Autoclave Sterilization

Better than Using an Instant Pot

A true autoclave has substantial advantages over using an instant pot:

• Gets up to proper temperature
• Gets up to proper pressure
• Needs to operate for less time
• More reliable
• Able to use sterilization strips to verify if temp/pressure achieved
• Better data to support use
• Substantially better water control, resulting in sterilized items that are less wet

How to Operate an Autoclave

Your autoclave needs to be operated according to the manufacturers instructions. There’s no universal way to do this.

All items need to be washed in alconox and triple rinsed in distilled water before being loosely packed into autoclave pouches.

Inside the autoclave you can loosely drape a towel over the items in pouches. This towel will collect water that drips from the lid of the autoclave and will prevent that water from getting into the pouches.

Sterilization Parameters¹

• Temperature: 121°C
• Pressure: 15 psi
• Time: 20-60 minutes^*

^*You’re supposed to choose a time that you can verify is correctly sterilizing your product. Since that’s typically out of scope for DIY operations, you may choose to sterilize for the maximum recommended time. The CDC recommends 30 minutes².

Dealing with Wet Pack

After removing the items from the autoclave inspect them for “wet pack.” Wet pack is when water gets into your autoclave pouches. This is bad. Water that is left in a pouch, undealt with, can promote the growth of bacteria. Expensive, lab autoclaves have features that prevent or reverse wet pack automatically. To deal with wet pack you can transfer the pouches to a foil lined baking dish, that you then cover with another layer of foil. Put this dish in the oven at a very low temperature, such as 170F, you can even leave the oven door slightly open to promote a lower heat. Check on the wet pack every 5-10 minutes until you’re confident that all the water has been evaporated.

References

View the library page for access to some PDFs.