Splittinghairs said:

Even when letting my Rye berries sit for hours they can come out
Looking kinda wet.

Just usually let em sit for a couple days. Give em a shake if not ready for inoculation to redistribute the moisture and tend to be fine.

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Infinite Monkeys said:

I recently did Grain to grain transfers for the first time and also for the first time I now have more spawn than I really need.

What would be the fastest way to get pins out of 8 quarts of spawn? monotub with 1:1 ratio?

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Make two tubs, you can find the room

Mr Piggy said:

Infinite Monkeys said:

I recently did Grain to grain transfers for the first time and also for the first time I now have more spawn than I really need.

What would be the fastest way to get pins out of 8 quarts of spawn? monotub with 1:1 ratio?

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Make two tubs, you can find the room

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That might be the best option. Grain to grain is ridiculous, I'm about to have over 20 qts of grain spawn. Who would have thought having too much spawn would be an issue

chillshroom said:

What do most people do to handle the senescence issue? I've just been extending the liquid culture I initially got by creating new cultures from it, new cultures from those, etc. Is it common practice to capture spores, go to agar, and start new cultures from that every few months, with new genetics? Or are most people acquiring their initial culture and preserving it in fridges long term?

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Phaethon said:

B Traven said:

Ok, quick question.

And I really don't mean to be disrespectful in asking.

I still haven't found any good reason to use Liquid Cultures, Liquid Inoculant, or a Flowhood.

I can see how, in principle, these would all be useful if working at a particular scale or with particular types of vessels. But I haven't yet crossed a line where I thought, "man, I need these things." My time and effort bottlenecks are always on the other end- first with getting stuff spawned, then with getting stuff picked and processed.

So, can anyone tell me SPECIFICALLY why they use any of these, and what caused them to decide to switch?

Again, not trying to be disrespectful, but "I've always done it like this and it works" is not a satisfying answer to me.

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For me:

LC and LI are convenient for medium and long term storage, and I like that I can just make the LC or LI when I have a few minutes and it'll be ready whenever I want to inoculate grain or bottles (weeks or months later). I don't really like to use overgrown plates for that, though they'd probably also be just fine. I only make them with clean plates and I never test them before putting to grain (don't tell anyone).

I bought an FFU because I found the SAB uncomfortable for longer sessions. Very sweaty in the gloves, and it often got pretty hard to see through with condensation. And I had excess disposable income. Once I had it there was no turning back - it's so much more ergonomic. I can take a plate lid off, flip it over next to the plate, and not worry about contamination. Really nice for making a bunch of smash wedge baggies for giveaways, and for cutting up plates for LI and cryovial stasis. And it lets me use supplemented bags for gourmet - bags in a SAB sounds like a nightmare for me (I know some people here get by with it, though). Condensation on poured plates clears up super quick in front of the FFU too.

I'd use an SAB again if I couldn't have the FFU, but I would not readily give it up.

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