Huskies said:

You can grind up WBS as well, looks pretty. Made me want to make bread from WBS, but I feel like I need to not use bird grade grains hehe.

K, so activated charcoal is on my list. I only need tiny amounts, eh? Worth buying something in the 15-20ish dollar range, or is there a DIY method that works just as well?

the_chosen_one, I am curious about Vanilla Extract, I have pure stuff. What is the reasoning that it helps? What benefits does it bring to agar?

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Stipe-n Cap said:

So long as it doesn't turn to mud when mixed with vermiculite and water, it should be fine. The PF tek recipe does call for brown rice flour, I'm sure other grain flours would work fine, so long as the above condition remains true.

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the_chosen_one said:

Huskies said:

You can grind up WBS as well, looks pretty. Made me want to make bread from WBS, but I feel like I need to not use bird grade grains hehe.

K, so activated charcoal is on my list. I only need tiny amounts, eh? Worth buying something in the 15-20ish dollar range, or is there a DIY method that works just as well?

the_chosen_one, I am curious about Vanilla Extract, I have pure stuff. What is the reasoning that it helps? What benefits does it bring to agar?

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I don't know that I can prove agar.. but it seems to do what it's supposed to do when I add it. Seems to improve the speed of several species when in culture. This has been proven in the past with LC when it's used as the only ingredient along with water. As long as it's real and pure a little goes a long way. When we were testing we were using about 1/4 teaspoon to 500 ml water. Makes a nice clear LC which is easy to identify contaminants in. It's actually a really nice cheap way to test a syringe. If there's anything in there we need to worry about the culture will cloud quickly.

*** There might even be some history of testing here somewhere. The person who came up with it was Lazlo and he posted at a few sites back then. The main thing is to keep it to the weak side and don't use too much. It can lead to inconsistencies. Does for me anyways lol.

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the_chosen_one said:

Stipe-n Cap said:

So long as it doesn't turn to mud when mixed with vermiculite and water, it should be fine. The PF tek recipe does call for brown rice flour, I'm sure other grain flours would work fine, so long as the above condition remains true.

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White rice will work with the right grind on it. A little sticky but it's ok. I've found most grains to work provided the grind is to the coarse side like fine ground coffee. Never been a fan of flour myself. Screws with my Zen man. Makes little muddy clumps like Stipe is concerned about.

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tryptkaloids said:

not temps. Do you rest your arms on your sab?

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Nichrome said:

You haven't done enough yet to really come to the conclusion that it is the SAB. Every transfer is unique. There are no sames in mycology.

Split a pair paired of mono's into two plates, make lc from both plates, fruit said lc in a side by side and plate A fruits will have become different from plate B fruits. They learn and adapt and they have wills of their own. Languages change in isolation from eachother. Epigenetic response and all that.

Long story short, you need to practice more. Do a few thousand more transfers. SAB's work very well for everyone else who learns to use them. You are no exception to that and your experience is no fluke.

This is a case of operator error, luck, and chance.

As Dory said once: Just keep swimming.

Party on Wayne, and good luck.

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