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 newb grower
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Registered: 06/08/08
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 Horizontal autoclaves?
#8504337 - 06/09/08 05:08 PM (2 months, 11 days ago) |
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Does anyone know a US source for the rectangular horizontal autoclaves you see being sold by like every single Indian and Chinese company? I know Unicorn Bag has the oval ones but I am looking for the rectangular one. Also any guess on price on these? I was thinking somewhere around $10-13K. Thanks in advance .
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"Listen to me and you might be farting through silk for the rest of your life...goodbye"
Larry
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 Senor_Hongos
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8504438 - 06/09/08 05:35 PM (2 months, 11 days ago) |
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No, but if you call Fungi Perfecti they might be able to direct you.
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Amanitas kill more people than all other mushrooms put together, so an ID of some to be eaten must be correct. An ID based on a photo on the Internets is not reliable enough to potentially risk your life on. ToxicMan
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newb grower
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FP didn't have much to offer besides Reid Retorts which their base price was $40,000 for a single door without a steam boiler. That's like, WAY too big and WAY too expensive for a market/restaurant grower. The Unicorn Bag vertical retort(the one pictured on their website) without steam generator was something like $3500. But it is not certified and still needs a steam generator.
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"Listen to me and you might be farting through silk for the rest of your life...goodbye"
Larry
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MycoAu
Registered: 07/18/07
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8505156 - 06/09/08 08:48 PM (2 months, 11 days ago) |
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What kind of volume are you looking for? Most of the autoclaves sold by Tuttnauer will work for what you seem to be asking for. They are a dime-a-dozen on ebay, etc. (Usually between $500-1500 US before shipping for a used model.)
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newb grower
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: MycoAu]
#8506005 - 06/10/08 01:22 AM (2 months, 10 days ago) |
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looking for something that can hold 15-25 bags at a time. The tuttenauer ones definately won't fit that. Can fit more in an AA pressure cooker. I may end up making a steamer on my own. I'll end up just cooking the shit for 8 hours, which I believe is what Stamets has said for non pressurized steaming. I did see a used dixie canner on ebay and a few used retorts, but only the dixie canner is the right size and it looks pretty haggard.
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"Listen to me and you might be farting through silk for the rest of your life...goodbye"
Larry
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newb grower
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8506048 - 06/10/08 01:39 AM (2 months, 10 days ago) |
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MycoAu...I apologize...I found a tuttenauer model 3870 that give two dimension(15"x30") of which would be sufficient sized chamber to do at least 10 bags at a time. Sweet...thanks 
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"Listen to me and you might be farting through silk for the rest of your life...goodbye"
Larry
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newb grower
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8506256 - 06/10/08 04:07 AM (2 months, 10 days ago) |
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So I've been trying to weigh the options of one larger autoclave like a tettnauer or yamamoto to multiple AA electric sterilizers. Price wise, one could purchase around 6 AA 75x sterilizers for roughly double the capacity. However, the electrical load to run all six would be about triple what a larger one with less volume would cost to run. Trying to figure out a bottom line and what is going to be more efficient and of course more profitable in the long runis where I'm at. Leaning towards multiple AA 75x though.
Either choice is seemingly worth it as I have 4 restaurants lined up to buy roughly 60 lbs each a week, plus I found a farmer's market that does $15 a day for a booth. Couple lbs of oysters would cover that
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"Listen to me and you might be farting through silk for the rest of your life...goodbye"
Larry
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Anno
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8506402 - 06/10/08 06:27 AM (2 months, 10 days ago) |
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The Rich Jerk
Grow Mushrooms from Spores - PF-Tek for Simple Minds
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 UrbanFungi
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8506697 - 06/10/08 09:32 AM (2 months, 10 days ago) |
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Are you making oyster sawdust blocks? Is this part of your market niche; ie, wood-grown mushrooms are better than straw-grown? A feed mixer with steam input manifold is a major step up from the 55 gal drum setup in Gourmet& Medicinal Mushrooms (Stamets).
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newb grower
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: UrbanFungi]
#8507286 - 06/10/08 12:49 PM (2 months, 10 days ago) |
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Anno- thanks for the link. I appreciate it.
Urban- I'm going to be using the hardwood pellets and sterilizers for lion's mane and king oysters. All other pleurotus will be on wheat straw.
That old rusty retort on that page Anno is about perfect size. I wonder if you could use just a kohler shower steam generator on one that size? That's my plan for straw pasteurization. I'm planning on two 55 gallon drums, with inlets for steam and ball valves for drainage. Going to run a water pipe out the back of my house that inside will first run through a three stage reverse osmosis filter and then into the kohler steam generator and outside to a split then hooking to the drums with quick release ball valves. I was thinking of putting a blow off valve on the drums and pressuring them to about 5 PSI but, I'm not sure how I fell about that now. Time will tell. Anyway, thanks all. Already your knowledge here has helped me tremendously. I've been a long time lurker just never joined and posted.
Cheers!!
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"Listen to me and you might be farting through silk for the rest of your life...goodbye"
Larry
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MycoAu
Registered: 07/18/07
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8507916 - 06/10/08 04:13 PM (2 months, 10 days ago) |
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If there isn't a very large difference in cost efficiency, I would go with the multiple sterilizers. It will allow you to operate on a larger or smaller scale, simulataneously with multiple substrate requiring different conditions, and if one breaks or is inoperable you are still in business. If the other breaks, you're completely down in the meantime. Downtime is a huge business no-no.
