...I got into reading about proper steam systems and the safety mechanisms involved and quickly came to the conclusion that it may not be a safe path to modify a pressure cooker without proper safety precautions and since I don't know any steam engineers to help me out I gave up on the idea...
Fair enough, but without evidence this is really just conjecture. We are only dealing with 15 lbs of pressure MAYBE. Adding a valve to a commercially designed pressure cooker seems pretty safe to me. As long as you don't alter the safety release and do a decent job of affixing the valve there's really no reason to be concerned about accidents, especially at such low pressures.
StMarcos's is mostly correct. I believe he is saying that you do not have to operate the pressure cooker at a higher pressure (it of course is safer not too). The lid is just a convenient way to funnel the steam to the mash tun.
With a pressure cooker, you just take the little weight off and connect the steam line to the stem. The weight is what regulates the amount of pressure generated (at least on old school/inexpensive models). You might get some pressure generated just because of the tubing length and the weight of the mash.
It would be no different than putting a regular pot on the stove and drilling a hole in the lid, and inserting a nipple to connect a steam line to. (Well a little different as the lid on a regular pot would allow some steam to escape)
One could add a valve to give some back pressure, and that would result in hotter steam for faster stepping
Good discussion so far fellas. I am aware of how a pressure cooker works and the concept behind using it to heat the mash. I would like to hear what peoples experience has been who've actually done it. If there have been any mishaps or injuries or whether those fears are just overactive imagination (which is a very valuable tool, don't get me wrong!). But empirical evidence is missing and I want to have some.
Saturated steam is only 212 degrees so you would need a lot of steam to raise the systems temperature, that is why you need superheated steam as it holds way more energy and you can feasibly raise the temperature of a mash with a relatively small boiler.
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