First off let me start by saying I started this writeup in the Gormet/med forum, but as I was writing it up I realized how well it could translate over to help with active grows as well. As this side of the forum gets a bit more attention I decided to put it here instead... If a mod disagrees however it can be moved at your discretion.
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The main purpose for this line of experimentation was to find a way to cut costs, save time, any to find a way to increase my overall production with the equipment I currently have. This fall I will have a chance to sell mushrooms to a local restaurant. (the kind that doesn't have a standard menu as the head chef makes it up weekly) As I do not have the larger pc or mass production equipment that a lot of commercial growers have I decided to find a way to work with what I had, until I know I can be successful in this venture and find enough clientele to justify the expansion of my equipment.
Equipment used.
Microwave
AA921 PC (and racks)
2 (or 3) 18"x24" spawn bags (with self made ez felt filters)
18" heavy duty tin foil
8 jar bands
~8.5qt grains for spawn (before hydration)
Hand full of gypsum
1 folgers singles packet
Yeild per PC cycle. (Enough spawn for)
8 - 18"lx7.5"d. Straw logs. (I use 3 standard qts ea)*
3 - monotubs. (With the standard of 7 qts each)*
(* see below for how I obtain these measurements)
My normal grain media is wbs/rgs mixture, however you can use whatever grain you choose, with a minor adjustment for the amount of swelling the grain does to determine your final amount of spawn. In this run I'm experimenting with oats/rgs but quantities measured out very close to the same. (I'll update the tek with wbs and additional pictures when I do my next run)
Tek steps...
1. Prepare your grain media as normal. For this run I used 7qts whole oats and 1.5 qts rgs (filled to the rim) As the oats required no rinsing (the water was clear on first fill) I simply added both grains to my pot, added an additional 5 or 6 inches of water on top, stirred in a handful of gypsum and droped in a coffee bag single. ~24 hours later I simmered and drained.
2. Fill your bags with grain. For this step I poured all my grains back into my cleaned and dried pot and use a qt jar as my scoop. Each bag gets 8qt grain (filled to the rim) and the remainder is divided equally between the 2 bags (in this case it was about 1/3 qt extra in each bag... The oats swelled more than my wbs which is usually almost exactly doubled leaving only a spoonful or two extra to divide) The bags can then be sealed with a torch (my usual method) a impulse sealer, zip ties, bag clamps, etc... (this time I used zip ties as I didn't feel like spending 20min sealing them... In the future I'm either getting some bag clamps or an impulse sealer)
3. Nuke your grains. In this step I nuke my grains to get them up to temperature. (saves pc time) I toss in both bags at once, nuke for 5 miniutes, take out and shake, then nuke for 2:30 more. (I have a huge 2.2 cu ft 1250w microwave, so adjust as needed if you habe a lower watage/smaller unit... grains should be to hot to comfortably hold when done) While you are nuking you should prepare your foil and pc for steps 4 and 5.
4. Tear off 2' sections from your 18" roll of foil. (These can be reused multiple times) Place your bags in the center with the 18" seam going the same way as the 2' foil. Manipulate into a round shape and use the excess foil to bunch it up at the ends so it stays in place (this will ensure your bag is not touching the sides of the cooker)
5. Place 8 jar rings at the bottom of your PC. Fill with ~2-3" hot water... not enough that I it will overflow into your foil bowls when they are dropped in, but enough to ensure you do not run dry.
6. Add bag with foil bowl, rack, bag with foil bkwl, rack, weight. Make sure the ez felt filters are exposed to grain and not rolled up inside of the bag itself. (This will keep your bag from imploding/exploding and/or inflating/deflating.)
7. Get pot to pressure as normal. (Moves quick as the grains are already hot) PC for 2 hours @ 15psi, turn off stove and allow to depressurize, remove rocker after it has reached 0 and remove bags so they can cool.
8. You have now PC 16+ full quarts of grains.... But as above I told you there would be enough for either 8 straw logs or 3 monotubs. That is because when using grain jars people are only using jars 2/3 - 3/4 full and counting them as a qt. Assuming the larger amount of 3/4 full jars we can take 16 divide by 3 and then multiply that number by 4. (To find what it is 3/4 of) That gives us 21.333 "standard" qts of spawn cooked per cycle, in addition you have the spawn masters you are pouring into your bags giving you 23 1/3 qts of grain if using 2 bags. Once colonized and broken up it will be slightly expanded allowing for you to once again use a qt jar as a scoop, fill each time to the standard 3/4 full and give you 8 - 18x7.5" straw logs with 3 standard qt spawn each.
9. Some conversions and speculations for spawn used in monotubs. I would surmise from the above that with an additional rack and bag one could fill each bag with 7 standard qts (~3/4 full) and would still have plenty of room in your pc to run 3 tubs worth of spawn in a single cycle. I have neither the extra rack, nor the currant need to test this, but as I had 2+ inches extra in my cooker up top, and the rack itself only takes up ~1/16" that leaves over 2" for bag which really doesn't take up much space at all once you push the air out of them.
Additionally you can use the above "standard" measurements of with 2 bags @ 7 qts and then 2 qt grain masters on top as the weight. This would give you a nice approach at production as well as each pc cycle will give you 2 masters that can colonize for your next cook, and 2 bags that can be g2g from the masters in your previous cook. This would give you a standard of 2 tubs worth of grain including masters in each pc cycle. (Though I cannot guarantee 3 bags will work I know the 2 and 2 will work as I have ran 2 - 7.5 qt bags and 2 - 1qt masters in pc cycles before for 5 log runs)
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I hope that there are some out there this tek can be helpful for. It definitely has the benefit of saving time by running a much larger amount of grain per cycle, and as far as cash I found it save by...
24 jars will cost you over 20 bucks... With the above method though we are just running about 21 jars worth, the bags only cost me about .54c each (including ez felt patch) and they are reusable after a wash just like jars. (In the above pics one bag is on its 3rd cycle and another is on its 5th, with no signs of wear... 3rd run togather) so at almost 1/20th of the cost as far as our equipment goes.
Though I'm not sure the exact draw of power from the stove for multiple cycles vs the nuking and running a big batch for a bit of a longer cycle I'm betting some cash is saved there as well.
(In addition I don't have to have bunch of jars laying around my house, as the bags will wash nicely and can be folded and stuck in a drawer until their next use)
I plan on updating this tek with wbs for my next normal run, but as my last venture out netted me with a 50lb bag of whole oats for 12.99 (cheapest I can get wbs local is 15.99 for 40lbs) I plan on running a few tests with it. If I find it to be at least near equal when fruiting my oysters I will write up a better prepared tek for oats and run some side by side bags with wbs to get some more exact numbers.. (but so far oat prep rocks... it doesn't stink as bad and had way less time put into getting it ready)
GL all... any criticism/comments/questions welcome
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BloodKil 
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(paying 107 shipped for 20x30 @ 1.5mil) I might toss some up in the market @ cost + whatever shipping will be once I receive them as I can't see myself going through this many for a long time...
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