|
B Traven
Stranger



Registered: 03/10/20
Posts: 2,478
Loc: Central Megalopolis
Last seen: 5 hours, 28 minutes
|
Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Shroomery [Re: BeefSupremeJr] 2
#28535945 - 11/09/23 04:19 PM (2 months, 17 days ago) |
|
|
Quote:
BeefSupremeJr said: I see! I learned from my own mother canning preserves etc. Ball ™️ has a whole book about it you get off the zon, but honestly, theres just not a lot to it. A presto will come with a comprehensive Manual. I feel you have exposed an inconsistency in the hitchhikers guide here. pressure cooking is so rudimentary that i guess i assumed it wasnt neccesary to mention. I may need to consult my editor here and add a blurb.
There's specifics to "canning" anything, including grain jars. I agree that the manual is the best place to start, perhaps what's needed in a thread like this is just a basic "canning recipe" for sterilized grain...
-------------------- Beware of advice- even this.
|
B Traven
Stranger



Registered: 03/10/20
Posts: 2,478
Loc: Central Megalopolis
Last seen: 5 hours, 28 minutes
|
Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Shroomery [Re: hazyhorse] 4
#28536609 - 11/10/23 06:18 AM (2 months, 17 days ago) |
|
|
I've had no issue with plastic storage lids or jars touching the sides of the PC, at least not for the top layer of 3 in a 23 quart presto. (I do cover my lids with foil.) I mean, I try to avoid it, but touching does happen. Never experienced catastrophe as a result. Keep in mind that aluminum conducts heat very well, and the entire system comes up to full heat/pressure at the same time. There's not really a "hot surface" you have to worry about. It might be different on the bottom of the vessel, near the heating element, but the trivet keeps us away from that spot and the boiling water distributes the heat.
I use crushed beer cans to raise up the trivet on my 23 quart Presto. The kinds with stickers for labels, so once they peel off you just have pure unpainted aluminum. I used to use old jar rings, but they rust and make a huge mess. I raise the trivet to the point where I can still fit that top layer of 3 jars, but it's a snug fit. Then I fill with enough water to cover the base of the trivet. I've had less-than-ideal outcomes when covering the actual grain in the jars with water (porridge in the bottom half of my jars), so I try to avoid doing that. Like a million other things, I know it CAN work fine, but it's just something I don't want to worry about dialing in.
I leave my jar lids loose, just tight enough to pick up by the lid. I'm not gonna switch up just because cranking them down should be OK. Fact is, I've got a rhythm to my process that I don't want to mess with. Same goes for the way I simmer and "dry" my grain. Or for that matter, my choice/source of grains. But then, regardless of whether loose lids serve any purpose during the sterilization process, my main reason for doing it is so that I only have to unscrew them like half a turn when getting them ready for transfers. I can easily do that in my SAB without creating too much turbulence or knocking things over-don't even have to touch the bottom of the jar to do it. I don't want to deal with screwed-down, cooled-down jars in that moment.
Yeah, when you cook with an Instant Pot the recipes always specify manual pressure release or natural pressure release. Some stuff only runs for "0" minutes, meaning the unit just gets brought up to pressure and then all of the cooking is basically being done during cool-down.
Manually releasing the pressure is definitely reducing the sterilization time, though it might not matter much if the runtime is long enough. I'd also be leary of creating that air flow, even though it might not really matter. But turning off the heat and letting the PC sit overnight just seems like the path of least resistance. That way, you also know that your jars aren't too hot to work with...
I guess that's part of the problem with PC'ing instructions: there really are a lot of variables to take into consideration, and they all impact the final outcome. The only thing we can state with relative certainty is the time needed at "X" heat and pressure pressure to sterilize grains. The feng shui of the rest of it gets pretty squishy. But those of us who have been at it for a while know exactly what to do with our specific stoves, cookers, grains, etc., so it feels like there's nothing to it.
-------------------- Beware of advice- even this.
|
B Traven
Stranger



Registered: 03/10/20
Posts: 2,478
Loc: Central Megalopolis
Last seen: 5 hours, 28 minutes
|
Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Shroomery [Re: BeefSupremeJr] 1
#28536857 - 11/10/23 09:28 AM (2 months, 16 days ago) |
|
|
Quote:
BeefSupremeJr said: Bad news. I've reached the length limit on post-size. I wrote a whole thing on pressure cooking and then lost it when i went to post. I hit the back button and it was gone. Bummer. So all i could do was add a little paragraph and include bods PC writeup. Didn't even get to include my blurb about the 50 cent upgrade.

