Full disclosure: Have successfully completed a 24 cake Cambodian PF Tek.
To give further background on the matter, the following was the procedure taken in order to start this grain spawn + bulk substrate grow:
RR grain prep & soak: -grains rinsed under hot tap water to clean unwanted dirt/debris -24hr hot 50/50 water/coffee + gypsum soak followed by boiling for 10min and allowing steam to rise. Filling jars after completely drying the outside of grain and grain is still warm. Jar lids have polyfil tightly pulled through 2 small holes.
PC quart jars for 120min, time started after rocker begins releasing steam. Jars were allowed to cool for 14hrs; all were at room temp to the touch.
Inoculation on 24 jars was completed in one sitting and in a still air box, 2 different syringes were used - I heat them until red hot between each jar inoc using an alchy lamp. Room was completely cleaned with oust, iso alcohol, disinfectant spray - all circulation turned off, surgical mask + gloves worn, along with freshly washed clothes after taking a shower and brushing+using mouthwash. My procedure is incredibly clean, to say the least.
After inoc, jars were placed near a window, aluminum foil taken off. Constant temp between 70 and 81 degrees with 12hrs of sunlight each day.
Phew, Ok, on to my question. On 08/31/13, 14 jars were inoculated with 1 strain (batch A), 10 jars with another (batch B). On day 13, today, 14 of the 14 jars have yet to show signs of colonization and also have a rather distinguishing musky smell to them... every single one of them.
5 of 10, from batch B, are showing significant growth, which was evident just seven days after inoculation. If I may add, ALL of these 10 jars smell like fresh grains.
Based on the lack of growth of Batch A's 14 jars, and the odd musky smell, could we safely assume that, perhaps, the MS syringe introduced contaminates to the jars? Again, batch B are showing growth on 50% of jars on day 13 and smell fresh. All jars were given the same pre-pc prep and sterilization.
Personally, I think its more than just a coincidence that ALL of batch A jars have an odd smell, with absolutely no growth. Please advise, folks, as I have never encountered a situation as such, and neither have I had a MS syringe from one of the vendors be the source of contam. Should I wait a little longer? Should I contact the vendor - also, how would I go about bringing up these circumstances to the vendor?
Thank you for reading this long post!
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Few more notes:
-ONE Batch A jar is showing a tiny spec of mycelium growth, which has literally not changed one bit over the span of 5 days - this jar smells very strong, relative to the other 13.
-I also made 2 test jars, and these still remain unused. 1 is made with brown rice + actual coffee grinds + coffee filters for retaining moisture and a 1/4 cup of 100% strength coffee. The other jar simply has soaked grains + tsp of coffee grinds. Knowing that coffee has a high risk of contams, if not "handled" properly, and even after 13 days, there is no sign of ANY contam growth on either of these test jars...
Edited by etdxx (09/13/13 06:18 PM)
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