CAULDRONS

Cauldrons are made of various materials and come in many sizes. Some cauldrons can be small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, while there are others that would appropriately fit a rather large human.Although most European and American countries use standardized numbering systems for conveying cauldron size, there is variation internationally. 

There are three “standard” materials we use for cauldrons:

• Pewter is the best for beginning Potions work, as it is the slowest and least expensive standard cauldron. It gives a little bit of leeway owing to its slow brewing time, but students should still be careful to be as precise as possible in their measurements and timing, even with this extra time available. All Hogwarts students should have a Pewter Size 2 cauldron for their Potions class.

• Brass brews Potions at a medium speed and is slightly more efficient than a Pewter cauldron.

• Copper is the fastest-brewing of the three standard cauldron. As lovely as copper cauldrons can be, be careful not to use this when brewing Potions with very specific required times or that require a much longer brewing time typically. The added calculations to confirm the time are monstrous, and Potions which require a long brewing time often need that time for the ingredients to sit together in the cauldron during that period. They will not be as potent or simply will not brew properly at all in a copper cauldron.

Other materials are occasionally used for cauldrons, although they are much more expensive and rarer. The most common of these pricier cauldrons include silver and gold.

((Silver cauldrons are actually a dream to use, and they can create Potions with incredibly long shelf life and often heightened qualities))

Unfortunately, the fire crab shell also makes a wonderful cauldron for brewing, which has led to an increase in poaching. International Wizarding Laws have creations sanctions protecting colonies in the Fiji Islands, however there is still a black market trade in fire crab shells.

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SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

• As mentioned in the safety procedures, you must always have dragon-hide gloves for handling dangerous ingredients
• goggles to protect your eyes
• your wand when brewing.
•  Remember, some ingredients are not only caustic, they may also try to bite.
• Other important implements for your brewing station include a set of scales to measure your ingredients
• measuring cups for liquids
• ruler for solids that must be added by measuring length. 
• sharp knife to ensure you are cutting ingredients cleanly
• cutting board so that you do not destroy whatever surface you are using to cut or chop.
• Some ingredients must be crushed to a fine dust with a mortar and pestle. 
• Most stirring should actually be done with your wand (never stick your wand into the potion, though!)
• but you may have a wooden stirring utensil of some sort as well.
• It is also crucial to make sure you always have cauldron cleaner
• and that you always clean your cauldron thoroughly after you finish bottling your Potion.If you don't clean your cauldron thoroughly, any remnants of your old brews will interact with anything new that you try to brew, and could have some pretty harrowing and unpleasant outcomes.
• It is also important to clean all of your implements between use, as even individual ingredients can react poorly to one another.

Remember, a well-ordered station is an efficient one. Try to sort your ingredients in order of usage and lay out your implements in a sensible, orderly manner. 

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WORKING WITH POTIONS

Once all of the ingredients have been obtained in advance, preparation before heating your cauldron can be a good idea. Some ingredients can be crushed with the mortar and pestle, sliced with your sharp knife or silver dagger, or simply measured before anything is added to the cauldron. Ingredients that need to be ground should always be done so that a fine dust is created rather than just crushed to rough chunks. When cutting with a blade, make sure to do clean chops and ensure your measurements. As a note, items which cannot be exposed to the air for long periods should still be kept whole and in their container until they are needed.

Self-heating cauldrons do exist, and while many object-based advances in the Magical World seem a bit overdone, if you can get your hands on a self-heating cauldron, it is worth the investment. It may sound lazy, but those cauldrons are engineered to hold steady temperature throughout the interior, and it really does make an enormous difference when compared to adjusting and readjusting your cauldron over a fickle flame.

Once you have all of your ingredients, your plan of attack, and your cauldron heated, it’s time to start adding your ingredients. Most Potions texts will walk you through step by step, and make sure you follow their instructions directly. Ingredients must always be added in the correct order. This is very important, as the Magical and thermal (heat) energy that impacts the ingredients causes certain ingredients to react at certain times with other compounds and ingredients. If you add ingredients out of order, then these reactions cannot happen and your potion will not brew properly.

Another important component is stirring with your wand. As I mentioned previously, do not stick your wand into the Potion! As much protective magic as your wand holds, that is never, ever a good idea, and your wand wood will not thank you for it! Hold your wand over the cauldron, say the incantation, and move your wand in slow, steady circles. That said, stirring the Potion in the correct direction, either counterclockwise or clockwise is very important. Also ensure that you stir the correct number of times at the proper time. All of this is integral, as the interaction between your wand’s magic and the magical and mundane ingredients must happen at the correct time, given combinations of ingredients as well as specific cauldron heat, in order to produce the desired chemical and magical reactions. Stirring too little will not excite the magical and mundane particles enough for the reaction to occur. Stirring too much will over-excite the particles, and could cause an extreme reaction.

Potion brew time is the total amount of time it takes to brew a potion. As you may have read in your textbook, we measure this asEstimated Brew Time (EBT), although depending on the cauldron, brew times may vary slightly. There are ways to recalculate this time for different cauldron materials, but for the purpose of pewter and brass cauldrons, you can typically rely on the time listed in the book unless otherwise noted in the instructions. Extended brew times are one of the reasons many are deterred from Potions. While your Potion may take a total of 3 hours to brew, for example, you may only be actively involved for an hour of that process. Nonetheless, you cannot simply wander away from your cauldron, as you have to ensure nothing is going awry in the process. It is wise to bring a little busy work that you can do while still keeping an eye on your Potion.

So you followed all of the instructions, your Potion is brewed correctly, and it appears to have worked! Now you need a means to store it. Currently, the most common storing mechanisms used for daily Potions storage are glass or crystal phials. These phials can either be completely clear or slightly tinted for Potions that require darkness when stored. The Potion can either be poured through a funnel into the phial, or a Siphoning Charm can be used to transport it from a larger cauldron to be stored.

Many Potions can be used immediately after brewing. However, some require time for the ingredients to mature and for certain chemical and magical processes to “settle,” for lack of a better word. Most texts will list this maturity as the Total Brew Time (TBT), so be mindful of that as well. As well as the TBT, your texts will also indicate how long a Potion can be stored before it loses its effects or becomes harmful. It is important to consider this expiration date before using a Potion.

Always label your phials clearly with the name of the Potions, effect, ingredients, date brewed, expiration date, usage, and any warnings about allergies or side effects. Having all of this information is crucial to ensuring you do not mix up your Potions, or that if any emergency prompts someone to have to access your Potions cabinet, they can find the proper Potion immediately.