand of pressure cooker in UK? [Re: Visionary Tools]
#7205482 - 07/21/07 05:16 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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This is in answered in a lot of threads. Water boils at 100C, thus any given portion of your substrate will only surpass 100C when its moisture has boiled away. Thus you don't accomplish sterilization, because your substrate isn't getting hot enough (using all its energy turning water into steam) and you're also screwing the moisture balance (which is one of the most important factors in cultivation) all to hell.
Pressure cookers maintain high air pressure by steaming water and keeping it contained. As you might remember from secondary school, the temperature required to boil water rises as the pressure increases. In this case it raises it to 255-260F (which is about 180C as I gather--I'm not going to do the conversion). That means the pressure on the outside of the jars and the inside is equal, and the moisture balance doesn't change. Steaming jars works by a different principle--namely, the jars are only raised to the cusp of boiling, and the air around them has 100% humidity anyway since it's full of steam, so as a result they lose no moisture.
Since everyone who hears this suggests it*, yes, some people have tried dry sterilization, by which dry substrate is heated above 180C and then moisturized. This doesn't work well for two reasons: 1) The main reason you need a PC is for whole grains and other materials that contain endospores. Dry sterilization burns the grains, or otherwise makes them brittle. 2) It is highly difficult to add moisture to a substrate in a way that is both sterile and that allows for it to be evenly-distributed.
100C is fine for brown rice flour (BRF or PF) cakes. It's not good enough for non-rice substrates, though. Read up on endospores and sterilization if you're interested. If you're not interested, stop reading and buy a PC! Or stick to steaming jars, if they're rice-based.
Apologies to the original poster. Hopefully someone can answer his question.
* I was once one of them, I admit it.
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Edited by figgusfiddus (07/21/07 05:24 AM)
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Arp
roving mycophagist


Registered: 04/20/98
Posts: 2,191
Loc: in a van by the river
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Re: Best brand of pressure cooker in UK? [Re: triaxiom]
#7205508 - 07/21/07 05:49 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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you should check ebay. that is how i got mine. allthou the shipping was more expensive than the pressure cooker it sure was worth it!
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Dr_T
Random Dude




Registered: 06/03/07
Posts: 1,839
Loc: Colorado
Last seen: 17 years, 4 months
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Re: Best brand of pressure cooker in UK? [Re: triaxiom]
#7205514 - 07/21/07 05:52 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Pretty much any PC is going to work. If you are buying a new one, look for one that's big enough for your needs. A used one, look for one in good condition. 'Back in the day', PC's were dangerous. And while there still is some danger, modern materials and construction methods have helped with that. Either way, don't fret too much, because it's better to have one than not. (no shitstorms, please. It's possible to grow without one- but better with).
-------------------- Roger Rabbit said: Growing mushrooms is part art, and part science, but it's not magic.
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