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BurningQuestion
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Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars?
#8345802 - 04/30/08 12:24 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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Hi all,
I just got my mushroom spores in the mail, and this is my first time growing. Yesterday I went out and bought vermiculite and brown rice flour (for substrate), but was completely unsuccessful in trying to find 1/2 pint, tapered wide-mouth jars. I checked Publix, Target, K-Mart, Sears, and Williams-Sonoma. I havent been to Wal-Mart yet (although I will look today).
My question is: Are there any alternatives to using glass canning jars for my cakes?
Is it possible to use plastic tupperware containers or regular drinking glasses (with well sealed tops)? Any suggestions for alternative ways to contain the cakes? I would order jars online, but I am moving back to my parents house in a month and would rather grow here in the privacy of my apartment. I don't have the time to wait for a shipment to come in.
Also, I was able to find non-wide mouth jars at Publix. Is it possible to break open the jars perhaps without damaging the cakes? Is it that incredibly difficult to get the cakes out?
Thanks for any help in advance, and sorry if these are noob questions.
Peace, Jaine
On a side note... when my spores arrived, there was a small amount of dark grey looking matter floating in the syringe. Is that normal?
Edited by BurningQuestion (04/30/08 12:28 PM)
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amanitavirosa
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: BurningQuestion]
#8345809 - 04/30/08 12:26 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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Plastic will melt when you go to sterilize the containers w/ your substrate in it.
If you absolutely can not find canning jars, think of some other containers. I know of some people having success with wide drinking glasses. Others (such as myself) have used old spaghetti sauce jars (glass ones).
I am fairly certain Walmart will carry the jars tho. Failing that, try your local thrift stores - I have seen TONS of mason jars at the local Salvation Army stores.
As per your spore syringe - yes it is totally normal. Those are spore clusters. Just be sure to shake that syringe well before inoculating your jars. And when you do inoculate, try to limit your "dose" to 1cc per 1/2 pint jar (or similar container).
Welcome to the hobby btw!
-------------------- -AV-
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Jii
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: BurningQuestion]
#8345896 - 04/30/08 12:57 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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You can buy plastic jars that take PCing just fine. I've been using their products with no problems. PC, microwave... All is good 
http://www.curver.com/ (microwave range)
-------------------- My shroom inspired photo gallery - One of god's own prototypes. Too weird to live, too rare to die - I highly recommend www.genesisgeneration.us and Freedomainradio. Jii
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mephist00
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: amanitavirosa]
#8345907 - 04/30/08 01:00 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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you can find jam jars at wal-mart, and big food stores.
its a seasonal thing.. jam jars..
just ask someone its not suspicious.. i bought mine at wal-mart just a week ago. but i saw them in the weirdest isle.. think they were in air fresheners isle in my local food store lol
oh, and if you are using cakes its probably wise to get the wide mouth jars, and you should be able to find them.
-------------------- "feed your head!!"
Edited by mephist00 (04/30/08 01:02 PM)
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Tyz
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: mephist00]
#8346024 - 04/30/08 01:38 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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walmart or menards carry them 4 sure! ggod luck ! welcome!
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shaggydogman
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: Tyz]
#8346184 - 04/30/08 02:31 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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'PF Tek for simple minds' suggest half pint jars or glasses.
http://www.fungifun.org/English/Pftek
 
I've used glasses with tin foil lids many times and it works great!
Good luck
-------------------- Rye -- WBS | Grain LC -- G2G | Bulk -- Monotub | 50/50 -- Late Casing -- A Pinning Strategy Disclaimer: My opinion is subject to change at short notice subject to but not limited by new information and knowledge being made available.
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P.Menace
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: shaggydogman]
#8346218 - 04/30/08 02:37 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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GO With Spawn Bags... their cheap and easy
If you do need jars for the Pf tek Shaggydogman has the total right idea. Drinking glasses can be used just fine, In my experience you want to bring the PC or Boil water up to temp slowly and down to atmospheric slowly so you dont crack the glasses and ruin your expensive substrate
--------------------
http://www.sporeworksgallery.com/Cubensae/Psilocybe_cubensis_Menace roby000 said: thats true a shotgun is almost like a college degree in a sense that if you show it to the right person at the right time you could make a lot of money.
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BurningQuestion
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: BurningQuestion]
#8346656 - 04/30/08 05:25 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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Thank you so much everyone for your great advice! Let me share with you the results of today's quest for glass jars...
My first stop was Bed, Bath and Beyond, which has a huge cooking supply section. There I found these awesome 20 oz glass jars. The only drawback was that they were $15 each! No way was I about to spend over $100 on jars. So I decided to take home two. Here is a picture:

I did a little research on plastics and melting and found that polypropylene (a common material for microwaveable Tupperware) doesn't melt until it reaches 165 degrees Celsius, or 329 degrees Fahrenheit (well over boiling). So, I went to Wal-Mart (which DID NOT have any tapered wide mouth jars), and picked up three 24 oz polypropylene containers (you can tell the material by the recycling number on the bottom).

I decided that I would try using these glasses which I have here at home that seem to be about the right size. I'm going to try sealing them with tin foil and rubber bands. Hopefully it will work!