I'm sure there's probably benefits to the other direction also, but I can't really speak for that side of the arguement.
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UrbanFungi
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Registered: 12/23/07
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8510625 - 06/11/08 09:39 AM (2 months, 9 days ago) |
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Quote:
newb grower said:
Urban- I'm going to be using the hardwood pellets and sterilizers for lion's mane and king oysters.
That sounds great. if you supplement, you should be able to get a pound per block on the first flush. If you can keep up replacing/sterilizing blocks, I'd chuck 'em or fruit them outside for their 2nd flush.
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newb grower
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: UrbanFungi]
#8515610 - 06/12/08 02:13 PM (2 months, 8 days ago) |
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Urban I'm only supplementing with rice hulls as I'm trying to keep cost of production under $2.50 a bag total..electric and all. I've been contemplating taking the spent blocks and innoculating my local forest preserves for later "wildcrafting" 
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"Listen to me and you might be farting through silk for the rest of your life...goodbye"
Larry
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evergood
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8577833 - 06/29/08 04:23 PM (1 month, 22 days ago) |
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Because of the ASME certification process, you will not be able to purchase an autoclave produced outside the US and imported to the US with certification. This doesn't mean they aren't good, only that they are not ASME certified. Depending on your state, ASME certification may be required by the boiler inspector.
I have one of the autoclaves sold by Unicorn that is made in China. i like it very much. Because it is vertical, there is no need for a boiler. I put water inside and put propane burners underneath and cook just like a pressure cooler on the stove. You will need to make baskets and a track and hoist to get them out, but that is pretty straightforward. Add pressure gage, temp gage, and safety blow off and you are set to go. I cook 96 bags at a time.
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newb grower
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: evergood]
#8578160 - 06/29/08 06:15 PM (1 month, 22 days ago) |
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Evergood how much was that autoclave from Unicorn? I was looking at the rectangular horizontal one, but it's not double door and if I did buy a horizontal one I'd want a double door for pass-through into the lab. I am not in a state that requires ASME certification for pressure vessels/boilers so I'm not concerned about that. Got any idea how much the Unicorn batch mixers and bag fillers are?
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"Listen to me and you might be farting through silk for the rest of your life...goodbye"
Larry
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evergood
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: newb grower]
#8579835 - 06/30/08 07:32 AM (1 month, 21 days ago) |
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It has been several years since I bought the autoclave so I don't remember the price. It wasn't much, however, since I'm pretty price adverse. The advantage for me was that I could put it in a pickup and bring it home and install myself. Also, no boiler needed. Plus, it is built like a tank.
i have been to the foundry where Lou has these made up. They can make anything you want so you might give lou a call if you have special requirements. He can probably get it for you but it may take some time (make up time, shipping time etc.)
I find that I don't have a problem with contamination even though I cook outside the lab. I think the double door horizontal autoclaves are overrated. They are nice if they are inexpensive and you have a boiler, but not really necessary.
If you are handy, you can make a mixer out of a 55 gal drum. Get a food grade (not oil) drum, cut a door lengthwise, reinforce with angle iron, add hinges and latch(es). Weld 3 or 4 angle irons lengthwise inside to help with mixing. Then pierce the drum lengthwise with a bar or pipe. (be sure to center). put a gear on the bar, add motor, gear reducer (if you want), chain and tensioner. Reversible motor allows you to turn cw or ccw. Build a stand for the drum and a stand for you to stand on and dump in substrate. There you go .... cheap mixer. mine holds a cubic yard (100 5.5 lb bags worth).
bag filler? cut 6 in stovepipe into short lengths, attach half a dozen together with a wood frame on one end. put bags on pipes. flip over and shovel in substrate. make length of pipes so they hold the amount of substrate you want when they are full (5.5 lbs in my case). There you go -- save $$$ and almost as efficient.
by the way, need parts for the mixer? Try ww grainger. Lots of industrial parts. Print a business card on your puter and go to the local branch and they will set up an account for you. You can see the catalogue on line.
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newb grower
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: evergood]
#8580174 - 06/30/08 10:38 AM (1 month, 21 days ago) |
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Evergood...you must be reading my mind about the ribbon mixers. I was looking at doing EXACTLY what you said, minus the gears. I was thinking of making it a hand cranked machine. I got quoted from another ribbon mixer company at $26,000.00 for a 1 cubic yard mixer!!! I almost shit myself. In regards to the outside the lab autoclave set-up, I must ask if you are doing this completely outside? Or do you have an exhaust fan set up on the inside? One thing that is for certain....Being(or trying to be in my case) a middle sized mushroom grower is REALLY hard to find the right sized equipment.
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"Listen to me and you might be farting through silk for the rest of your life...goodbye"
Larry
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solumvita
Registered: 02/12/08
Posts: 32
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Re: Horizontal autoclaves? [Re: evergood]
#8647220 - 07/17/08 02:13 PM (1 month, 4 days ago) |
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Hi Evergood, great ideas1 thanks a mil, the bag filler will work like a dream. I have an old concrete mixer gonna use that for the mixer
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