(Click to see larger image) A must have for all frequent plate-pourers is an additional pump-tubing set. Instead of resterilizing your pump-tubing set in-between plate pouring sessions, why not have another pump sterile, and ready to go when you are?

     The PourBoy® III has an inexpensive, detachable, miniature, high-tech electromagnetic pump that is fairly autoclavable, but for longest pump life, we recommend autoclaving two bottles of water along with your media instead of autoclaving the pump itself... Running the nearly-boiling water through the system before you start pouring agar-based media prewarms the pump, tubing, and kills the vast majority of contaminants (and/or washes them away).

     The second bottle of water is run through immediately after pouring plates to clean any residual media from the system. We use this technique in our lab and have no problem with contamination of our LB, YPD, or NGM plates. In case of a stubborn contaminant, you can still sterilize with hydrogen peroxide (2% "drug-store-grade") or alcohol (bleach is not recommended). Autoclaving is permissible. Just unplug the pump from the controller base, wrap it (plus the input and output tubes) in aluminum foil, and autoclave.