I COULD ask ythan for expansion but alas, I don't want to bother him again. Hes done so much for me lately including:
Combining my old account's post count and registration date with my current account.
Integrating anchors which was a forum-wide modification that undoubtedly took some work.
Increasing the number of gradients per post so that I can have every single link in my writeup have a cool gradient.
SO i just can't bring myself to ask him for anything else at this time. Alas, I think the Hitchhikers Guide To The Shroomery is officially complete. (Pending editing via SmellyHobbit)
Oh, wow, I can't believe I've never hit that limit lol
Although this might not be a site-related problem. It could just be that they bulldozed the last part of your comment in order to build a bypass...
-------------------- Beware of advice- even this.
|
B Traven
Stranger



Registered: 03/10/20
Posts: 2,478
Loc: Central Megalopolis
Last seen: 5 hours, 28 minutes
|
Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Shroomery [Re: BeefSupremeJr] 1
#28608170 - 01/03/24 09:03 AM (24 days, 22 hours ago) |
|
|
Yeah, I put ONE myco-quart into a "6 quart sterilite"
And load 10 quart-jars into my "23 quart presto."
A real "Who's on 1st" type situation lol
-------------------- Beware of advice- even this.
Edited by B Traven (01/03/24 09:05 AM)
|
B Traven
Stranger



Registered: 03/10/20
Posts: 2,478
Loc: Central Megalopolis
Last seen: 5 hours, 28 minutes
|
Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Shroomery [Re: BeefSupremeJr] 4
#28608553 - 01/03/24 02:58 PM (24 days, 16 hours ago) |
|
|
I agree that a precise, universal, meticulous scientific approach is required.
Which is why I use the universal standard of "grain loosely dumped in by the spoonful until its filled up to between the top and the bottom of the big cursive "B" on the side of the Ball jar"
To this day, I still have never bothered to look on the other side of the jar where there are actual measurements lol
-------------------- Beware of advice- even this.
|
B Traven
Stranger



Registered: 03/10/20
Posts: 2,478
Loc: Central Megalopolis
Last seen: 5 hours, 28 minutes
|
Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Shroomery [Re: Tiamo]
#28609663 - 01/04/24 04:34 PM (23 days, 15 hours ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Tiamo said: The myco-quart is a US quart (946 mL) jar of grain spawn filled to two thirds, as I understand it. That makes it 631 mL of grain spawn.
I finally looked at the jar to figure out where my rule of thumb lands, and it does indeed come out to right around 600 mL or so. And as I pondered this, I realized why I settled on a bit of cursive script as my metric: it gives a perfect visual to the acceptable range I'm going for. Both the oz and mL marks on my Ball jars are harder to read, but more crucially, the cursive "Ball" actually gives higher resolution at the jar-level I'm interested in.
-------------------- Beware of advice- even this.
|
B Traven
Stranger



Registered: 03/10/20
Posts: 2,478
Loc: Central Megalopolis
Last seen: 5 hours, 28 minutes
|
Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Shroomery [Re: Adasadas]
#28628358 - 01/20/24 09:55 AM (7 days, 21 hours ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Adasadas said: Hey Beef just wanted to add to the general enthusiasm knocking about regarding your post.
I first did PF tek about 25 years ago! Im in the UK and in the early days of the internet I found a chap in Ohio who was selling spore syringes, and coached me in the basics. Did it for a few months with moderate success and then let it drop, till I was chatting with some old friends of mine about a year or so ago, and remembered doing it, so thought I would try again. Things have certainly moved on since the last years of the 90s'. There's a wealth of information on the web on the subject, and one or two of the youtube offerings ARE really helpful - but your guide blows em away. Its succint, no nonsense and clear.
I'd graduated through the last year from PF TEK, through shoeboxes, and thanks to your inspiration Ive today loaded up two EZ dial monotubs to see how they go. Took extra care to get them clean, flat tidy etc. Great to not be bothering with bloody liners.
As with some other posters, I found the coir tek hydration ratio of 4.6 didnt work for me, way too wet for my coir - two bricks of coir @ about 1100 grams required 8 cups verm to get to Field capacity. So I ended up with CVG. (without the gypsum)
But no coir is created equal right.
I spawned the tubs at 3:1 - diont have the balls to go to 4:1 as per your recommendation just yet....
As with other posters, I would love it if you could get something written up on second flush. I have the devil of a problem with this, and I think its round judging rehydration. Dont really know what is best way to approach this? Heavy misting? Dunking? Taking the tubs to the bath with you......?
Keep it up Beef, great work.
PS - image of grow tent attached, two sorry looking shoeboxes on second flush on top shelf, new leaf ezy dial tubs as per your instructions on middle....


