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lionsman
Stranger
Registered: 08/02/09
Posts: 102
Loc: UK
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: lionsman]
#10859600 - 08/14/09 02:09 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Sorry, forgot pics.
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lionsman
Stranger
Registered: 08/02/09
Posts: 102
Loc: UK
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: lionsman]
#10859784 - 08/14/09 02:32 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Imorph, thanks for your comments. My autoclaves are also home made from 50l beer-barrels. Everything I have seems to be home made! They're very high quality stainless steel, with the top cut open and fitted with a rubber seal. The barrels are stamped with 'tested up to 4 bar'. They're fitted with a pressure gauge and valve in the top. Top is held down with 8 bolts. It sounds dangerous, and would be if not put together right, but I've used mine hundreds of times with no incidents. (Please don't try this unless you're handy with an angle grinder/welder/soldering iron) The only problems have been when the seal doesn't seat properly and it needs to be re-sealed. I use oak sawdust, which is all I can get easily locally. Bulk substrates are standard sawdust/bran/gypsum. I can grow lions mane between about 7-28 C. At the low end, growth is slow of course, and fruitbodies generally smaller than normal. Above about 28 then go brown pretty quick. I did experiment with a gas heated steamer last winter. It would keep the shed about 10 degrees(C) higher than outside, but ended up too expensive to run. Sheds are 6x6x8ft and 6x6x10.
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Herbal_Elixer
Strangerest
Registered: 05/05/09
Posts: 1,841
Loc: Reykjavik
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: lionsman]
#10859875 - 08/14/09 02:45 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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That is all very cool
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Imorph
journeyman
Registered: 11/10/01
Posts: 146
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: Herbal_Elixer]
#10860898 - 08/14/09 05:28 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Log in to view attachment
wow Lionsman...exemplery...DIY with enough "shade tree engineering " to make it happen..."Necessity is the Mother of Invention". i salute you in you practical genesis....i posted years ago on this site querying about building autoclave....and you have apparently built a workable homemade machine...not that i am going to real soon build a autoclave but i just happen to have a heavy duty disc sander/grinder and a Craftman 230AC/140DC wielder... and stainless beer kegs into autoclaves!...yeah...i new that bagged Monkeys Head mushies needed sterilized/autoclaves chips unless you went the plugged log route. Oh one more try at getting the 1st Pict re-uploaded again..i'm still figuring the pict posting thing out.. good bye and keep us posted , Imorph
Edited by Imorph (08/14/09 05:52 PM)
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Jef
Out-of-work Sex Slave
Registered: 12/02/08
Posts: 764
Loc: near Duncan, BC
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: lionsman]
#10861358 - 08/14/09 07:30 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
lionsman said: My autoclaves are also home made from 50l beer-barrels.
Nice to see I have competition for the Darwin Award. It's no fun to win unless you have eminent competition.
I have one of them in the shed. I think it's aluminum tho. Have you thought that you could use the (long) top of one and the (long) bottom of another and have a bigger, taller clave ?
I think it might add to the productivity if not the danger. I wonder if you could (or did) make use of the corrugations so that the top would nest in the bottom or vice versa ?
Too precise a job for my hands.
Very nice job making it.
Jef
-------------------- I am my own lab rat. Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will learn.
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ElSeta
Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 127
Loc: Atlantida.
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: Jef]
#10861758 - 08/14/09 08:43 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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That's great info lionsman. And by the way, congratulations for your autoclaves. They are very interesting. Where do you exactly cut the lid of them? like right at the very top? and what kind of rubber sealers are those. How do you build them. And lastly, how does it fit altogether?
-------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Looking for Lion's Mane and Yellow Oyster culture. Will trade for: Shiitake/King Oyster/Blue Oyster/White Beech. Me for info. Yes, you can see the real reality through a little window. Now, build a door.
