|
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
|
quisp65
Stranger


Registered: 04/10/13
Posts: 116
Last seen: 4 months, 25 days
|
Crappy Kelway meter... almost flying blind again on substrate moisture level
#18772636 - 08/29/13 11:19 AM (10 years, 5 months ago) |
|
|
Bought a Kelway moisture & ph meter due to it was mentioned it's about the only meter that can measure moisture content correctly. Meter pegged over 100% when I was just reaching close to about right but a bit dry on the squeeze test. I don't trust it! Gonna just go on the squeeze test since my experience with attempts at my substrate has shown this level doesn't work and a bit more moisture I do get better results.
Doing a hpoo/coir/verm/gypsum with a tablespoon of kelp meal & vegetable oil and gonna try my usual mason jar hot water bath but gonna try a very slow rise of temp to get my substrate in the 150 temp range. Got a Taylor electronic thermometer with a probe and gonna raise water temp to 155 and let cool it cool to 140 and raise to 155 again. Gotta another thermometer in my substrate and I'll see how long this takes to get it to 140. My Taylor thermometer alarms me when my temp gets at 155 or 140. Hopefully no more than an extra hour in the hot water bath.
Thinking this method will make it so absolutely no substrate goes above the 155 mark. Will have a greater amount of beneficial microorganisms available.
-------------------- A bit expensive but the largest clear tote I've found. Great if you want a large SGFC that can easily do both trays and cakes. If you decide to go all out on a SGFC, be sure to get coarse perlite. It keeps it cleaner and allows better FAE and humidity.
Edited by quisp65 (08/29/13 11:21 AM)
|
TranscendingLife
I Don't Need a Life to Live



Registered: 06/09/10
Posts: 21,627
|
Re: Crappy Kelway meter... almost flying blind again on substrate moisture level [Re: quisp65]
#18772740 - 08/29/13 11:50 AM (10 years, 5 months ago) |
|
|
Mix all of your dry ingredients first, then add water. You want your bulk substrate to be at or slightly below field capacity. I like a few drops of water to come out of the substrate when I squeeze it hard.
The water temperature isn't something to worry about when pasteurizing. It's the center of the substrate's temperature that you're worried about. Get the center to 140F and then turn off the burner or heat source. It shouldn't go above 160F after the burner is off. A little bit over for a few minutes won't hurt anything, though.
-------------------- AMU: We Quickly Answer Questions Here "One must accept the probability of failure to experience the elation of success." - TranscendingLife “A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” - James Joyce
      How I Do EVERYTHING      "Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart…. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."- Carl Jung "Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means."- William S. Burroughs "You are as dead now as you will ever be" - Seth
|
quisp65
Stranger


Registered: 04/10/13
Posts: 116
Last seen: 4 months, 25 days
|
Re: Crappy Kelway meter... almost flying blind again on substrate moisture level [Re: TranscendingLife]
#18772912 - 08/29/13 12:38 PM (10 years, 5 months ago) |
|
|
I'm being anal on my pasteurization so I can rule out other areas if my grow fails. One hour and fifteen minutes in the hot water bath brought up my substrate to 140. I'll let it hang out between 140-150 for one hour. I'm not worried about it being a bit longer under a lower heat from the temp very slowly rising, due to the commercial mushroom farmers do this during their pasteurization and I've heard the ammonia eating microbes thrive under this temp.
I figure the more beneficial microorganisms the better and the substrate along the sides of the jar go above 160 if you heat the water to a boil.
I believe I got my substrate a tiny bit wetter than what you go for, but not by much. I believe this area is where I have had most of my troubles due to me not doing the cookie cutter premix spec and going on squeeze test alone to determine my moisture levels.
Told myself I wasn't going to do another hpoo substrate till I get a coir/verm grow right... but I just wanna play with the hpoo
-------------------- A bit expensive but the largest clear tote I've found. Great if you want a large SGFC that can easily do both trays and cakes. If you decide to go all out on a SGFC, be sure to get coarse perlite. It keeps it cleaner and allows better FAE and humidity.
|
TranscendingLife
I Don't Need a Life to Live



Registered: 06/09/10
Posts: 21,627
|
Re: Crappy Kelway meter... almost flying blind again on substrate moisture level [Re: quisp65]
#18773145 - 08/29/13 01:36 PM (10 years, 5 months ago) |
|
|
There's no reason to be that anal about pasteurization. I do "set & forget" pasteurization, where I:
Fill my PC with enough water to cover 1/3-1/2 the quart jars, start the stove on HIGH. Wait until the temperature of the center of the center jar hits 140F, the water is boiling by now. Then turn off the stove, put the lid on the PC w/out the toggle weight or tightening the wing nuts.
The substrate goes about 160F for a bit without a problem. I've pasteurized at 170-180F for around 20 minutes before...no problems.
-------------------- AMU: We Quickly Answer Questions Here "One must accept the probability of failure to experience the elation of success." - TranscendingLife “A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” - James Joyce
      How I Do EVERYTHING      "Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart…. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."- Carl Jung "Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means."- William S. Burroughs "You are as dead now as you will ever be" - Seth
|
quisp65
Stranger


Registered: 04/10/13
Posts: 116
Last seen: 4 months, 25 days
|
Re: Crappy Kelway meter... almost flying blind again on substrate moisture level [Re: TranscendingLife]
#18773307 - 08/29/13 02:10 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
Pardon, I have had another TC disagree with me on this.... so maybe I'm wrong, but it's not clicking in with me, so I wish to respectfully point out my thinking.
Wouldn't a substrate that has a higher concentration of beneficial microbes be a plus for a grow? It would seem that a substrate where 0% of it went above 155 would have a higher beneficial microbe count due to less of them being killed off.
I could understand if me being anal might not show a noticeable benefit and not be worth the trouble, but it would seem the more beneficial microbes, if they truly are beneficial, then the more the merrier.
-------------------- A bit expensive but the largest clear tote I've found. Great if you want a large SGFC that can easily do both trays and cakes. If you decide to go all out on a SGFC, be sure to get coarse perlite. It keeps it cleaner and allows better FAE and humidity.
|
TranscendingLife
I Don't Need a Life to Live



Registered: 06/09/10
Posts: 21,627
|
Re: Crappy Kelway meter... almost flying blind again on substrate moisture level [Re: quisp65]
#18776868 - 08/30/13 10:59 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
You won't kill off enough of the beneficial microbes at 180F. So, no. Besides, you mix the substrate all together after pasteurization.
-------------------- AMU: We Quickly Answer Questions Here "One must accept the probability of failure to experience the elation of success." - TranscendingLife “A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” - James Joyce
      How I Do EVERYTHING      "Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart…. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."- Carl Jung "Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means."- William S. Burroughs "You are as dead now as you will ever be" - Seth
|
|
|
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Shroomism, george castanza, RogerRabbit, veggie, mushboy, fahtster, LogicaL Chaos, 13shrooms, Stipe-n Cap, Pastywhyte, bodhisatta, Tormato, Land Trout, A.k.a 439 topic views. 48 members, 237 guests and 24 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ] |
|