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ShadowLord
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Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate 1
#26822841 - 07/14/20 11:41 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Has anyone had success with freeze drying their mushrooms to dehydrate them. I know that there are more cost effective ways but in my case I already own an expensive freeze dryer and am experienced in how to use it.
What I do not know is will the freeze drying process have an effect on the shrooms potency for better or worse? I know as far as flavor goes freeze drying increases the flavor of food quite a bit or maybe it could be that the freezing process has a negative effect on potency. Does anyone know the answer?
There are two ways I can go about this. I can let the shrooms freeze for a day in the normal freezer until they freeze solid. (Usual and less expensive process) or I can let them freeze in the machine. If I use the machine it will drop the temperature to -70 degree fairly quickly and will sit that way for about 8 hours to make sure everything is frozen solid. Not sure if either process matters and if so which is preferable.
I am currently about 3 weeks into my very 1st grow. Any help would be appreciated.
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psillyboy
Florida man



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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: ShadowLord]
#26822870 - 07/14/20 11:57 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Either method will work and very little if any actives will be lost. Best drying method for potency. When done right they look much like fresh picked shrooms.

-------------------- "True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country - K. Vonnegut “The real truth, that dare not speak itself, is that no one is in control. Absolutely no one.” ― Terence McKenna "LSD is a psychedelic drug which occasionally causes psychotic behavior in people who have never taken it." - Timothy Leary
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mycologi.st
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: psillyboy]
#26824333 - 07/15/20 02:48 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Any chance you have a Harvest Right freeze dryer?
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ShadowLord
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: mycologi.st]
#26825592 - 07/15/20 04:57 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
mycologi.st said: Any chance you have a Harvest Right freeze dryer?
Yes it is actually.
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mycologi.st
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: ShadowLord]
#26828572 - 07/17/20 09:47 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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That's next on my list to purchase so I'm interested in your experience with it. I haven't seen much information outside of scientific papers.
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ShadowLord
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: mycologi.st]
#26828786 - 07/17/20 11:38 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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I've have had for about 9 months now. I have only used it for long term food storage. It dries good for most applications. If you have the resources to pay for it I highly recommend them. In the 1st 3 months I bought it I ran it every day. Doing that I was able to produce enough food to exceed what I would have paid for it had I bought freeze dried food at the store or online.
If you want more info join some of the Facebook groups, I have found those are the go to place for questions and support. Lots of good ideas on there too.
If you pull the trigger I recommend going with the normal or mid tear oil based pump. The oiless pump is expensive and the pumps are something of a replacement part. I have heard every 2-5 years it might break.
I would also pitch the filter they include and get a funnel and Brita filter (the one with the pitcher), there is info on that online. It makes changing the oil a clean and simple 2 step process. The oil needs to be filtered after every use.
Finally choose a spot for it before you buy it. It looks like a kitchen appliance but it is not. The pump is loud, think like a garage, utility room of some out of the way part of the house. Try to avoid humid places or lay out a towel beneath it to catch condensation that will form and drip off the front door gasket.
Edited by ShadowLord (07/23/20 04:18 PM)
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mycologi.st
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: ShadowLord]
#26830056 - 07/18/20 01:18 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Amazing! Thank you for the info. I'm curious as to your feedback after you've tried drying mushrooms.
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Zodiack
A Noob
Registered: 07/03/19
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: mycologi.st]
#26868595 - 08/07/20 03:15 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Hi Folks. Want to follow the thread. Excited to hear how the Harvest Right works out for you. I'm building my own freeze dryer right now because I don't want to drop a couple K on a Harvest Right. Parts are coming next week. Excited to see if I can get it all to work.
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RedRH
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: ShadowLord]
#27591638 - 12/23/21 09:24 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
ShadowLord said:
Quote:
mycologi.st said: Any chance you have a Harvest Right freeze dryer?
Yes it is actually.
I have one as well and using it. From my observation, my experiences with both dehydrated and freeze dried, I found the FD'd mushrooms significantly more intense, but that was only one session each with each, using lemon tek spaced three days apart, so not enough data at this time and will need to confirm it over time.
I am thinking of using the FD to generate very low temps to do an ethanol extraction and then water extraction. I will then combine the two and process from there.
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RedRH
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: ShadowLord]
#27591643 - 12/23/21 09:29 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
ShadowLord said: I've have had for about 9 months now. I have only used it for long term food storage. It dries good for most applications. If you have the resources to pay for it I highly recommend them. In the 1st 3 months I bought it I ran it every day. Doing that I was able to produce enough food to exceed what I would have paid for it had I bought freeze dried food at the store or online.
If you want more info join some of the Facebook groups, I have found those are the go to place for questions and support. Lots of good ideas on there too.
If you pull the trigger I recommend going with the normal or mid tear oil based pump. The oiless pump is expensive and the pumps are something of a replacement part. I have heard every 2-5 years it might break.
I would also pitch the filter they include and get a funnel and Brita filter (the one with the pitcher), there is info on that online. It makes changing the oil a clean and simple 2 step process. The oil needs to be filtered after every use.
Finally choose a spot for it before you buy it. It looks like a kitchen appliance but it is not. The pump is loud, think like a garage, utility room of some out of the way part of the house. Try to avoid humid places or lay out a towel beneath it to catch condensation that will form and drip off the front door gasket.
That has been my experience as well. I have a medium size model that I have been using for 5 years now and love it! I already commented in this thread that my shrooms are noticeably more potent as opposed to dehydrated that I prepared as a comparison. I am storing my shrooms in small mylar bags with O2 absorbers just as I do all my other FD food. I love how the shape, color and size are maintained when FD'd;)
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DharmaForKarma
Tub monkey


