|
 makaveli8x8
Stranger
 
Registered: 02/28/06
Posts: 16,528
Last seen: 11 hours, 5 minutes
|
 Re: WTF Agar? [Re: Helltick]
#6636701 - 03/05/07 03:10 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Helltick said:
I pay $1.35 per pack of agar agar at local grocery store.
This is what I'm doing:
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=6613630&page=0&vc=1&PHPSESSID=#Post6613630
I got you beat I paid less than a dollar for 25g packet of ground agar 
--------------------
  We were sent to hell for eternity  Ø h®
We play on earth to pass the time 
Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
|
RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure
Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 36,974
Loc: USA Mountain Northwest
Last seen: 12 hours, 40 minutes
|
|
Dang, my local health food store whacked me $7 for 28 grams. 
RR
--------------------
www.mushroomvideos.com
semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat
|
 Morelman
LC Master
Registered: 05/17/06
Posts: 1,010
Loc: Between Right and Wrong
|
Re: WTF Agar? [Re: Morelman]
#6637600 - 03/05/07 12:04 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
The process of de-watering begins.
The three gallons of agar in this post were boiled down to just one gallon. It's taking a long time for that one to freeze. I'll combine everything into a single batch and do one more boil/freeze on that.
|
caricapapaya
Stranger
Registered: 04/10/06
Posts: 228
Last seen: 1 day, 9 hours
|
Re: WTF Agar? [Re: Morelman]
#6637986 - 03/05/07 02:02 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
I've always wanted to try to get agar straight from the seaweed. Just because I think it would be cool, if not economically sound (I pay about 75 cents for 25 grams, on sale, less than $1 normally)
This is a great write-up! Keep us posted!
carica
|
magicfluff
the high wizard
Registered: 02/12/07
Posts: 37
Last seen: 5 years, 2 months
|
|
 great thread, tastey looking agar cakes... A* for sticky, messy effort!
|
Morelman
LC Master
Registered: 05/17/06
Posts: 1,010
Loc: Between Right and Wrong
|
Re: WTF Agar? [Re: Morelman]
#6651703 - 03/09/07 01:18 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
|
shirley knott
not my real name
Registered: 11/11/02
Posts: 9,086
Loc: London
Last seen: 1 year, 7 months
|
Re: WTF Agar? [Re: Morelman]
#6652963 - 03/09/07 12:29 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
lol, this is great 
now what?
--------------------
meh
|
makaveli8x8
Stranger
Registered: 02/28/06
Posts: 16,528
Last seen: 11 hours, 5 minutes
|
|
its cool he's doin this from scratch....but dam that stuff must stink somethin afoul by now.
if it were me i would cut that up into pattys now and throw them into a dehydrator...then grind it up into a powder afterwords and waloa!
--------------------
We were sent to hell for eternity Øh®
We play on earth to pass the time
Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
|
Morelman
LC Master
Registered: 05/17/06
Posts: 1,010
Loc: Between Right and Wrong
|
|
Actually it doesn't smell at all. Of course when I boil there is some smell, but not at all unpleasant.
I'm putting this batch through one more cycle. I put this agar in a stock pot and added exactly one gallon of clean water. Heated it until the agar dissolved and skimmed off a little bit more scum. Not nearly as much scum this time and a lot lighter in color.
The outside temps are going to be above freezing this weekend so I put it in the freezer tonight. This weekend I am re-boiling the seaweed I used last weekend. I have had it outside in a plastic bag since then. I'm going to try and eek out another four gallons and process that batch as well. The yield will probably be smaller, but I want to get as much of the agar out as I can.
|
deucedbi9
Stranger
Registered: 10/24/06
Posts: 1,032
Loc: UK
Last seen: 9 hours, 15 minutes
|
Re: WTF Agar? [Re: Morelman]
#6655027 - 03/10/07 05:26 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Morelman said:
Thought I was gonna chew out Agar didn't you? Fooled you didn't I?
WTF am I supposed to do with this?
i got something like that from a local japanese food retailer.
£1.10 for 30g.
i used about 10g in something like 3/4 pint boiled it up to dissolve with a spoonful of golden syrup,smelt lovely, a few fresh black-berry's,make a fool type desert...anyway...
cooked it up and tested it's gelling properties by dropping on a cold plate.when it got to the consistency i imagined useful,never worked with agar before so had to guess,pc'd for 20+mins in a clean ketchup bottle for ease of pouring.
not really done much with it yet as i am finding it hard to source an affordable supply of petri's,bugetary constraints and all...
i still have this bottle in the fridge about two months later,anyone know how long this would remain usable,or, how many times you could reheat this stuff ?
sorry for the non-scientific description.
--------------------
Cheap coir in the UK from £0.88p (inc p+p) per brick. Link
whether low pressure sucks or high pressure blows...
it's a bugger to cycle in
|
magicfluff
the high wizard
Registered: 02/12/07
Posts: 37
Last seen: 5 years, 2 months
|
|
You should be able to get really cheap packs of petri dishes from eBay so long as you go for the plastic kind. The ones I got were polystyrene or ester I think, which means autoclaving isn't a great idea, but they stood up to the heat of having literally boiling agar poured into them no problems!
It's not so bad using plastic dishes either. Unless you're doing a lot of work, a 20 pack of plates should last you a good while.
If you haven't added any nutrient to your agar, it should last quite a long time. If it's sterilised and stored cold there's no real reason for it to go off. I'm not sure if you can freeze agar and still use it though.
Consistency wise, you want a firm gel as opposed to something your finger squishes through when poked. Although, provided you're careful with handling, a liquid type gel would work as well. The benefit of having a firmer gel that stays stuck to the plate is that you can flip the plates over after pouring and during incubation so any moisture runs off the sample and into the lid. If you don't do that, you can end up with a puddle on the plate... uncool.
Just in case you're interested, I did a quick google and apparently agar can be turned into a foam by freeze drying, which can then be used for biodegradable packaging....
|
fastfred
Old Hand
Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,242
Loc: Dark side of the moon
|
|
I often make my agar pretty soft. From 2% all the way down to 1.5%. The gelling strength of your agar will come into play, so don't make some 1.5% and then curse me if it doesn't gell well enough. I've never had any problems turning dishes upside down. Just make sure that it's solid. But you can make it anywhere from very soft to very hard and still have good luck IME.
The advantages to using weaker concentrations IME are to save agar and softer agar seems to let spores embed down into it easier. If your agar is too strong I've found that the surface will dry pretty quickly sometimes and spores will just sit on top of it without getting embedded enough to absorb enough moisture.
-FF
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Shop for: 
Edit 
Reply 
