Simonh82
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My understanding is that the reason the wort used in slants should be boiled in a pressure cooker under 15PSI of pressure is to raise the temperature high enough to kill botulinum spores. I've only made a couple of batches of slats so far and as I don't have a pressure cooker I've just boiled the wort for 30 minutes. So far so good, I'm not dead yet. Still, I'd like to avoid botulism if I can.
My understanding is that the reason we need to use pressure, as well as heat, is because low acid foods are more susceptible to botulism, whilst high acid foods can be treated with a normal boil. The stated boundary between high and low acid food is a pH of 4.6. So, could you not just acidify the wort to 4.6 or lower, which is where yeast like to be anyway and then boil normally?
My understanding is that the reason we need to use pressure, as well as heat, is because low acid foods are more susceptible to botulism, whilst high acid foods can be treated with a normal boil. The stated boundary between high and low acid food is a pH of 4.6. So, could you not just acidify the wort to 4.6 or lower, which is where yeast like to be anyway and then boil normally?