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MycoFlora
Farmer


Registered: 10/06/14
Posts: 309
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Yea drakes steam shed is a mushroom farmers wet dream, but a bit large for my scale! I don't think I would consider using something that big until I was growing 200-300lbs/week. You need a steamer/sterilizer that is commensurate to the scale of your operation. And I'm pretty sure that thing costs at least $250/month to run. So don't go rush out to build one if you're making like 50-100 bags a week
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MycoFlora
Farmer


Registered: 10/06/14
Posts: 309
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Update on the steamer- First batch was a success with 0 contaminated bags! Woohoo!
 But the run time was far too long at about 28 hours. Managed to cut the total runtime down to 18 hours. cut the heat up time in half using the propane burner to get up to temp. 6 hours heat up. 12 to sterilize.
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MorePies
Stranger
Registered: 02/09/16
Posts: 808
Loc: TX
Last seen: 1 month, 3 days
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Congrats on the first successful run! Are you making your sub with hot water? This saved me some time on the mix and steam run.
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MycoFlora
Farmer


Registered: 10/06/14
Posts: 309
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Re: Trough Steamer [Re: MorePies]
#24029429 - 01/21/17 11:51 PM (7 years, 8 days ago) |
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Thanks man! Yea use hot water when I mix. The temp probe says it's around 80-90F when it's loaded so I'm sure that gives me a nice head start.
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Intelligentxfruit
Earth Hippy


Registered: 01/06/13
Posts: 1,545
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Nice update. Wow 10 hrs heat time is quite the difference, that's some major improvement.
Hydrate with hot water
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poponon
Quaaaack!!!



Registered: 09/10/07
Posts: 467
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 13 days, 15 hours
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congrats on it working so well! I've got to build a similar sized sterilizer eventually. So i take it you switched to the 941 to use as a steamer with your propane burner? very cool build
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MorePies
Stranger
Registered: 02/09/16
Posts: 808
Loc: TX
Last seen: 1 month, 3 days
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Quote:
MycoFlora said: Thanks man! Yea use hot water when I mix. The temp probe says it's around 80-90F when it's loaded so I'm sure that gives me a nice head start.
I had a feeling that you already had that figured out . I might have missed the post or picture, but are there any racks between the bags?
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MycoFlora
Farmer


Registered: 10/06/14
Posts: 309
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Re: Trough Steamer [Re: poponon]
#24030763 - 01/22/17 02:42 PM (7 years, 8 days ago) |
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Quote:
poponon said: congrats on it working so well! I've got to build a similar sized sterilizer eventually. So i take it you switched to the 941 to use as a steamer with your propane burner? very cool build
Yea I just use my burner and one 941 to heat up, once it gets to about 180F I start the 75x's to heat them up. then when it hits 200F I switch it over to the 75x's which are already heated up at that point.
Morepies- I use wire shelf racks from some old mini greenhouses. They don't really put that much space between the bags but they make sure they stay folded.I also leave a lot of room on the trough and between the bags so the heat will penetrate quicker. I wouldn't even use spacers if I had a more powerful boiler and I could fit about 25-30% more bags.
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Gr0wer
always improving



Registered: 09/16/03
Posts: 6,056
Loc: El Paso, TX
Last seen: 5 years, 10 months
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There is no need for spacing the bags, i pack em in 8 layers deep wall to wall in my drums. Pressure pushes steam in all the nooks and crannies. Also a long cook time with a small element allows the heat a longer time to penetrate and spread.
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liloldme
( ͝° ͜ʖ͡°)つ=D



Registered: 05/15/04
Posts: 5,087
Loc: Zone 8
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Re: Trough Steamer [Re: Gr0wer]
#24037746 - 01/25/17 04:14 AM (7 years, 5 days ago) |
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I used spacers for over ten years and it wasn't till I got my AA75x that I actually tried it without using them. Thanks for the tip MycoFlora. so far all of my bags have colonized 
I think I might buy a trough tomorrow from the feedstore. It just seems soo much cleaner than 55gallon drums at a fraction of the cost of the stainless steel barrels ones. they sell those sauna steamers like 4k-6k on Amazon for only a couple hundred bucks, are those even worth a hoot? I dont think drake likes them anymore from what I'm reading but seems others are having long-term success.
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MycoFlora
Farmer


Registered: 10/06/14
Posts: 309
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Re: Trough Steamer [Re: liloldme]
#24038511 - 01/25/17 12:14 PM (7 years, 5 days ago) |
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My only gripe about sauna steamers is I am not very savvy in the way of electrical work and I think you have to do some tinkering to get them to run the way you want. I love the idea of a compact steaming unit, but at the end of the day it is way cheaper and more straight forward to just make a boiler.
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Gr0wer
always improving



Registered: 09/16/03
Posts: 6,056
Loc: El Paso, TX
Last seen: 5 years, 10 months
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You can uss steel drums for my design, they just rust. And for steamer/boilers your best off just converting a 15 gal keg into a boiler with an electric element. Much easier to fix and cheaper than the sauna steamers. I intend to build the drawing i posted above this spring, all i need materials wise is a trough.
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