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FractalXplora
Grainiack
Registered: 02/11/06
Posts: 2,494
Loc: UK
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: lionsman]
#10863488 - 08/15/09 02:44 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
lionsman said: Imorph, thanks for your comments. My autoclaves are also home made from 50l beer-barrels. Everything I have seems to be home made! They're very high quality stainless steel, with the top cut open and fitted with a rubber seal. The barrels are stamped with 'tested up to 4 bar'. They're fitted with a pressure gauge and valve in the top. Top is held down with 8 bolts. It sounds dangerous, and would be if not put together right, but I've used mine hundreds of times with no incidents. (Please don't try this unless you're handy with an angle grinder/welder/soldering iron) The only problems have been when the seal doesn't seat properly and it needs to be re-sealed. I use oak sawdust, which is all I can get easily locally. Bulk substrates are standard sawdust/bran/gypsum. I can grow lions mane between about 7-28 C. At the low end, growth is slow of course, and fruitbodies generally smaller than normal. Above about 28 then go brown pretty quick. I did experiment with a gas heated steamer last winter. It would keep the shed about 10 degrees(C) higher than outside, but ended up too expensive to run. Sheds are 6x6x8ft and 6x6x10.
wow! home made PC, superb!
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lionsman
Stranger
Registered: 08/02/09
Posts: 102
Loc: UK
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: FractalXplora]
#10863534 - 08/15/09 03:04 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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The barrels are cut (with metal cutting disc/angle grinder) twice. once just above the top bulge, and also through the middle of the bulge (discard the thin ring that comes off). this lets the top part slot into the bottom half of the bulge, so that it cannot move about under pressure. The rubber seal fits around the edge of the top and drops into the bulge, which seals the whole thing when clamped down. The seal is from www.sealsdirect.co.uk, under rubber seals (P43). It's P shaped, with the rounded section pointing inwards. This stops the seal being forced out under pressure. If you look in the pic, the left hand PC, you can see the cut, and part of the black seal between the red and blue bands.
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ElSeta
Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 127
Loc: Atlantida.
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: lionsman]
#10866535 - 08/15/09 07:40 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Simply awesome lionsman. Thanks again. Now, I know that the production of edibles depends on the season and on the type of bulk tek in terms of quantity and quality. Let's say it would be straw log bags. I'm trying to figure out costs VS profit to make up a commercial production plan. Does anybody know how much production can come out of an area of 7X5 yards X 3 yards high? or in other words how much processable material (substrate) can be put into the shelf to produce as much as possible without risking the performance of the production itself?. (of course without messing it around) and without screwing it up.??? I mean, it doesn't have to be an exact quantity, just approx.
-------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Looking for Lion's Mane and Yellow Oyster culture. Will trade for: Shiitake/King Oyster/Blue Oyster/White Beech. Me for info. Yes, you can see the real reality through a little window. Now, build a door.
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lionsman
Stranger
Registered: 08/02/09
Posts: 102
Loc: UK
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: ElSeta]
#10869021 - 08/16/09 06:12 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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I forgot to say, empty beer barrels come with quite a bit of pressure in them. This needs venting first by drilling a 3mm hole on one of the cut lines (just above top bulge)
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JaComet
Old Hand
Registered: 11/12/02
Posts: 347
Loc: Out Yonder
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: lionsman]
#10869041 - 08/16/09 06:33 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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I'm impressed lionsman. You're humidifier is Ex-Oh-Lent.
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b3jamboree
yes we have no portabellas
Registered: 09/11/06
Posts: 423
Loc: 45th Parallel, MI
Last seen: 10 years, 3 months
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: JaComet]
#10869057 - 08/16/09 07:07 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Damn, I have to add myself to the chorus. Amazing job building those autoclaves. You are a more skilled and much braver man than I...
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Mycologist1
Stranger
Registered: 02/25/09
Posts: 18
Last seen: 13 years, 3 months
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: b3jamboree]
#10870016 - 08/16/09 12:12 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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I have recently been putting together a business plan for a similar operation. Does anyone know about the degree of permitting that goes into a small-scale business selling edibles to local restaurants?
I'm aware that many people sell wildly harvested morels and chanterelles to restaurants. Is this considered a formal business transaction?
I am in the U.S. so I'm not sure lionsman's situation will be the same.
Thanks in advance for any useful information.
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b3jamboree
yes we have no portabellas
Registered: 09/11/06
Posts: 423
Loc: 45th Parallel, MI
Last seen: 10 years, 3 months
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: Mycologist1]
#10870145 - 08/16/09 12:41 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Regulations vary from state to state. Contact your state department of agriculture to find out exactly. In my state, Michigan, there are big time regulations on selling wild mushrooms but cultivated mushrooms are seen the same as any other vegetable.
