Thanks for sharing what is working for you. If you are interested there are said he's showing that 70% isopropanol is better at disinfecting then the 91%. it has to do with how quickly it evaporates and how long it is in contact with the cell walls.
We understand.... We use it very liberally with copious amounts which might be why we haven't experienced much contamination. We love the feedback and how it can be used by many to dial in there TEKs. Thanks again for sharing with everyone
i use a modified lid with an injection port and a filter disk. that way i can easily make slurry from the fully colonized jar without having to open it. the filter disk also helps with condensation
also i moved over to plastic pressure cookable lids instead of the metal ones. a lot easier to remove and work with in a sterile environment, also dont rust
I find it hard to believe that, that much condensation is coming from the air inside the container, some of it must be from the agar medium itself right? Why not just tap it on the counter to knock the condensation down into the still-melted agar and recombine it before cooling?
For what it's worth, no disrespect. The condensation occurs from the temperature variation between the hot media and the air around it as it cools kinda like a screen door gets foggy in the winter, or the windshield of a car fogs. Flipping your dishes over after they set up helps and also pouring at the last minute before the media sets in the bottle helps. I personally just leave my dishes in front of the FFU until the fog clears, usually overnight and then wrap and put in a clean tote to keep the temp as stable as possible. I used to use the same method she does when I first started but I go through so many plates now that I could never keep up with washing the jars. Now I buy cases of 500 plates and just understand my small quantity of plastic is miniscule compared to what businesses put out hourly. I'm not proud of it but it's just where I'm at
