Phaethon said:

I think bags are generally for fairly small amounts. Pasteurizing large amounts of substrate (usually straw, for oysters) tends to be done in big mesh baskets in drums of water heated over a propane burner; the basket is then just left to drain while it cools. Compost or manure based substrate could probably be pasteurized the same way, though I'd guess with a finer mesh (brew bag, paint strainer bag, or pillowcase).

Scale is a funny thing - a completely overwhelming amount of substrate for me would be pretty small for a commercial farmer.

Edit to add that I found sous vide pasteurization of casing to be a bit tricky since the sealed bags still had a lot of air in them. You have to weigh them down. (Though I used a fairly weak vacuum sealer for those and cheap poly tubing as bags. My chamber sealer would probably have done a much better job.)

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GenesisCorrupted said:

Are you using millet?

I have heard of some of this being treated with an antifungal.

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callmehippie said:

What's a good ratio?

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StophJS said:

Anybody find that they've had more success making grainspawn in bags? Debating switching from jars on the off chance my spawn suddenly works. Grasping at straws, I know.

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cronicr said:

GenesisCorrupted said:

Are you using millet?

I have heard of some of this being treated with an antifungal.

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Antifungal will stop spores from germinating but not cultures from spreading
In most cases it comes down to dry grain or shitty cultures

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SingularFusion said:

repost of unanswered question from a month ago please

Quote:

maybe not so quick question please fellas

When pasteurizing, are people ramping up slowly and ramping down slowly to/from temperature? What is the best practice?

I have been wetting the sub in the vaccuum bags with 80°C water to get close to 69°C from the start, then sous vide for 2 hours once bath is at temperature plus an extra ten or fifteen minutes to allow for temp equalisation of my bags, which are made very thin, so that they come to temperature with the water very rapidly as it is climbing to temp with the sous vide

When I finish I just remove them and leave them on a shelf till cooled, then cut a slit to allow some air back in so everything is not anaerobic in there while they wait a day usually to get spawned

does this all sound alright and like best possible practice?

Or should I be rapidly cooling bags after pasteurization in a cool water bath and/or allowing them to rise to temp over an hour or more as the sous vide warms the bath?

I also assume I should be allowing air back in also and not leaving them sealed and vaccuumed there until use?

My process works fine it seems but I wonder what the gold standard is?

Thanks, good times

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gibilan11 said:

Hi!

I poured a few plates yesterday and left them un-innoced for a few days to make sure they're clean. But today I noticed that several of them have these small brown irregular specks on the surface.

This picture's taken about 15 hours after pouring. Can you tell if I'm looking at some sort of contam or is that just burnt agar that got scraped off the bottom of the pot (I'm continuously stirring the agar while boiling).

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Huskies said:

^ Check my instant pot agar tek in my sig. Will never go back to doing 10ish pastyplates at a time ever again. Sauce containers for fast food work. Last batch I did 85ish plates in one sitting from 1000ml of agar.

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ReboantFart said:

Jesus christ I'm so pissed, second time in a row the media bottle boils over in the PC, spouting half the agar out. I shouldn't even bother pouring what's left of this into plates, right? I'm trying to make some PDA, give LMEA a break, but this potato starch I bought seems to just make the agar explode when in the pressure cooker. I didn't have this problem with potato flakes. Anyone been in a similar sitch? Why's it keep doing that? I noticed when I'm boiling it in the microwave there has been, both times, solid chunks that refuse to liquify. I'm going back to the malt for now but fuck me, I got plates that need to be transferred and I just delayed myself another two days.

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Quote:

Potato infusion can be made by boiling 200 grams (7.1 oz) of sliced (washed but unpeeled) potatoes in ~ 1 litre (0.22 imp gal; 0.26 US gal) distilled water for 30 minutes and then decanting or straining the broth through cheesecloth. Distilled water is added such that the total volume of the suspension is 1 litre (0.22 imp gal; 0.26 US gal). 20 grams (0.71 oz) dextrose and 20 grams (0.71 oz) agar powder is then added and the medium is sterilized by autoclaving at 15 pounds per square inch (100 kPa) for 15 minutes.

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Huskies said:

Now that I have a Excalibur dehydrator, I notice that stuff gets cracker dry WAY quicker than 24 hours. Is that your experience?

Also, I left my desiccant packs open accidentally. Should I just plop all of them in the dehydrator to reset them?

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mishro said:

How long should agar be out of the frige before using it to inoculate grains?


And after inoculation do you guys seal the rim of your jar with cling wrap or parafilm?

Im cooking my first jars tonite!!

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mishro said:

I got dishes pretty well colonozed then have been storing in the fridge so they stop growing abd I can take transfers to jars/ new plates. I just had to catch up abd make the jars

I do cling wrap plates, but could swear Ive read a few threads where people will seal up the area where the lid meets the jar on their grain jars and liquid culture jars as well. I was wondering how prevalent that practice is


And i need to make plates too. If anyone has a link to good pp5 deli sauce  containers I wanna try those

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