Bottle Top Filtration / Transferring filtered product to storage media

[conductingchaos]

Done a few syringe filter brews, looking into bottle top filtration for quicker / easier brews and my research has brought a few questions to mind.

Once the product has been filtered into a glass media bottle, we need to transfer it to either sterile or unsterile vials. The part I'm having trouble comprehending is what happens when we remove the filtration system from the media bottle and then replace with either a septa cap or bottle top dispensing system.

Is everyone that's using bottle top filtration also utilizing some sort of sterile environment / clean glove box? Otherwise I feel like removing the filtration system and exposing the bottle to open air will just negate all the filtration we just did...

One of the reasons I want to move to bottle top filtration is because I don't like leaving syringe holes in the rubber stopper of the sterile vial I use for the final storage media of the product. With the septa top method, you still end up transferring oil with a syringe from media bottle to vial. If you use a dispensing system with non sterile vials which are then capped and crimped, yeah you can autoclave the vials but the product is still being exposed to open air until capped / crimped...

I'm not confident about my ability to produce a sterile environment so am I doomed to forever use syringe filters? as this seems to be the only foolproof method of leaving no room to introduce outside contaminants. At least for an amateur.

 

[yatyas314]

Why are you not confident about producing a sterile environment? get some visquine hang it in the doors turn your vent fan on to draw air and particulates out and then clean the shit out of everything, Use a mask and gloves. Make sure all your equipment is on hand and get to work, any residue bacteria that finds its way into your vials before you crimp top them the BA will take care of. Have faith then test on yourself

 

[MotorCityMuscleMachine]

Why are you not confident about producing a sterile environment? get some visquine hang it in the doors turn your vent fan on to draw air and particulates out and then clean the shit out of everything, Use a mask and gloves. Make sure all your equipment is on hand and get to work, any residue bacteria that finds its way into your vials before you crimp top them the BA will take care of. Have faith then test on yourself

Good advice, and easy peasy really, Clorox cleanup on the counter tops, or a bleachy solution wipe down the work sufaces , if it's small batch brews, where your not using a big clump pile of Raw's, when you wiegh, just place onto a fresh clean piece of paper right out of the bundle printer paper comes in, you can slightly crease it, or gentle fold to dump into the media beaker your using.

Pre heat that in the oven at 250 for a few minutes if all that concerned.

Just make sure the vacuum cleaner hasn't been ran, or will.be running while doing this.

A negative / or zero airflow would be sufficient.

Turn thermostat down , or off so furnace doesn't come on.

A good still air is better ( but not as good as a laminar flow Hood with hepa filtration )

Piece of cake , I used to do 1000ml batches at a time like this..!

~ MCMM

 

[Pez]

Hello everyone, I am new here but have been a vet at Outlawmuscle since 2005 and am on various other forums. I think you are taking things much, much too literal. The comment about cleaning the environment with bleach is good but here are some oldies but goodies;

1) ESTABLISH A STERILE FIELD. THIS MEANS BUYING STERILE (NOT EXAM) GLOVES and figure out the area you will need to have sterile covering (aka sterile field)
A) Equipment needed
1) A large 18 liter autoclave ($200)
2) Medical blankets suitable for sterilizing
3) An Array of autoclave pouches
4) Distilled water (lots)
5) a simple face mask (like in hospitals)
6) A cool dust-free or very low dust work area. Blankets above your area are a plus.
B) You do not need a sterile box. Just have filtered media removed via syringe. Leaving a large 15g or 16g pin in the septum is reccomened.
1) Lots of 10cc syringes (don't be a cheapskate, if you have 1000ml have at least 30-50 of 'em) and 18g pins as well as 27g 1/2" pins for vents
2) Use gauze squares saturated in isopropyl alcohol. Clean the tops.
3) Start filling and RE-CAP the syringes to use fresh ones when you fill the next vial.
4)Once done, uncrimp and re-crimp. That's it!
In all honesty unless you are using bottle top fillter you just need a clean environment, not sterile, or trying to be. Filling open sterile vials requires a lot more detail. There's really no reason unless you have a peristaltic pump (pricey one) that can meter dose 10, 20, 50ml,ect every certain number of seconds , then it willl be be a lot of work. Stray pieces of dust do not not cause the infections we read about. We read about (stuff made be someone else) who is incompetent and more likely that not has a membrane rip/tear on him.
Anyone who starts out running thru a 0.2 or 0.22 micron (syringe or bottle top) is a a FUCKING IDIOT. Running thru a 0.8 micron , 0.45 micron (ie 'zap caps' or preferably a 0.65 micron membrane (PVDF,NYLON, PTFE(Slow) is the way to go. When you run your prefiltered oil/medium thru a 0.2/0.22 you can rest assured you will not clog the fitler. Just one thing. Do not use PES membranes unless you are making a bacteriostatic water. Unless you are pre-filtering and put a nylon/pvdf membrane over top of it you are pissing in the wind. Also Nalgene nylons, the same thing applies. Kind of silly putting a non-sterile 0.22 90mm membrane over their sterile one. I have news for everyone. Zap-caps (Nylon ones) are not stable. I don't believe anyone has gotten an intection from using them. 1) Prefilter out the shit 2) Let BA do it's job, and 3) Clean your glassware and caps properly and ALWAYS AUTOCLAVE the glasware and anything related to the media bottle! Exposure to air for 0.75 seconds is not going to let ebola in your brew!
If you are so inclined and can run a peristaltic pump you can get membranes (high output) in 0.1 microns.

 

[Pez]

Good advice, and easy peasy really, Clorox cleanup on the counter tops, or a bleachy solution wipe down the work sufaces , if it's small batch brews, where your not using a big clump pile of Raw's, when you wiegh, just place onto a fresh clean piece of paper right out of the bundle printer paper comes in, you can slightly crease it, or gentle fold to dump into the media beaker your using.

Pre heat that in the oven at 250 for a few minutes if all that concerned.

Just make sure the vacuum cleaner hasn't been ran, or will.be running while doing this.

A negative / or zero airflow would be sufficient.

Turn thermostat down , or off so furnace doesn't come on.

A good still air is better ( but not as good as a laminar flow Hood with hepa filtration )

Piece of cake , I used to do 1000ml batches at a time like this..!

~ MCMM

Bro, all this effort but no autoclave? Negative pressure ain't cheap. A big assed 18 liter autoclave can be had for $180 delivered. Buy pouches and proper lab glassware detergent and you're set. I agree that air blowing and even hanging clean sheets above & around the work area help a lot.