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Imorph
journeyman
Registered: 11/10/01
Posts: 146
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: lionsman]
#10875243 - 08/17/09 11:04 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
lionsman said: Imorph, thanks for your comments. My autoclaves are also home made from 50l beer-barrels. Everything I have seems to be home made! They're very high quality stainless steel, with the top cut open and fitted with a rubber seal. The barrels are stamped with 'tested up to 4 bar'. They're fitted with a pressure gauge and valve in the top. Top is held down with 8 bolts. It sounds dangerous, and would be if not put together right, but I've used mine hundreds of times with no incidents. (Please don't try this unless you're handy with an angle grinder/welder/soldering iron) The only problems have been when the seal doesn't seat properly and it needs to be re-sealed. I use oak sawdust, which is all I can get easily locally. Bulk substrates are standard sawdust/bran/gypsum. I can grow lions mane between about 7-28 C. At the low end, growth is slow of course, and fruitbodies generally smaller than normal. Above about 28 then go brown pretty quick. I did experiment with a gas heated steamer last winter. It would keep the shed about 10 degrees(C) higher than outside, but ended up too expensive to run. Sheds are 6x6x8ft and 6x6x10.
Hello Lionsman and all, " Worry,Worry,Worry " plz don't stone me this time...but i have been trying to figure the specs for tested pressure " up to 4 bar' " ? ...I of course want to know the eqiv in PSI and am not sure if I get it, after a bit of study ?....1 bar'=14.5 psi ?...if that's so 4 bar' x 14.5 = 58 psi tested point ? umm,that's nearly 4x15(stnd) psi. Also what sort of pressure relief valve did you use manual or weight? And the gauge was cobbled on with standard (visibly?) brass and copper parts ? at a guess what's the total expenditure per autoclave? If this keeps up maybe you should put to gather a simple DIY/How to Paper down-loadable for a few dollars/pounds or maybe a philanthropic gesture ...making it very clear that the builder proceeds at his or her own risk :O
Edited by Imorph (08/17/09 11:27 AM)
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Imorph
journeyman
Registered: 11/10/01
Posts: 146
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: Imorph]
#10875931 - 08/17/09 01:33 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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And Lionsman, i have my fine Beshroomed Beserkers' Shield in front of me i am able to block and parry a sure stoning?..another query, How do you pierce that strong stainless for bolt holes....careful piercing in High Amp range on arc wielder setting? And roughly what's the max load in terms of qrts,pts or sized bags that this cylinder will sterilize. the cylinder dimensions are roughly Ht___x Wth___. you sterilize effectively ___minutes @___lbs psi. mega thanks, Imorph
Edited by Imorph (08/17/09 01:51 PM)
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Jef
Out-of-work Sex Slave
Registered: 12/02/08
Posts: 764
Loc: near Duncan, BC
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: Imorph]
#10876157 - 08/17/09 02:14 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Unintentionally, Lionsman's fabulous homemade evaporative cooler and autoclaves have attracted so much interest that this subject has threadjacked ElSeta's original thread.
Lionsman, how 'bout starting a thread that tells about each of them them, because there is a lot of interest and drop a link to it in this thread so ElSeta can get more on-topic input into his questions.
Thanks and good growing,
Jef
-------------------- I am my own lab rat. Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will learn.
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Imorph
journeyman
Registered: 11/10/01
Posts: 146
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: Jef]
#10881372 - 08/18/09 08:41 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Yikes, c/s Jef ! thx for pointing that out ! excuse me ElSeta.
How to create a small scale shed /area shroom business ?
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ElSeta
Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 127
Loc: Atlantida.
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: Imorph]
#10890893 - 08/19/09 04:16 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Whatever comes to the boat...
-------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Looking for Lion's Mane and Yellow Oyster culture. Will trade for: Shiitake/King Oyster/Blue Oyster/White Beech. Me for info. Yes, you can see the real reality through a little window. Now, build a door.
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Jef
Out-of-work Sex Slave
Registered: 12/02/08
Posts: 764
Loc: near Duncan, BC
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Re: How to make a small shed a profitable mushroom production business [Re: ElSeta]
#10893596 - 08/19/09 10:17 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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HOMEMADE AUTOCLAVE AND EVAPORATIVE COOLER CONTINUES HERE:
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/10891050
Thanks,
JEf
-------------------- I am my own lab rat. Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will learn.
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