What's up guys,
I'm about finished up with my 55 gallon steam sterilizer project and am pretty excited to boost production of sterilized grain to supply my business and other businesses/hobby growers in my area. My competitive advantage is to be the best, most consistant supplier of contam free grain bags to my area and hopefully undercut some of the bigger guys online. Now, on youtube the guy Eric Myers from Myers Mushrooms has a video on his grain sterilization process of a 24 hour soak process, but at the end he says that he changed his method and now does a "dry bagging" technique. He does not talk about the "dry bagging" technique much, but from what I understand this method involves loading his bags with dry grain and then adding water directly to the bag, pushing out the air, heat sealing the bag, and then sterilizing them. Something similar to this tek
Now we know this way works with steamers because the bags can slowly rise and lower in pressure as the temperature in the barrel rises to the desired temp, and then back down to room temperature at a slower pace then pressure cookers. This allows the bag to expand without popping as they tend to do in pressure cookers. My theory is that the pre-seal method is frowned upon because most people are using pressure cookers and/or cheap bags (I'm using unicorn 3T bags).
That being said, I would ask these questions to the Myer's Mushrooms guy, but he seems a bit too busy to answer questions as I've reached out multiple times with limited response. Fair enough. He's worked hard to figure out these answers and I just don't have the money to pay for his consultation fees. If you guys could help me with the below questions I'd really appreciate it and if anyone wants to "trial" my grain bags for at-cost prices/shipping please feel free to reach out. I'm starting trial runs this week. My questions are:
1. what ratio or % of water should I add to the bag? 2. Eric Myers says he adds sawdust to his bags to help with moisture content. How much sawdust should I add? 3. Will this technique work for any grain? I'm thinking oats may be best, but I believe Myers Mushrooms uses a mix of oats and sorghum. 4. Is this method a load of crap? Should I stick to a 24 hour soak? If you think I'm full of shit, share with me the most cost-effective process you believe in for larger scale production. 5. If sterilizing at 3 PSI at 5,280 ft. in elevation, 208 degrees is boiling point. How long would you recommend I run my steamer to get everything nice and sterile? 8 hours? I hear 12 hours is recommended if not using any pressure at all, but we went with a higher end stainless steel drum so that I could safely add a bit of pressure to try and reduce sterilization time.
Hopefully my post isn't too long. Take care and stay safe.
Edited by MushLoveDenver (11/22/20 11:24 AM)
|