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PutACapInHisAss
Stranger Than Fiction



Registered: 08/11/07
Posts: 252
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 6 years, 4 months
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Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change...
#23411240 - 07/04/16 05:49 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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My agar work seems to be going pretty well so far using Pasty's 1-2-3 Tek.
However, I have a bit of trouble getting my agar to dissolve well. No matter how hot I get it, it is hard to get the agar into the solution in small enough amounts of dust. When there is any large amount of it at all, it seems to want to create a clump that doesn't take on the food coloring well. So, I end up with a few tiny clumps of yellow/brownish agar in what is otherwise quite uniformly green. Is this normal? Is it my cheap brand of agar?
Also, I seem to have read that mycelium can sometimes eat the food coloring and turn the agar back to normal color as it would be without the coloring. This seems to have happened on a couple of my older plates. It does not look like a contaminant, just like it didn't have any food coloring. Is this correct?
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LocN9ne
ɢᄋᄋd ԲᄋЯ ᄁᄋȚᅢΙᄁɢ ᄂᄋ₩ᄂΙԲᄐ



Registered: 04/17/15
Posts: 7,076
Loc: to the brain
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: PutACapInHisAss]
#23411278 - 07/04/16 05:57 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I mix my agar in cold water And yeah the myc will eat the coloring.
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Q&A US vs. THEM The more I learn, the less I know.
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the_r3dz
Trich Propagator


Registered: 03/26/15
Posts: 5,709
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: LocN9ne]
#23411310 - 07/04/16 06:08 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Just gotta mix the agar up before you heat it, and pour it in small amounts don't just dump it all in at once put a little in, mix it up, repeat
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Munchauzen


Registered: 06/22/11
Posts: 14,342
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: PutACapInHisAss]
#23411362 - 07/04/16 06:23 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
PutACapInHisAss said: My agar work seems to be going pretty well so far using Pasty's 1-2-3 Tek.
However, I have a bit of trouble getting my agar to dissolve well. No matter how hot I get it, it is hard to get the agar into the solution in small enough amounts of dust. When there is any large amount of it at all, it seems to want to create a clump that doesn't take on the food coloring well. So, I end up with a few tiny clumps of yellow/brownish agar in what is otherwise quite uniformly green. Is this normal? Is it my cheap brand of agar?
Also, I seem to have read that mycelium can sometimes eat the food coloring and turn the agar back to normal color as it would be without the coloring. This seems to have happened on a couple of my older plates. It does not look like a contaminant, just like it didn't have any food coloring. Is this correct?
pasty has a 1-2-3 agar recipe? or do you mean my 1-2-3 recipe for pastyplates?
have you seen my video on prepping agar?
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the_r3dz
Trich Propagator


Registered: 03/26/15
Posts: 5,709
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: Munchauzen]
#23411402 - 07/04/16 06:34 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I actually think I'm going to take it back, I'm pretty sure I wait to put the agar in until after it's warm, it's the MEA that I mix in while cool I haven't made agar in a while
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bodhisatta 
Smurf real estate agent


Registered: 04/30/13
Posts: 61,889
Loc: Milky way
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: the_r3dz]
#23411418 - 07/04/16 06:38 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I boil before sterilization. Agar doesn't really dissolve in room temperature water.
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blueconfusion
Strangest


Registered: 12/14/12
Posts: 1,727
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: bodhisatta]
#23411441 - 07/04/16 06:47 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Mix agar and malt extract in while stirring with a whisk or fork, break all clumps up before adding more. I usually bring to a gentle boil for a couple minutes. Food coloring is added after I have all ingredients dissolved and agar is cooked. If I'm doing dfa or something that is grainy I run it through a mesh strainer before putting in my pc vessel.
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mupetmower
Mower of Muppets



Registered: 03/29/16
Posts: 3,036
Loc: Here and There
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: blueconfusion]
#23411509 - 07/04/16 07:05 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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you sure you arent just seeing some tiny chunks of potato flakes? i get those sometimes, and its not a big deal at all. usually it will go away after PC cycle, too.
-------------------- -The wise man never stops seeking knowledge.
-I wanna feel the change consume me, feel the outside turning in. I wanna feel the metamorphosis and cleansing I've endured within.
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PutACapInHisAss
Stranger Than Fiction



Registered: 08/11/07
Posts: 252
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 6 years, 4 months
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: Munchauzen]
#23411996 - 07/04/16 09:48 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Munchauzen said: or do you mean my 1-2-3 recipe for pastyplates?
have you seen my video on prepping agar?
Oops, yes, it is your recipe, not Pasty's, I'm getting my teks all mixed up. Yes, I have seen your video.
I wonder if maybe it is this brand of agar. I'm definitely not dumping it in all at once or in large amounts. Like I said, it is hard to dust it in small enough amounts. I'm thinking maybe I will try using a salt shaker to add it next time, that might work well.
I'd say it is still working well overall but having a few discolored clumps here or there is confusing to the eye.
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Mycologist217
Frank's Disciple



Registered: 02/13/13
Posts: 2,425
Loc: Man of the Moon
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: PutACapInHisAss]
#23412096 - 07/04/16 10:33 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I also mix all my ingredients in the water while it's cold and then stir continuously until the slow boil starts.....polar nonelectrolytes do not dissolve faster under heat (in water) as the way they are dissolved is different from the way ions dissolve
-------------------- My LC Manual (With custom LC lid Tek) ~~ Required Mycology Supplies ~~ Agar Work Videos ~~ L G M AMU Q&A-NO SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL! KEEP THAT IN MIND! BUY THE TICKET: TAKE THE RIDE Check out my Retail Gourmet Mushroom Farm! Mycologist217 is a fictitious entity that uses images supplied by Google to mask his/her inability to develop normal social habits.
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PutACapInHisAss
Stranger Than Fiction



Registered: 08/11/07
Posts: 252
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 6 years, 4 months
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Re: Agar Questions, Problems Disolving, Food Color Change... [Re: Mycologist217]
#23413579 - 07/05/16 12:08 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Mycologist217 said: I also mix all my ingredients in the water while it's cold and then stir continuously until the slow boil starts.....polar nonelectrolytes do not dissolve faster under heat (in water) as the way they are dissolved is different from the way ions dissolve
Very interesting!
Oh, and I know it is not potato flakes that I am seeing. I process my potato flakes into fine dust in my coffee grinder before dissolving--works great.
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