Autoclave for canning: Instruction manual

Autoclave household has long become an indispensable kitchen attribute for many diligent owners, who prefer to cook a variety of meat and fish canned food, vegetable snacks, compotes and juices at home. This unique device allows you to easily, quickly and safely process large quantities of products at a time. Another important advantage of this method of preservation is that all the ingredients retain their useful and nutritional properties.

Types of autoclaves

At present, household autoclaves of three modifications are available for sale: electric, with heating on a gas stove and combined, in which both modes of operation are provided. In addition, the models feature functionality, volumes and power, which allows each consumer to choose the right option for themselves. The price of an autoclave, depending on its technical characteristics, can vary from 25,000 to 45,000 rubles.

Once the preparation of canned food with an autoclave method was considered a rather risky occupation because of the high explosive nature of old models of similar aggregates. But modern products are completely safe, because they have in their design multi-stage protection mechanisms, special locks, safety valves to prevent superfluous pressure set and automatic shutdown system.

Effective destruction of harmful organisms

As early as the 19th century, microbiologists proved that the death of vegetative forms of microorganisms present in foodstuffs occurs when they are heat treated for an hour at a temperature of 60 ° C. This process was called pasteurization, but it had one serious drawback: at this temperature spore forms of microbes and bacteria were not destroyed. Complete neutralization could only be ensured by sterilization of products under high-temperature conditions. But even in a boiling liquid at 100 ° C some dangerous organisms, for example, botulinum bacteria, survived. Consequently, it was necessary to find a solution that would increase the processing temperature.

It has been established experimentally that if a pressure is created inside the vessel, the boiling point will rise above 120 ° C. Thus, the first prototypes of sterilizers were developed.

The household autoclave also functions for canning. It completely eliminates harmful microorganisms. In this case, no other devices (multivarkers, pressure cookers and other devices) have such an efficiency. The autoclave method of preparing canned food allows not only to make them completely safe, but also stored for a very long time.

Design

The autoclave is a hermetically sealed container in a generally cylindrical shape, equipped with a lid. All structural elements are made of durable metal. The lid of the device is equipped with a pressure gauge, designed to control the pressure, a thermometer and a connection for pumping and bleeding air.

All models of devices are characterized by a fairly simple principle of operation. They provide rapid heating and, in the loaded state, for the time required for canning, operate at constant temperatures (about 120 ° C) and pressure (about 4.5 atm).

Electric models are fully automated. Some of them are equipped with an electronic control unit. Note that if you want to purchase an automated autoclave, its price will be much higher than that of simple gas modifications.

Principle of the autoclave system operation

In a leaky container, for example, a pan, it is impossible to heat the water more than its boiling point. That is, when 100 ° C is reached, the liquid stops to heat up. This is due to its intense evaporation during the heating process. With a long boil, water from the liquid state passes into a completely gaseous vapor.

Home autoclaves have a hermetic design, inside which a certain pressure is created by means of water vapor. The higher the temperature of the liquid, the stronger the evaporation and, consequently, the higher the pressure in the system. The modern household autoclave, regardless of the modification, provides fractional evacuation, that is, oxygen is removed in several cycles, due to which the latent heat generated in the process of pressure increase is characterized by a huge penetrating force that destroys the spores of microorganisms.

Due to the increased temperature, the preparation of the products in the autoclave is carried out much more quickly than by cooking in the usual way. For example, to extinguish fresh cabbage, only 1 minute is enough, for green beans - 5 minutes, and for a whole 3 kg chicken - about 20 minutes. Due to the rapid cooking under pressure, a household autoclave allows preserving all the taste and vitamin values of the products.

Rules of operation

Despite the design features of different models, they all work in the same way. The instructions for the home autoclave contain data on technical characteristics (internal volume, dimensions, mass, operating pressure and temperature), as well as operating requirements that must be observed. In general, the algorithm for using these devices is as follows:

1. Preparation of cans of appropriate volume (0.5 or 1 liter).
2. Filling the container with the necessary ingredients (there are a variety of recipes for the autoclave).
3. Seaming of filled cans with metal lids (in order to avoid swelling and tearing off the lids, the products should not reach the edge of the neck by 2-3 cm).
4. Laying on the bottom of the autoclave a dense fabric padding or wooden grill (to protect the cans it is recommended to lay a cloth between their walls).
5. Loading containers into the household autoclave into several "floors".
6. Fill the water tank with the capacity indicated in the instructions.
7. Close the autoclave and create initial pressure with the help of a pump (make sure that the unit is sealed and air does not poison anywhere).
8. The device is heated up to the required pressure (the operating manual should contain a table of the temperature dependence of the pressure).
9. Preparation (in the recipes for the autoclave, the cooking time of canned pork, beef, chicken, rabbit, fish, various game and vegetables is usually indicated).
10. Smooth decrease in pressure after the necessary time (heating is reduced gradually until the heat source is completely turned off).
11. Cooling down the installation.
12. Slowly depressurize the device by gently pressing the spool.
13. Disclosure of the autoclave and extraction of the finished preservation.

It should be noted that when there is a sharp heating and cooling, dropping and increasing the pressure, there is a risk of spontaneous opening of the cans, so all the transitions must be carried out smoothly. In addition, it is strictly forbidden to leave the working autoclave unattended, as it is necessary to constantly monitor the pressure.

Choosing the best model

When choosing a device, you should focus on the operating conditions and the number of cans of 0.5 or 1 liter, which can be downloaded at a time. For example, if it is supposed to preserve small batches of products, then buying a 46-liter unit is inadvisable, since it is quite possible to manage a compact and inexpensive gas model of liters by 20-25.

When buying, be sure to ask about the availability of a quality certificate and manufacturer's warranty.

Sterilization modes

These indicators are due to the configuration of the apparatus, heating methods, heat exchange characteristics and other criteria. Optimal regimes for the preparation of certain products are often selected experimentally, based on prescription recommendations.

Advantages of using autoclaves

This is the high quality and safety of home preservation products. Fast and easy cooking. Increased shelf life of finished products.