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DSkank
Stranger
Registered: 10/23/13
Posts: 6
Last seen: 9 months, 5 days
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confirm as contam? grey, off-white depressed areas on substrate
#19019306 - 10/23/13 01:06 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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ok so this is a BRF cake of PES hawaiian prepared according to pf tek, been colonizing over 6 weeks now. spores are somewhat old and were often not refrigerated so i take that to explain the slowness. if someone could tell me whether this is probable or not, or whether there's some other explanation for such slow colonization id really appreciate it.
regardless it is more or less the same speed as the other cakes are coming along so im not sure whether this is mycelium, contaminant, or colonization that's under attack from a contaminant. the light in the photos makes this a little hard to tell as it's pretty yellow.
there are off white, grey colored areas on the cake that are also depressed, as if part of the substrate has been consumed. also there is an orangish deposit of some goo or something, shown closely in one picture.
I've smelled the substrate and to me it smells like mushrooms, though i have never completed fruiting for cubes so it could be said i dont actually know what cubes should smell like. the smell isn't very strong.



also i have one cake birthed and in the fruiting chamber. I dunked and rolled and put a reservoir of wet verm on top, and sprayed the surrounding perlite (not directly on the cake) but am not sure when i should start seeing pins, or if the dry verm layer might delay them. so if anyone knows about that feel free to mention it.
and if anyone has any tips about keeping the top layer of dry vermiculite from becoming wet while the jars are boiled (i dont have a pressure cooker) that would be appreciated as well, or also whether this (or keeping the foil lids on vs. leaving the dry verm exposed) could have an effect on colonization speed.
if you have any thoughts on this please post!! id appreciate anyone who can shed some light on these issues.
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SupaThaRipper
Genetics Hoarder



Registered: 09/02/13
Posts: 1,682
Loc: USA
Last seen: 54 seconds
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Re: confirm as contam? grey, off-white depressed areas on substrate [Re: DSkank]
#19019885 - 10/23/13 03:15 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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The orange goo could be metabolites... but thats usually much more watery than goo. Its hard to tell without a decent picture. Sorry
Oh and you should see pins around 5-10 days or so. Dont know much about the pf tek so cant be much help
Edited by SupaThaRipper (10/23/13 03:17 PM)
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huxley_hound
Day Tripper



Registered: 09/02/13
Posts: 74
Loc: USA
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Re: confirm as contam? grey, off-white depressed areas on substrate [Re: DSkank]
#19020060 - 10/23/13 03:49 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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I like to play it safe. I'd toss the jar with the orange coloration. See what other people who are more experienced say.
As for the moisture issue with your sterilization method, I am pretty sure that it is not per se the boiling water that sterilizes your jars, but the resultant steam. Keeping that in mind, sterilize with steam as carefully and efficiently as possible by doing some of these things (some of this is obvious and perhaps you already know):
- Don't put too much water in your pot. It shouldn't be anywhere near the top/lids of your jars.
- Don't use more heat than is necessary. In other words, you want to avoid a hard boil, because water is much more likely to splash up near your lids. I usually fractionally sterilize below between low and medium heat, but this is pretty anecdotal, since ovens and their controls will differ.
- Put your jars on top of jar-rings and then on top of several layers of foil. The idea is to get them further from the water at the base of the pot, and up near the steam.
- Lastly, you should try to be as conscientious as possible when wrapping your jars in foil. You want the foil to be tight fitting. Sometimes I use two layers of foil per jar.
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huxley_hound
Day Tripper



Registered: 09/02/13
Posts: 74
Loc: USA
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Re: confirm as contam? grey, off-white depressed areas on substrate [Re: huxley_hound]
#19020313 - 10/23/13 04:35 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Oh, by the way, you should be colonizing (and consolidating) with the foil removed. Good luck!
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,811
Loc: Canada
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Re: confirm as contam? grey, off-white depressed areas on substrate [Re: huxley_hound]
#19021817 - 10/23/13 08:47 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Looks like there might be some bacteria present but its hard to say, I'm not much of a cake guy. Pretty sure the orange is metabolites but again its hard to tell. I would just give it some time and see how things play out. Patience.
BTW unless you don't have a lid you should remove the foil, its just going to throw the moisture off and you run the risk of your dry verm layer getting wet.
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