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bodhisatta said:
I've used BRF agar years now but I never really made a thread or compared any of the strengths I usually use to see if there's a performance difference

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Lol yeah I only used it just cos I had so much I literally didnt know what to do with it. Good write up though

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bodhisatta said:
Those of you who used it what was your recipes and got any pics.

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Sadly no. But I will make some more soon just for comparison

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bodhisatta said:
next go at it I'll do 8 12 and 16 grams of BRF per 400mL
so 2 3 and 4 %

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Tiamo said:
Plates are 10-20cents a piece, the agar agar on them is around 4 cents a plate (My agar agar costs €4 for 50 grams, 10 grams makes 20 plates), the malt extract is around 0,45 cents a plate (Malt extract is €9 per kg, 10 grams make 20 plates). Saran wrap is 0,001 cents a plate aka neglectable.

That makes a plate full of agar around 15-25 cents. I wouldn't go above 30 cents for an agar plate.

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bodhisatta said:
some updates.
the 1.5% is the clear winner

next time I'll probably do 6g 10g 14g or 1.5% 2.5% and 3.5%

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bodhisatta said:
No the highest percentages worked better in an obvious trend until it got too gloopy to work which was like 10g per 400ml

I think you meant 4% i used 4g plates in the OP
4g was 1% of my 400ml pours.

I would use 6-8 grams of brf per 400ml. To germinate spores
And 2-6 for growing out.

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Your "highest percentage" isn't really that very high. Especially when you consider how well mycelium grow on whole grains, solid with starch.

The incentive behind limiting the grain agar recipes is to keep them clear of debris, unlike a number of other agar recipes where being too sweet is a significant concern.  I actually use a MUCH larger percentage of brown rice in my agar preparations, counting on a large amount of the weight to be settled out of the mixture.

My recipe for preparing 500mL of BRF agar is like 20 grams or more of brown rice flour and 750mL water.
20g is double the amount of, say, light malt extract that you'd want to use. But not only is much of the BRF starch going to be poured aside, but there's no concentration of nutrition in the water that could be undesired unless it messed with the media itself.

After mixing the water and BRF together in a container, I boil it in a microwave to hydrate & expand the brown rice particles, and hopefully boil as much of it into the water as I can.  I keep it around boiling temperatures for 10 or more minutes, stopping the microwave to stir before the media could boil over.



As the mixture cools it will also settle.  Wait until it has cooled enough to handle without burning. It will have been long enough for the first pour off.

Without greatly disturbing the media, pick up the container and gently, steadily, pour the liquid into another container, until you get close to pouring off the settled layer of stuff in the bottom.  Leave that behind and discard.



The liquids should look quite different. The thin one to be discarded should be thick and difficult to see through.  The liquid we poured away to use should be much clearer in smaller amounts but still opaque in the large amount.

Let the liquid settle again, and pour off one last time to get rid of all debris.  (Filters could be used but I never bother.)


If necessary, bring your water level back up to 500 just by adding the difference.  Mix in your agar-agar powder (boiling again if necessary, it is for mine) and remember to stir it between distributions.


I love the stuff for Cubensis, and grainwater in general works as well for any mushroom species as you'd expect them to do on grain spawn.  I use grainwater (rye, ryegrass, wheat or oats) for 100% of my agar and occasional LCs for a wide variety of species and all have done great so far.

Germination,


grow outs,


clones,


even growing actual mushrooms...


I've only found that stronger is better.  Only time I've bothered to dilute is when I want to be able to see through LCs a little more easily early on, agar goes full strength.

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bodhisatta said:
Add twice as much as useful decant a off a ridiculous amount of sediment

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your recipe is so thin you're able to see clear differences between how well they do.

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bodhisatta said:

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your recipe is so thin you're able to see clear differences between how well they do.

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Exactly.

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Youre right...
They're way too thin and have a deficiency. Its so obvious.



Mushrooms popped up just fine on even the 1% brf plates. Sorry i like my cultures to not look like shit.

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Violet said:

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Brf is more nutritional than malt extract. 2% malt is about as high as you want to go before mycelium grows dense to tomentose. Unless you specifically desired slow ugly tomentose growth. Im not trying to grow a crop on a dish. Im trying to get a clean culture

*Your* posts use of * makes me want to

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mushboy said:



over nute malt agar sucked balls.


i jacked the recipe. this was about 4-5%

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I think it depends on the nutes and what it is you're culturing.  Here are some side-by-sides of 2% and 4% MEA. 

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bodhisatta said:
Why don't you go write an agar tek half the forum uses. Pasty and I can split the market share three ways if you do.

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bodhisatta said:

Your rye grass seed is over hydrated

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Violet said:
that is made too thin for no reason? I thought this was a "How to" thread not a "How Not to" one.

Your post is bad; ALL of your BRF agar recipes here are too thin, end of story

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