Any thoughts? Think this will work?
I will probably post more as I go through the process and have questions. Thanks for your help you guys!
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Lennyk
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: BurningQuestion]
#8346708 - 04/30/08 05:42 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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a couple layers of a tin foil should be fine without the rub ber band, no reason it would come off unless pulledd off. The other stuff might not melt, but i think the rubber would at least get messed up at that temperature.
P.s. I might be wrong, but even if the plastic stuff doesn't melt, i think it gets warped eventually and will not make it air tight anymore.
Edited by Lennyk (04/30/08 05:44 PM)
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mephist00
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: Lennyk]
#8346981 - 04/30/08 06:51 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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check out your local food store for the jam jars! surprised wal mart didnt have widemouth ones.. thats where i got mine
ask some1 where they are, ive seen them in every large food store since i considered growing hehe
-------------------- "feed your head!!"
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deXtrous
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: Lennyk]
#8346989 - 04/30/08 06:52 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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One question - How are you going to inoculate those expensive glass jars?
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Peterthinks
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: deXtrous]
#8347117 - 04/30/08 07:30 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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 These got PCd...plastic works. make sure the lids are loose so they don't get all distorted by steam building in them. they will also cave in on themselves if you seal them when they are hot.If you have a polyfill breathing hole in the top first you avoid these problems. to inoculate just heat the syringe needle red hot and stab it right thru the lid.(cover hole with micropore tape and swab with alcohol)
Get a roll of 30 meters of plastic saran wrap and cut off one inch chunks with a sharp chef's knife.CAREFUL!! Makes a great cheap substitute to parafilm. Wrap around lid seam 3 times.
-------------------- Give a man a fire and he will be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life. NEWB NEWBIE NEWCOMER IGNORANT? QUESTIONS? Click HERE HERE HERE HERE For detailed instructions with pictures on how to grow mushrooms. There is a lot of info on the Shroomery and this is what you need to know.
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Ram Dass
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: Peterthinks]
#8347302 - 04/30/08 08:13 PM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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http://www.fungifun.org/English/Pftek this tek uses jars very similar to the pictures you posted
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amanitavirosa
absurdlyoptimistic



Registered: 04/07/08
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: Ram Dass]
#8348648 - 05/01/08 06:37 AM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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BurningQuestion, nice pics! Thanks for focusing the camera for those - you will see tons of poorly taken photos here .
For the expensive glasses, might I suggest you use two layers of tinfoil as a lid? Only remove the top most lid to inoculate (poking through bottom layer).
-------------------- -AV-
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Yossarian22
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: amanitavirosa]
#8348727 - 05/01/08 07:32 AM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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Since nobody mentioned it already, yes, the dark clump in your spore syringe is normal. If you still see it while you're preparing to inoculate, shake it up(the black clump is made of spores which you want evenly distributed in the liquid).
Also, be wary with those plastic containers. They should withstand the heat of a pressure cooker, but they're too big for PF-style jars(in my experience, anything bigger than a half pint tends to stall). You can however use WBS(Wild Bird Seed, available at any hardware store) or rye(available at health food stores) in those containers. It's roughly the same idea as PF cakes, except that you'd need to case the grain instead of just dunking and rolling like a cake(Casing is applying a non-nutritious layer, like Peat and Vermiculite mix, to create a nurturing microclimate). The glasses should work fine, though for PF cakes. Also, if you're still looking for canning jars, look at places like Costco or Woodman's(I don't know if you have them in your area, but it's basically a large grocery store that focuses more on fresh ingredients/do-it-yourself cooking rather than selling pre-sealed microwaveable dinners)
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amanitavirosa
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: Yossarian22]
#8348729 - 05/01/08 07:33 AM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Yossarian22 said: Since nobody mentioned it already, yes, the dark clump in your spore syringe is normal. If you still see it while you're preparing to inoculate, shake it up(the black clump is made of spores which you want evenly distributed in the liquid).
Lol .. I guess you didn't bother to read the second post?
-------------------- -AV-
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DOJOLOACH
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Re: Alternatives to Glass Canning Jars? [Re: amanitavirosa]
#18265076 - 05/14/13 06:20 PM (10 years, 9 months ago) |
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Will either of these work? the large quart sized jar is labeled wide mouth, but I can't really tell if it's tapered or not.

Hopefully there is a pic there
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MacMerdin
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Quote:
BurningQuestion said: I did a little research on plastics and melting and found that polypropylene (a common material for microwaveable Tupperware) doesn't melt until it reaches 165 degrees Celsius, or 329 degrees Fahrenheit (well over boiling). So, I went to Wal-Mart (which DID NOT have any tapered wide mouth jars), and picked up three 24 oz polypropylene containers (you can tell the material by the recycling number on the bottom).

Those work just fine. They can even be PC'd. 
 
Word of advice though. Don't pack them too tight because the cap is bowed inward and you'll end up squishing the substrate.
Good luck.
Just saw that this was a 5 year old thread. LOL.
Edited by MacMerdin (05/14/13 08:00 PM)
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