And I have a question. What is the color and smell of a healthy colonized rye jar? In other words, how can I tell that the jar is NOT contaminated.

Let me tell you where I'm at. I know that the healthy myce in rice/verm is pure white and sort of stringy looking. I have been fairly successful with PF and ShroomWiz
teks. I have a good pressure cooker, but still need work on my sterile transfers. I have never used agar and don't know how: it seems that it requires even MORE sterility that I have now. How in the world do you get and keep the food processor sterile? Your preboil/fluff method seems like it would solve the uneven moisture problem. Good idea. Ok, enough of that.

I'd hate to waste a big tray full of straw and go though that tek for nothing. The few pictures I've seen in the Gallery here of colonized rye jars are out of focus. I have 5 pint jars that are well colonized with something. It is mostly white, but if there is a faint mushroomy smell it is masked by the smell of the grain I think. That pleasant musky mushroom smell of success is very obvious with rice/verm. I'm going to break up and case these rye jars anyways, since I have nothing to lose.

So how do YOU know that you have good jars?

And a couple more little questions. What is agar, is it nutritious or is it just the part that makes it gel and you have to add malt for myce food? Is it something I shoudl be able to buy by walking into a store of some kind in Atlanta? Where do you get yours? Since most people including the "breeders" who use agar swear by it, it's obviously something I should learn to do.

Thanks alot.

yes. malt extract or potato dextrose or something else. people have even had success with ground up dog food - fucking mad scientists.

"Is it something I shoudl be able to buy by walking into a store of some kind in Atlanta?"

i understand that health food stores and asian gorcery stores have it. also supply houses, fungi perfecti, mushroompeople, etc.

"Where do you get yours?"

i bought some a while back in a pre-mixed form from shroom god. if it wasnt for him i might have never made the leap into agar cultures. i havent exhausted my supply of shroomgods formula yet (mya + wheat flour). im interested in a cornmeal recipe that is less nutritious for preserving strains on though, in which case ill have to see.

"Since most people including the "breeders" who use agar swear by it, it's obviously something I should learn to do."

if you want a pure strain then yes. growing off of agar allows for better colonization speeds, larger yields and faster "start up" times when spawning.

check the agar teks in the find/grow section of the shroomery for more info or do a search for agar on the msg board. actually i have a cut and paste file of just about every useful bit of agar info ever posted on the shroomery. i also have it for the rye info and for straw. its a good habit if you are an obsesive bastard like myself. if you want i can email it to you. its like 10-15 pages of info on each subject.
ok what else -
the healthy smell of a rye jar is the smell of cooked rye grain. it is a lingering smell in my experience and overpowers the msuhroomy smell except for right after shaking the jar. if it smells sour or distinctly foul then its probably contaminated. if not then im sure the jar is fine (that is if there is no visible sign of contam and it still shows vigorous growth). when you are ready to spawn, smell the jar to make sure it doesnt have that sour bacteria smell. but it doesnt matter too much. i have cased an obviously contaminated jar (green mold) and it fruited very well. just try and pick out the actually visible mold. dont use a jar you even suspect to be contaminated as a spawn for straw or compost though. thats pretty risky since there is more time for the contam to spread and a greater potential loss.
-dnaiel.

Thanks, I think you could also use the "turkey bags" to sterilize a LARGE amount of grain in the oven after pre-cooking.

I'm actually trying that now with one of those filter patch bags. As long as I'm super careful with a sterile inoculation with spores (inject through pinhole which is then immediatly taped up), then I can't see why it should not thrive. I can mix it all very easily by kneading it for a few seconds whenver I look at it.

Opps, I think I may have just wasted some straw by putting my unknown jars into it. We'll see.

Have a great weekend!

quote:

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i am using rye

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In a single gram of commercial rye there is an estimated cell count of 50,000 to 100,000 bacteria, more than 200,000 actinomyces, 12,000 fungi and a large number of yeasts.

MuhahahahahahHAhAHHAhAHAH *cough* *choke* *wheez*

err ahem... well party on dudes!

[This message has been edited by The Learner (edited April 07, 2000).]

BTW What's up Rebelmoon?

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Only you can prevent forest fires.
-Smokey the Bear

[This message has been edited by Diamondback (edited April 08, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by rebelmoon (edited April 08, 2000).]

mattypie82@hotmail.com.

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Lady finger, dipped in moonlight
writing "What for?" across the morning sky
sunlight splatters, dawn with ansewer
darkness shrugs and bids the day goodbye

I have about 5MB for a web page that I do not use I could put it up so you don't have to e-mail everyone.
Thanks.