Registered: 04/24/20
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: RedRH]
#27593826 - 12/25/21 08:37 AM (2 years, 1 month ago) |
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Great discussion.
What I think I’m reading is retaining actives that do not withstand heat is the primary benefit. Are there other advantages to freeze drying over heat? Disadvantages?
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xbrandnewxsnowx
Curious?


Registered: 11/05/05
Posts: 214
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Looks like freeze-drying maintains higher psilocin by dry weight, though this paper claims a dramatic reduction is psilocybin (Gotvaldová et al 2020, linked below). Tbh, I thought this was surprising since so many drugs are lyophilized for long-term stability.
https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PREVENTIONWELLNESS/Documents/Stability%20of%20Psilocybin%20and%20Analogs.pdf
-------------------- Trade Me!
Some of my favorite fungi. All pictures are my own.
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DharmaForKarma
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It’s not a great study but these are early days so let’s use what we have. From what I can tell the freeze dried sample was stored frozen for an unspecified time before dehydration. The two other frozen samples were not dehydrated and may have been powdered and tested in a hydrated state. Given the experiences shared by freeze-driers that indicate potency is good, even superior, the study may have confounding conditions that push these results towards ambiguity.
The summary seems to confirm what this community already knows. Dry quickly, dry thoroughly, store in the dark with low humidity, and eliminate air exchange. Dark is better than light (note for the sun and air driers reading). Powder degrades quickly in the presence of air.
To prevent the degradation of fungal tryptamines during sample processing, the most suitable conditions were to dry the fruiting bodies in the dark at room temperature. The total content of tryptamines was strikingly reduced when they were stored under different conditions. [FRESH] Mushrooms that were stored in the freezer (−80C) lost almost 90% of tryptamines. Regardless of the storage conditions, rapid degradation of all analytes was observed when the dried fungal powder was stored. To improve the storage of dried mushrooms, they should be stored in an inert gas environment.
Edited by DharmaForKarma (12/27/21 02:47 PM)
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SingularFusion