Just my .02 on some matters:
-It's worthwhile to get your particular coir ratio dialed in to how you like it. I found vermiculite to be a crutch that was ultimately more trouble and expense than it was worth. Also, not to get all soap-boxy, but it's a mined clay that goes through a massively energy-intensive process to transform it. And it's also not a good thing to breathe in. So I try to avoid it for any applications where it's not necessary.
-Yeah, surface/environmental conditions can play a role in making fruits come in at different times. But so can bacterial contamination, and, most importantly, genetics. A multispore culture (i.e., one that didn't originate from a single clone) should be expected to have different compatible groups of mycelium in the mix, which will probably pin at different times. I personally don't care that much about getting large single flushes and haven't selected for it, so even some of my clone lines are just kind of continuous fruiters.
-------------------- Beware of advice- even this.
|
B Traven
Stranger



Registered: 03/10/20
Posts: 2,478
Loc: Central Megalopolis
Last seen: 5 hours, 28 minutes
|
Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Shroomery [Re: Adasadas] 1
#28629146 - 01/20/24 08:10 PM (7 days, 11 hours ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Adasadas said: Yup - get it on the coir. Previously Ive been using cvg recipes as promulgated by PGT and the like on youtube which have worked just fine - but since reading Beefs post and the outdated teks thread it seems you dont need gypsum, nor coffee, nor verm. Which is great news.
Nor liners…
Im in heaven, life just got a darn sight simpler…
So i just have to work out what water ratio my particular coir requires - I used the verm to bring it back to FC from the soggy mess that a 4.6 multiple took it to…..
And if anyone can point me to a thread on a reliable up to date tek for rehydrating after first flush
Have a good night, toodle pip….
I used to put my coir in a colander and squeeze it to drain out the excess water. Then I'd also have to drain out excess water as it condensed in my tubs. It was a total pain, and the extra wet conditions also encouraged any bacteria that happened to be lurking in my spawn. Finally just went to the slightly dry side. Much easier to add a little water after the fact than it is to remove it. Sometimes if I hit a lot of dry spots, I'll just mix it all up and leave it sealed in the bucket overnight. That's often enough to redistribute the moisture.
I kind of devolved to shoeboxes some time ago, and now I'm pretty much stuck in that groove. So yeah, someone else could give proper advice on rehydrating larger substrates. But I think a lot of the trend now is to use more coir and then substantially compress substrates to achieve an appropriate height/thickness. This naturally means that there's more water in the overal mix. In the case of my coir-on-the drier-side mixed into shoeboxes, that extra water plus a light misting after each pick is enough to sustain however many flushes the culture is able to pump out.
-------------------- Beware of advice- even this.
|
B Traven
Stranger



Registered: 03/10/20
Posts: 2,478
Loc: Central Megalopolis
Last seen: 5 hours, 28 minutes
|
Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Shroomery [Re: Adasadas] 1
#28629565 - 01/21/24 08:42 AM (6 days, 23 hours ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Adasadas said: Incidentally - on the shoeboxes - my journey this last year was started on PF tek in SFC, now long since abandoned but good for getting started - and then to shoeboxes as they seemed so easy - and they are.
But this EZY Dial Mono Tub linked in Beefs thread here seems a good compromise, it doesnt have a lot of fart arsing about with tape and so on, only a few holes to drill - Ive opted for 25 litre tubs, which is I fairly equivalent on quarts, so not too big - be interested to see how they handle the FAE and humidity. Straight to fruiting conditions too - in a nutshell, looking for the 'do as little as possible' tek...
Right on.
I had such horrible contamination issues at one point that I became completely paranoid about mixing any of my quarts together, even if they came from the same master. So I wanted every single quart isolated in its own shoebox. Then I got used to how easy it was to stack and rotate shoeboxes, and also started geeking out on running multiple clone lines from multiple strains. So now it's become the best way to grow out a bunch of different culture lines at once without being completely overwhelmed! Plus, they actually fit in my sink and dishwasher, which I find very helpful for overall workflow (working in a small inner-city house).
-------------------- Beware of advice- even this.
Edited by B Traven (01/21/24 08:44 AM)
|
|