matsc said:

What sorts of scalpels do folks around here prefer?

I'm using an old no-name #3 handle I liberated from my university years ago, and a box of #11 blades I'm not sure I'll ever work through. But it's cheap and not great (the blade notch isn't quite square so blades are a bit wonked) so maybe an upgrade is in order. Any brands that are decent without being stupidly expensive?

....or am I over thinking things and would a simple exacto knife suffice.

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Just get a nice handle that's reasonably priced within your budget.there they have some that are not expensive at all that work great.

When it comes to exacto knives most of them are made cheaper and the handles tend to get hot and not able to be handled.

And then there are some exacto knives that are more expensive that don't do that.

That's your best bet is to stay away from an exacto knife and just order a  handle of your preference thats in your budget

I like the long stainless steel #7 handles.    Keeps your hands further from your work. 

I got one for $10 and I've been using it for a couple years without needing to replace it or haveing any issues whatsoever.




As I said before though it's all just based on your budget  You can find these from $10 all the way up to 50 bucks.


The blades you use are also personal preference. Most people generally use a number 11 but some people like the curved 10s as well.

1oz0fTheory said:

These 2 tubs are starting to smell sweet , plus still no pins so i guess this is my first introduction to contamination but anyways my questions are they is it a lost cause - the smell is hard to describe not that earthy mushrooms like it should smell just a weird sweet smell and also i heard somewhere probably YT saying about scrapping the top mycelium off and letting it restart or another said something about hydrogen peroxide being sprayed on the mycelium could also help , or am i SOL Thanks

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Chiron098 said:

hello guys. is possible to sterilize oats in a 12psi PC? if yes, is 120 minutes is enough for jars of 220-500ml?

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matsc said:

What sorts of scalpels do folks around here prefer?

I'm using an old no-name #3 handle I liberated from my university years ago, and a box of #11 blades I'm not sure I'll ever work through. But it's cheap and not great (the blade notch isn't quite square so blades are a bit wonked) so maybe an upgrade is in order. Any brands that are decent without being stupidly expensive?

....or am I over thinking things and would a simple exacto knife suffice.

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BeefExtreme said:

The king is good.

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Chiron098 said:

there's some chart that goes around here, that recommends 3 hours, but is for 1 liter(1 quart) jar, instead of 220-500ml. so, don't you think something close to 120-150 minutes would work maybe? the bad thing of long sterilization time is that i worry the water would run out, or grains get mushy. is also boring as hell be watching a pressure cooker working for three hours straight.

here's the chart:

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xsanriu said:

Hey yall I went on vacation right when these PEs were fruiting. Obvious environmental issues while I was gone. Question i have is are they going to be worth eating?

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Kloakk said:

xsanriu said:

Hey yall I went on vacation right when these PEs were fruiting. Obvious environmental issues while I was gone. Question i have is are they going to be worth eating?

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Looks fine to consume.

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Chiron098 said:

i had forgotten about that stipe-n-cap post, i remember reading it some time ago. the study shown in his post is very good and pretty much clears things up for me. they used an instant pot that reaches 10.2–11.6 PSI. it's important to note that there is some variance in pressure, as described in the study and the post.



they also tested with spores of an extremely heat-resistant bacterium(Geobacillus stearothermophilus). they placed the spores in a location inside the instant pot that is hardest to sterilize.

and still, after 150 minutes, the spores were inactivated. so i think it's a fair bet to say that 150 minutes should be safe enough to sterilize grains.

in my personal case, i don't have an instant pot. i have a normal pressure cooker that reaches 12 PSI(83kpa) and can theoretically maintain this pressure much better than an instant pot. so i think i'm not in the worst case scenario at least

thanks for the comment!

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