Glassware washing and autoclaving

Autoclave and Glassware clean up protocol

Autoclave code: ask the lab manager. Glassware cycle: GGLab1

1. Washing glassware

Rinse all glassware at least once before taking it to the glassware washer.
Make sure to remove any old autoclave tape that might still be on the glassware.
Put all caps, metal spatulas, and stir bars into the metal cage container.
Place the glassware in the washer making sure to use the correct adapters based on size.
- If the glassware is too much for a single run you may use the second glassware washer located in the other autoclave room.
- For large mouth glassware and bottle caps use the large flat adapter.
- For all the other glassware you can use which ever adapter works best.
Run glassware cycle GGLab1; this cycle should run for about 50min.
- At times the glassware washer its tank full of water and depending when the error occurred it might need to be rerun.
- If the glassware washer gives this tank full error you may simply run the standby cycle by switching the washer to standby mode it’s a switch behind the black cover. Make sure to close the cover so it can do the standby cycle should take like 3 minutes.

After the cycle is over cover the glassware with its respective cap if it has one, make sure to cap it loosely. If it does not have a cap use aluminum foil to cover it. Place autoclave tape on each individual item to be autoclaved.
Place the stir bars and metal spatulas into a plastic container and cover with foil.
Plastic ware such as plastic containers and graduated cylinders does not need to be sterilized unless asked.
4L flasks will be hand washed with soap by the person who uses it before being placed into the shelf.
The autoclave cycle is the gravity with a 45 minute sterilization time and 30 min dry time when using the large and small bin.
When autoclaving the large bin only, the gravity cycle can be 30 minute sterilization and 20 min dry time.
After is done place the glassware back into the shelves.

Something to make sure to check:

Make sure every water bath has adequate water they tend to need water added to them every 2 weeks or so.
For the pipet tips you can refill and autoclave them at the same time as the glassware.