There is no need to vent mother flasks. All mother flask sowing I
do in baby food jars is un-vented. Cotton plugs will dry out quickly, and
dramatically increase the chances of contamination.

If you insist on using tortuous plug seals, then regular polyester
"cotton" balls will work fine. They don't melt in the autoclave (121-123
C). It takes a lot more than that to melt polyester.

You may also use 3M "Active Strips" round band-aids. They survive
repeated autoclaving, and stick for at least 5 years.

As for powdered aluminum- check out skylighter.com. And, heck-
alumimum is the fuel in "Tannerite," which (until the ATF finally moves)
can be shipped as unmixed components without special hazmat fees. I mean,
really.

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-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