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  • Guacamole Machine?

    Posted by fixbear on August 6, 2020 at 7:57 am

    Wondering if anyone knows what type of equipment is out there for making Guacamole? There was a fatal explosion locally that also injured 3 others. The new’s stated it as a pressure vessel explosion.

    fixbear replied 3 years, 7 months ago 4 Members · 15 Replies
  • 15 Replies
  • ectofix

    Member
    August 6, 2020 at 10:07 am

    So you made me look.

    Here’s the manufacturer’s website for the HPP (high pressure processing) machine used in the video below:

    The Avure AV-X

    Here’s a video which briefly explains that machine’s use during guacamole processing:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0DZH79odjU

  • ectofix

    Member
    August 6, 2020 at 10:54 am
  • fixbear

    Member
    August 6, 2020 at 11:21 am

    That helps a lot for me to understand what he was working on. 80,000 psi is insane amount of pressure. The deceased was a major part of a local engineering college (we have 3) that was working with a testing firm for certifications. Just achieving that kind of pressure is a major feat. I did not know you could stop the enzymes in advacoto from browning by pressure. Let alone kill bacteria. If they were testing for certification they would have to go to 125% of max working pressure. We are talking 108,779 psi. I don’t even know how you can measure that high accurately. Normally when vessel pressure testing one makes sure to use a non compressible liquid and make sure there is no compressible’s in the vessel. But what happens to say water at that pressure?

    The testing company started after Union college did away with their materials testing lab. My brother ran the Machine lab there for many years, so I was very familiar with it. They had the ability to test 150 ft truss’s to failure. They also did a lot of testing for GE. A leadership change closed down a lot of the engineering segment.

  • fixbear

    Member
    August 6, 2020 at 12:48 pm

    Further research shows there are only about 350 systems in the world in use and 1/4 are for avocados.

    I’ve worked on 60,000 psi water jet cutting machine, and they are very high maintenance to say the least. To run one of these in a food service setting has to be a bit scary. The smallest one I could find took up 22 sq. meters. What he must have been trying to make was a smaller version. The pictures of the scene do not show a yoke around to contain it. Guess I’ll have to wait for the OSHA report. Could take years with them.

  • ectofix

    Member
    August 6, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    <div>80,000 psi is insane amount of pressure. </div>

    <div>

    That’s what I was thinking.

    I doubt we’ll be seeing a countertop model available anytime soon.

    Another vid:

    High Pressure Processing and Australian Red Meat

    </div>

  • fixbear

    Member
    August 7, 2020 at 6:43 am

    The Aussies claim to take raw milk and make it last for 60 days. Yet it can make full flavored cheese after processing.

  • fixbear

    Member
    August 7, 2020 at 7:05 am

    We have a bridge that crosses the Mohawk river in Schnectady. They replaced it in the 80’s, but the engineer that came up with the concrete spec to make the bridge lighter never considered our freeze cycles. Water and brine freezing started to spall the bridge deck the first year. So to replace it they had to strip the concrete from the rebar. It was my first contact with real high pressure. A tandem axle box truck with a water tank and a big 3 cylinder 50,000 psi pump. They layed tracks on each side of the lane with a double row spray bar that had different angles. The water shifted back and forth between the bars. It was powerful enough to send out 3 inch pieces of concrete. It was broke down a lot.

    So we have had very high pressure for over 40 years. Just that today I imagine they have become more reliable.

  • techtownmayor

    Member
    August 10, 2020 at 11:41 am

    Wow, just wow. I always thought 3000psi in a diving tank was a lot, but 80,000psi just to make guacamole? Seems like the kind of product that only fails once.

  • fixbear

    Member
    August 10, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    I remember re-certifying air bottles in a displacement tank. We not only had to pressurize them with water to a specific pressure, (changes with make and model of tank) But we had to document how much the tank grew. Quite a few get scrapped for stretching to much in hydro. I remember one rupturing in the containment tank. It wasn’t me, but we had water all over the place. Quite a bang.

  • fixbear

    Member
    August 10, 2020 at 3:49 pm

    I’m now wondering how much of our food chain is being HPP sterilized. Perhaps maybe cyrovac beef primals? Or we are seeing long dates on pork tenderloins. Seems like a good way to do it.

    • danielsan

      Member
      August 19, 2020 at 10:45 am

      It is not sterilized, HPP is quite similar to thermal pasteurization without the chemical changes heat cause to food. So the technology is appealing for foods where heat could change flavour. Hence its success in guacamole.

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