We start off by making sure the pH electrode is
reading the right reading by using a solution of
known pH and getting it to read the pH value
of the solution. So we actually know the value
of the solution and seeing if the pH electrode
will give the same value when it reads.
This is kinda like how the police like to pretend
they don’t know anything and ask the criminal questions,
waiting for him to make a slip so
they can corner him. Oh, wait…that’s out of topic….

Anyway…

The next step is to install the different probes,
which are like sensors. The probes stick down from
the ceiling of the fermenter like stalactites, so
we have to make sure the probes are low enough to
touch the liquid, or else they would just be
measuring thin air.

After that, the pump lines for the acid, base and antifoam
are plugged in and the levels of the storage bottles which
they keep these acids, bases and antifoam are checked
to make sure they are sufficient.
(You wouldn’t want the machine to be pumping in air
when its supposed to be pumping in antifoam, would you?)
And once the other accessories like the exhaust condensers,
air inlet and exhaust filters are installed,
we are ready to autoclave the fermenter…..well, almost.

All of the cables are disconnected from the fermenter
except the temperature probe, which is autoclavable.
The silicone tubings are all clamped down except
for the exhaust filter. The filters and sockets were then covered
with aluminium foil to protect them from condensing moisture.
Finally the whole thing is autoclaved with steam
at one hundred and twenty one degrees
(No, I wasn’t kidding about the heat ;p ) for 20 minutes.

Once this is done you can fix everything back,
calibrate your pO2 probe, and hook up the addition lines
to the peristaltic pumps, you’re ready to put stuff inside!

Note: Peristaltic pumps are pumps that work just
the way your esophagus/GIT works when it
pushes your food all the way down. i.e. with
that little wavy motion of muscular contraction.

Another note: Please for goodness sake,
don’t use hydrochloric acid
for your pH correction agent because it has chlorine ions.
And chlorine is BAD because it’s what
they put into swimming pools where kids pee a lot to KILL bacteria.
So unless you’d like your fermentor to be a graveyard,
don’t use HCl !!!!!!