Registered: 10/31/18
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I don't know anything about it, can't afford the machine, and have no practical application for it outside of drying mushrooms or making bubble hash
but goddamn the results are nothing short of spectacular. If I was a commercial cultivator I would have one for sure. The pics I've seen of the freeze dried shrooms looks amazing compared to dehydrated normal ones
Look forward to seeing the results in here
-------------------- 🅃 🄴 🄰 🄼 🄲 🄻 🄸 🄽 🄶 🅆 🅁 🄰 🄿
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RedRH
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I freeze dry mine and in my subjective opinion, they do not lose any potency if pre frozen prior to processing in the freeze drier.
Freeze dried result:
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PhDCube
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: ShadowLord]
#27641714 - 02/02/22 12:46 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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Quote:
ShadowLord said: Has anyone had success with freeze drying their mushrooms to dehydrate them. I know that there are more cost effective ways but in my case I already own an expensive freeze dryer and am experienced in how to use it.
What I do not know is will the freeze drying process have an effect on the shrooms potency for better or worse? I know as far as flavor goes freeze drying increases the flavor of food quite a bit or maybe it could be that the freezing process has a negative effect on potency. Does anyone know the answer?
There are two ways I can go about this. I can let the shrooms freeze for a day in the normal freezer until they freeze solid. (Usual and less expensive process) or I can let them freeze in the machine. If I use the machine it will drop the temperature to -70 degree fairly quickly and will sit that way for about 8 hours to make sure everything is frozen solid. Not sure if either process matters and if so which is preferable.
I am currently about 3 weeks into my very 1st grow. Any help would be appreciated.
Cool..you got a freeze-dryer!
You know what would be cool? Of course only for the fun of it..not because is convenient..it does not help on potency. If you make this te and then make ice cubes of the juice . When frozen you can freeze dry them, and you will get an amazing dry extract (to be conserved in a air tight jar, or vacuum bag).
Then you resolubilize it whenever you need it.
Yes, yes I know... is not a convenient method, but is fun
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ABC
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Registered: 11/16/08
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Quote:
DharmaForKarma said: It’s not a great study but these are early days so let’s use what we have. From what I can tell the freeze dried sample was stored frozen for an unspecified time before dehydration. The two other frozen samples were not dehydrated and may have been powdered and tested in a hydrated state. Given the experiences shared by freeze-driers that indicate potency is good, even superior, the study may have confounding conditions that push these results towards ambiguity.
The summary seems to confirm what this community already knows. Dry quickly, dry thoroughly, store in the dark with low humidity, and eliminate air exchange. Dark is better than light (note for the sun and air driers reading). Powder degrades quickly in the presence of air.
To prevent the degradation of fungal tryptamines during sample processing, the most suitable conditions were to dry the fruiting bodies in the dark at room temperature. The total content of tryptamines was strikingly reduced when they were stored under different conditions. [FRESH] Mushrooms that were stored in the freezer (−80C) lost almost 90% of tryptamines. Regardless of the storage conditions, rapid degradation of all analytes was observed when the dried fungal powder was stored. To improve the storage of dried mushrooms, they should be stored in an inert gas environment.
This is a great summary of this paper! To emphasize another point, the paper suggests that any cellular disruption (chopping, powdering, freezing (-20°C)) leads to faster degradation. Thus, I would hypothesize that tearing the mushroom by hand lengthwise would cause less degradation than slicing the mushroom lengthwise.
The paper also hypothesizes using liquid nitrogen direction prior to freeze drying. From this, we might hypothesize a procedure similar to this:
1) Air dry whole fruiting bodies at 20-25°C in darkness a) Another iteration of the procedure might involve drying in an inert gas 2) Prechill bottles for the freeze dryer, first at -20°C, then on dry ice or in -80°C freezer 3) Put air dried fruiting bodies in liquid nitrogen for 60-120 seconds 4) Add an appropriate amount of material to the prechilled bottle and begin freeze drying in darkness by covering bottle in aluminum foil 5) Run lyophilizer for 48 hours (I suspect 24 hours might be enough) 6) Backflush the vacuum bottles with nitrogen to prevent oxygen contamination 7) Transfer dried samples into a light-blocking airtight container with a silica desiccant (no oxygen consuming catalysts should be included due to the potential formation of water) 8) Vacuum package or nitrogen flush package
Another overkill method would be including an oxygen indicator strip. However, this would be stupid for two reasons- you would require an anaerobic chamber and you wouldn't even be able to see it because of the light-blocking container :p
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MycolJordan
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: ShadowLord]
#27685581 - 03/06/22 08:42 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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What were your results? Assuming the potency is better, if you had to try and quantify it how much more potent where your freeze dried fruits?
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MycolJordan
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: RedRH]
#27685582 - 03/06/22 08:44 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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If you had to quantify the potency increase how much more potent? 10%? 50%?
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ImJonas
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Re: Freeze Dry Mushrooms to Dehydrate [Re: MycolJordan]
#27789571 - 05/23/22 03:02 PM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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I'm working on a low tech freeze drying method. It should be possible to make a mason jar into a vacuum chamber and put together a hand operated vacuum pump. Then freeze the mushrooms quickly, seal the jar, evacuate the air and periodically continue evacuating the water vapor as it sublimates. It seems it should be done at 10 C for 2 - 3 days. But I really have no idea how effective the process would be and how annoying repeatedly evacuating the jar would be. If nothing else, storing mushrooms under vacuum in a mason jar should be fun.
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