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Psilicon
Really Nice Guy


Registered: 08/26/12
Posts: 7,057
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Oat Spawn Preparation Tek 17
#21121313 - 01/14/15 04:47 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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Since I'm pretty much an evangelist for oats, I get a lot of requests for a tek for oat spawn preparation. Honestly, it isn't much different from rye--it's just a little simpler and more foolproof in my opinion. Oats are easily obtained through feed stores, which exist in practically every North American town, for use as horse feed. If you go into any feed store and ask for whole oats, people might give you the funny look you're expecting, but only because you're only buying a single 50-pound bag. One of those big bags will cost you about $14-16 US/CAN and it'll last you quite a while. It's available in many places where rye berries are not, and you'll never have to answer a question about why you want it, but they're frequently stored in the back or in another building and you might have to ask the person at the cash register for them.
This is a no-soak method, and the TL;DR version is that you just boil the grain until the starch is grey and gelatinized, and then you drain, dry and pressure cook as usual. If that's all you need to hear, you're pretty much done here. If not, here are a bunch of pictures along with step-by-step instructions.
So what you want is the whole oats, which are not to be confused with cracked oats or rolled oats. Many places will sell you all three, so you'll have to specify which kind you want. They look like this:

Each full quart of oats will make two hydrated myco-quarts of oat spawn. I used three quarts to make a total of six for the purposes of this tek.
Put your dry oats into a pot and then add at least twice as much water as oats. I don't bother to skim the floaters or separate the rocks or anything. Just into the pot they go, and then I turn the heat up to boil them. Yes, not simmer, but a full-on boil.

The hull on oats is really thick and tough, which doesn't slow down fungi at all but which definitely prevents the kernels from bursting from the rough treatment I give them. Once they're a little wet, you can easily strip off the hull with your fingernails and have a look at the starchy interior.

As you can see, the whole thing is white because it's made up mostly of starch that isn't hydrated yet. We want that starch to gelatinize and take in as much water as we can make it, so we keep on boiling. Every two or three minutes, take a nice, fat oat out of the bottom of the pot and either strip it or bite or pinch into it to check the interior.

The surface has changed color because it's hydrated, but the interior is still very white. We have a long ways to go. After several more minutes:

We're getting there. The water is starting to penetrate and gelatinize that starch, and only isolated pockets of white starch remain. Still not there, though.

Yep. That's what we want.
Strain the grains out in a sieve or a lined colander, reserving the liquid for agar cultures if you want, and then spread them on trays or towels to let them steam dry. They should get pretty dry, but don't stress too much about it because these grains can take on a bit more water during the sterilization. They won't burst.
Jar them up like any other spawn: leaving about a third of the jar empty so you have room to add grain in a G2G transfer, or to shake it at 15-25% colonization. Here's a picture of the grain, ready for the pressure cooker. If you zoom in you can see that there are no burst grains at all.

After that, cover them up with foil and PC for 120 minutes at 15 psi. I've heard complaints about endospores in oats, but I don't often encounter problems with them with that nice, long sterilization time. When they come out they'll be somewhat darker and smell like very grassy granola.
That's all. Thanks for reading.
Edited by Psilicon (12/23/15 07:47 PM)
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Stargate
Addicted To Growing


Registered: 05/26/14
Posts: 1,124
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: Psilicon]
#21121330 - 01/14/15 04:50 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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How good are the fruits from these?
-------------------- From before I started growing gourmet mushrooms:
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Psilicon
Really Nice Guy


Registered: 08/26/12
Posts: 7,057
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: Stargate]
#21121348 - 01/14/15 04:54 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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I haven't noticed any difference in potency between any two spawn grains I've ever used, if that's what you're asking. As a lot of folks around here like to say, if we knew anything that were a magic bullet for size or potency, we'd all be doing it by now.
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taGyo
Strainiac/AMU



Registered: 10/16/14
Posts: 18,802
Loc: Journal Land
Last seen: 5 years, 3 months
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: Psilicon]
#21121391 - 01/14/15 05:00 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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Glad you Tek'd it.
-------------------- Gyo's Better Grows TNF Q&A AMU Q&A Dominus fortunae meae sum
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MudaFuka
Poppin bottles



Registered: 12/14/13
Posts: 18,648
Loc: Canada
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: Psilicon]
#21121433 - 01/14/15 05:08 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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Nice tek. This is basically how I prep mine most of the time. One thing I wanted to mention though. Some whole oat groats sold for human consumption don't have their hulls. They get very starchy and sticky. If you are getting them from a feed store you are fine though.
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Grey
⇜ ✯ ⇝



