The lesson to learn here is to not get shitty old, obsolete, non-working pressure cookers and waste your time and money trying to fix them when you can usually easily buy a new, modern, safe, better stainless steel pressure cooker for a very affordable price instead.
Presto 6 quart Stainless Steel Pressure cooker for $49.90 including free shipping
Another lesson would be to ask a forum like this before you acquire an old pressure cooker. Probably all of us would've told you to not do it.
The metal should be recycled and melted down to make something useful like new pots or soda cans.
No. I highly recommend AGAINST getting the T-FAL Clipso. It doesn't operate at the full pressure as most stovetop pressure cookers do. That means you won't get the full benefits of pressure cooking and you'll have to constantly alter the timing of any recipes from high to medium pressure. The closing mechanism on the lid overly complicates what's normally a simple process - for what purpose??? To be able to operate the lid with one hand, they say. That's utterly ridiculous. How are you going to get it to the stove with one hand when it only has two handles on the sides? I can move a pressure cooker with one long handle around with one hand.
Here's a better pressure cooker from Amazon that's cheaper and works like a pressure cooker is supposed to operate. I own 2 of them, a 6qt and a 4qt, and the lids are identical so they act as backup for each other. The 4qt. size is better to cook for 1-2 people, and it's usually better to use the smallest pressure cooker needed for the job to reduce the time it takes to build up and release pressure, so long as the pot isn't overfilled above 75% full.
Pressure cooker that can fit 3 large 1 quart mason jars $50 on sale now
Plastic tubs can be as cheap as $2 and as expensive as $10. Depends on the set up.
Grain is under $2 for a bag of 2lb (enough grain to do 3 one quart mason jars).
Coco coir is cheaper in big amounts - the biggest bag is $40 and can do sooooo many tubs.
If you have $150-$200 to throw towards it - you will be able to buy EVERYTHING you need.
Now that I have all of the supplies - I only end up spending $8 on grain and $40 on coir and that nets me 7 ounces lol.
At your price range you’re only going to find aluminum ones. They aren’t bad but they will pit if you leave acidic stuff in them too long, like tomato sauces. Regardless of what it’s made of I seriously would try to avoid gimmicky handle locks because they always wear out or break. I’ve been given several like that.
Mine is a simple 35yo stainless steel presto with the old style bakelite handles. I have no rust issues or corrosion at all. I replace the seal every 3 years or so.
I like presto very much because parts for them are always available, things like seal kits, toggle weights, etc.
Here is the modern presto in stainless, it’s like $79: https://smile.amazon.com/Presto-6-Quart-Stainless-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B00006ISG6/
They're not hard to use at all. I use mine all the time and practically threw the slow cooker out. I recommend this one- http://www.amazon.com/Presto-6-Quart-Stainless-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B00006ISG6/ref=lp_289825_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1448186780&sr=1-2
First, I doubt you'd get a satisfactory electric pressure cooker for that low a price (electric pc's are sometimes called "multi-cookers" too). It might work okay in the beginning (or not), but won't last well or may just have problems (or any non-stick inner pot will eventually need to be replaced), etc.
If you want an electric pc, I'd suggest waiting for upcoming Black Friday and getting one of the models of the brand "Instant Pot" (IP makes various models, though the DUO60 7-in-1 is the best selling of all). Probably most of the IP models will have very significant sale prices on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day (twice a year). There are also lots of Facebook groups for those with IP's where you can get support, questions answered, tips, recipes, etc.
If you don't mind getting a stovetop pressure cooker instead of an electric, one inexpensive one that works really well is Presto (about $35?). Some people turn up their noses at most of the less expensive stovetop pc's but we've had Presto's in our family for years and they're still going strong. The least expensive ones will be made from aluminum rather than stainless steel, but they still work fine for pressure cooking (though won't do some of the other things many electrics will do and have other disadvantages). Presto also has stainless steel models now:
https://www.amazon.com/Presto-6-Quart-Stainless-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B00006ISG6
more Presto:
https://www.google.com/images?q=presto+pressure+cooker
https://www.google.com/search?q=presto+pressure+cooker
You said you found one on Amazon for $38. Would have been good to give a link to the exact one you're referring to.
But what did the Customer Reviews at Amazon say for that one?
.
Presto 01362 6-Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker currently at $69.84, but has been under $50 on sale at times.
Cuisinart Professional Collection Stainless 6 Qt Pressure Cooker current $99.95 but has been as low as $70 on sale.
Zavor EZLock 7.4 Quart $109.95 with 8, 10, and 12.7 qt models for higher prices. Zavor was created by former employees of the Fagor company when it went bankrupt.
you can google "how to make agar mushrooms" but most links will probably point towards shroomery.org which is currently down. or you can read this: agar (the stuff in the petri dish) isn't hard to make. you do need some basic supplies tho. the most essential is a pressure cooker that can reach 15psi (not an instapot; like this). basically the recipe is as follows:
10 grams of agar-agar powder (like this)
10-15 grams of light malt extract (like this)
1 gram of nutritional yeast (like this)
500ml of water
bring the water to a LIGHT boil and whisk in the dry ingredients slowly. simmer for 3 minutes while whisking the whole time. you really want everything to be blended and have no clumps. pour the mixture into a media bottle (like this). if that is too expensive you can pour the mixture into any pressure-cooker safe container like an empty spaghetti sauce jar (if you do, MAKE SURE to drill a small hole in the lid and cover that hole with micropore tape). if you use the media bottle, loosely screw the cap on halfway and cover the top with foil. if you use the jar, close it all the way (HOLE IN LID) and cover the top with foil. screwing on loosely/hole in lid is important so the jar doesnt explode inside the cooker.
fill the pressure cooker with 1-2 inches of water, put the bottle/jar inside, put the lid on the cooker, turn heat to high. once steam is coming out of the vent, put a timer on for 10 minutes and let the steam come out until the timer is up. then put the weight over top the vent. once it hits 15psi turn the heat to low and try to keep it ~15psi for 20 minutes. this process will sterilize the jar and the agar mixture inside.
let the pressure cooker completely depressurize on its own. once it's free from pressure you can open it up and remove the bottle (it will be hot as shit). once it cools down to the point where you can comfortably hold the bottle it's ready to pour into sterile petri dishes (like this). you want to pour in a "still air box" and clean your work environment thoroughly. use 70% iso alcohol to clean all surfaces, your hands (best to wear gloves), the bottle/jar, etc. you dont need to wipe the petri dishes as they come pre-sterilized. inside of the still air box move very slowly but be precise; never hold your hands over an open petri dish. the premise of a still air box is that the air is still so bacteria can't float down and land in your sterile agar/petri dishes. pour just enough agar into a petri dish to cover the bottom. I stack ~8 petri dishes and pour from the bottom up, grabbing the lid of the bottom dish first and raising it along with the 7 other plates above it, pouring, then moving up a plate. this makes it easy and quick to pour with very little air disturbance. one batch can pour 20-25 plates and they can be stored for months.
once your plates are all poured you want to let them sit in your still air box for at minimum 4 hours or better yet overnight. some will have condensation from the heat, that is okay. once they are solidified you can swipe spores or drop 1-2 drops from a spore syringe onto the surface of the agar. once you see healthy growth you can flame-sterilize a scalpel with a torch and transfer a small section of healthy growth to another plate. this way you can guarantee cleanliness and reduce the number of fighting genetics for a better, more consistent flush of fruit.
whole process is probably $100 to start but you'll have enough ingredients for a bunch of plates. except you do need to buy more plates as you go through them. there's other options like deli cups but those arent the most sterile and generally 1/2 of them contam from my experience. good luck my guy
You're getting it! Your physics is looking good,Good work!
Now look at this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006ISG6/?tag=pressurecookerportal51-20
That little device at the top is a weight. It sits over an opening, keeping the steam in the pot, thus raising pressure inside of the confined space!
This is a conventional pressure cooker and if you take the weight off you loose pressure, as there is only an open tube leading down into the cooker.
OK, now, this weight is totally dependent on gravity, and the weight is not held on by anything else, there is no spring. I think this may have been a source of confusion.
So you can simplify your equation, as the Fatm is the same on both sides, before heat, the weight sits on a tiny tube, holding in steam as heat is applied, until the pressure overcomes the weight, regulating the pressure to your design parameters.
Did your mom let you try our little experiment? You turn that pot upside down and the weight falls off! Give it a try! But be careful!
Now this is fun:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-06/esa-satellite-maps-earths-gravity-3-d
See all those colors? Those are changes in gravity on Earth! Engineers at the GOCE did that. Now it may not be much, but it is effecting the weight. Do you see that the cooker may not work well in free fall?
It's the best electric pressure cooker out there.
The 6 quart stainless steel Presto stovetop unit is about half the price.
http://smile.amazon.com/Presto-6-Quart-Stainless-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B00006ISG6
I just started keeping plates and isolating individual colonies for propagation. Start up was pretty inexpensive:
I'm looking at getting a microscope and some methyl blue next, b/c I'm a little tired of estimating cell counts and viability. So far, the most difficult part of streaking plates is getting good quadrants. My inoculation loop is a fairly fine metal that just cuts into the agar, making it difficult to get a good streak. I usually end up with some individual colonies, but not as many as I'd like. It often ends up looking like this. This is a good example of an overfilled plate, due to not cleaning off my loop between streaks.
My process is simple and hasn't caused any issues yet: cook up some DME to form a hot break (SG around 1.030), transfer it to some mason jars and stir some agar into one of the jars and put them all into the pressure cooker. Let the cooker do it's thing until all is sterile, which takes about 15 minutes or so from when the relief cap starts rocking. Then you let it all cool down inside the cooker, not too cool though or the agar will set in the jar. When it's still pretty warm I start pouring the wort w/ agar into the pre-sterilized plates. Last time I had some agar wort left over, so I froze it until I did my next batch in the cooker, re-sterilized it and re-used it on some more plates. As for the tubes, I have some borosilicate glass test tubes that can go in the pressure cooker as well, so they can be filled with a bit of the agar wort before they go in the cooker, then you lay them down on an angle to dry on a slant. My slants are still sitting in the fridge, empty... I've yet to transfer from plates onto slants for some reason.
On hand, I have: Brett Clausenni (the darker colonies in the picture posted above) Ommegang's Hennepin Brett Lambicus Brett trois Brett Brux Orval's WYeast 3711 Ybay saison blend Some wildlings