Registered: 11/06/14
Posts: 6,223
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: MudaFuka]
#21121446 - 01/14/15 05:11 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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also
--------------------
AMU Q&A If you don't have a plan of your own, you'll become a part of somebody else's.
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,808
Loc: Canada
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: Grey]
#21121580 - 01/14/15 05:42 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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Good writeup. Exactly how I do mine 
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bodhisatta 
Smurf real estate agent



Registered: 04/30/13
Posts: 61,889
Loc: Milky way
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: Pastywhyte]
#21121594 - 01/14/15 05:45 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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exactly how I do my rye. I'll have to try oats next time around I do 120m at 15psi though
Edited by Trusted cuItivator (01/14/15 05:46 PM)
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magicMerlin



Registered: 01/26/12
Posts: 617
Loc: Toronto
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: bodhisatta]
#21121699 - 01/14/15 06:11 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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Nice! I just started using oats, these pictures are helpful. I did a different method with a soak before, so I'll give the no-soak method a try next.
-------------------- My favorite threads
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Stargate
Addicted To Growing


Registered: 05/26/14
Posts: 1,124
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: magicMerlin]
#21121729 - 01/14/15 06:18 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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Do they yield as much as Rye berries?
-------------------- From before I started growing gourmet mushrooms:
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taGyo
Strainiac/AMU



Registered: 10/16/14
Posts: 18,802
Loc: Journal Land
Last seen: 5 years, 3 months
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: Stargate]
#21121771 - 01/14/15 06:28 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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Quote:
Stargate said: Do they yield as much as Rye berries?
Your grain doesn't really matter,
Spawn is spawn.
-------------------- Gyo's Better Grows TNF Q&A AMU Q&A Dominus fortunae meae sum
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,808
Loc: Canada
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: taGyo]
#21122193 - 01/14/15 07:49 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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Quote:
taGyo said:
Quote:
Stargate said: Do they yield as much as Rye berries?
Your grain doesn't really matter,
Spawn is spawn.
From a nutritional standpoint I agree for the most part but in terms of inoculation I will say that with oats I prefer slightly higher ratios due to fewer points of inoculate to go around. However the bran on whole oats can only be seen as a bonus as far as nutes are concerned IMO.
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MudaFuka
Poppin bottles



Registered: 12/14/13
Posts: 18,648
Loc: Canada
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: Pastywhyte]
#21122374 - 01/14/15 08:25 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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The hulls on oats allow them to hold more water than other grains. That's the biggest bonus in my eyes.
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Guardian187
Neophyte


Registered: 11/29/14
Posts: 716
Loc: Center of the Universe
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: MudaFuka]
#21122752 - 01/14/15 09:43 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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taGyo
Strainiac/AMU



Registered: 10/16/14
Posts: 18,802
Loc: Journal Land
Last seen: 5 years, 3 months
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: MudaFuka]
#21122901 - 01/14/15 10:18 PM (9 years, 15 days ago) |
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Quote:
MudaFuka said: The hulls on oats allow them to hold more water than other grains. That's the biggest bonus in my eyes.
Yeah,
Falling in love with a 45 minute boil.
-------------------- Gyo's Better Grows TNF Q&A AMU Q&A Dominus fortunae meae sum
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mustangbob3
Mad Myrmecologist



Registered: 10/15/14
Posts: 1,685
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: taGyo]
#21123859 - 01/15/15 05:43 AM (9 years, 14 days ago) |
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thanks for the tek ! great write up never tried oats but the price difference is pushing me toward trying
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blindingleaf
blue collar underworld


Registered: 07/19/13
Posts: 22,008
Loc: sub-surface unseen
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: mustangbob3]
#21123915 - 01/15/15 06:12 AM (9 years, 14 days ago) |
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niiiiice!!
they look so plump and juicy
-------------------- A few thoughts on cultivation MICROBIAL HUSBANDRY!!!! The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
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op2kal



Registered: 08/31/12
Posts: 1,167
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Yesss exactly what I was looking for I went to damn near every store around me and couldn't find a reasonably priced wbs or rye berries. I'm toward the country and can guarentee I'll find this
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saintburger
Helper

Registered: 09/18/14
Posts: 469
Last seen: 1 month, 16 days
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: op2kal]
#21124016 - 01/15/15 07:22 AM (9 years, 14 days ago) |
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I have no doubt that this is exactly what I and many others have needed!
-------------------- Set goals for yourself, or wander around aimlessly. "One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshsire cat in a tree. 'Which road do I take?' she asked. 'Where do you want to go?' was his response 'I don't know', Alice answered. 'Then', said the cat, 'it doesn't matter.'"
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Willy Wonka
Medicine Man



Registered: 12/14/11
Posts: 2,109
Loc: The Other Side
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Re: Oat Spawn Preparation Tek [Re: saintburger]
#21135605 - 01/17/15 08:48 PM (9 years, 12 days ago) |
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Might have to give this a try. Thanks for the write up
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