KeyMaker said:

Have you guys ever had bad experiences with different brands of agar from Amazon?  I never had problems with the Telephone brand, now I don't live close to an Asian market.  I cannot get this shit to blend like it's supposed to.  I heat the water, mix it in slowly, then kill the heat as it started boiling.  I whisk the hell out of it.  500ml water, 10g agar agar powder. PC for 15min, pour into dishes while it's still real warm.  Am I doing something wrong?  The dishes stay watery after pouring/cooling, and I have thick shit left sitting at the bottom of my agar bottle after pouring plates.  It's happened three times now with 3 different agar recipes.

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Shroomiumicious said:

I left a couple of shoeboxes unattended for 2 weeks. Came back to a few giants, a couple of which have sporulated. Thankfully I'd already considered these past their last flush, as now I have spores on the substrate as well as a bunch of smaller mushrooms that alas have started rotting.

Any reason to not dehydrate these 4 big ones? They total about 100 grams wet...

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Lo-Z said:

KeyMaker said:

Have you guys ever had bad experiences with different brands of agar from Amazon?  I never had problems with the Telephone brand, now I don't live close to an Asian market.  I cannot get this shit to blend like it's supposed to.  I heat the water, mix it in slowly, then kill the heat as it started boiling.  I whisk the hell out of it.  500ml water, 10g agar agar powder. PC for 15min, pour into dishes while it's still real warm.  Am I doing something wrong?  The dishes stay watery after pouring/cooling, and I have thick shit left sitting at the bottom of my agar bottle after pouring plates.  It's happened three times now with 3 different agar recipes.

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This happened to me to using this agar (below) from amazon. I made LME plates and they stayed watery until they dried like the agar never held onto the water.
would be interested to see what everyone else is using that has on point agar game.

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Shroomiumicious said:

I left a couple of shoeboxes unattended for 2 weeks. Came back to a few giants, a couple of which have sporulated. Thankfully I'd already considered these past their last flush, as now I have spores on the substrate as well as a bunch of smaller mushrooms that alas have started rotting.

Any reason to not dehydrate these 4 big ones? They total about 100 grams wet...

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Rasmodius said:

I'd swab the big boi just to hang onto the genetics but I won't spin up the dehydrator for something like that unless there's already a run going.

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Lo-Z said:

Rasmodius said:

I'd swab the big boi just to hang onto the genetics but I won't spin up the dehydrator for something like that unless there's already a run going.

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So Swabbing vs cloning.... Cloning is obviously a 1 to 1 copy of a mushroom but a swab will store some of the genetics of that specific mushroom??

Kinda like if i were to clone myself there would be 2 identical copies of me.

But if i have a baby with someone, my offspring or 'genetic traits' get passed down ? Like how some kids look like their parents?

Is that a good way to look at it?

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Perfect analogy, except taking a spore swab is like having millions of kids with millions of baby mamas

langten69 said:

Perfect analogy, except taking a spore swab is like having millions of kids with millions of baby mamas

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As long as I don't have to pay child support,,, I'll take it

Shroomiumicious said:

Hi Lo-Z, Tri, Rasmodius,

Thanks for the replies. I'll definitely look into punish tek!

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tryptkaloids said:

Cosmyc said:

I’m going to make some PF Tek jars, but I have a few questions:

Will I be able to sterilise my jars properly using this pot?

As I’m in Europe, I don’t have access to canning jars, so I don’t have any lids to place at the bottom of the pot – can I use a tea towel instead?

With this pot, should I sterilise for at least 2 hours? How long can I keep a sterilised jar before filling it, given that I won’t be able to sterilise everything?

How much water should I use with this pot, bearing in mind that with the tea towel, I won’t be able to sterilise as many jars as shown in the photo?

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That thing will not work.

First of all, that thing will be destroyed by direct heat, especially with uneven pressure.

Second of all, looks like an induction stove which works with electrical currents in the pot (in laymans terms) so it may not even heat that ceramic, it would have to go in the oven, and idk if you've ever tried to poil water in the oven, but i wouldnt lol.

Furthermore you want to steam them, not boil them. You dont really want them submerged.

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Its a Dutch oven. And they hold in Steam very well.  We use our casted irom amd its  coated in ceramic enamel. I also have an aluminum one coated and ceramic. to  make rice in them all the time.

I have no clue of ceramic Coatings make a difference. I just know that it works good for steaming rice

so I figured that shouldn't be an issue

They are  usually casted iron a.d or aluminum  and coated in that ceramic enamel. 



Also. that stove top is just an electric stove top. not an induction stove stop.

Cooking on Eletric stoves suckass.

As long as used with trivet. Direct  heat and. Being  submerged shouldn't be an issue.  Not sure much  pressure being uneven would make a difference when hes steaming them? 


That's really all that's necessary as long as you can hold that steam inside

Anyways I've still never used one for PF.



Anyways if you do use it let us know how it turns out please. I wouldn't mind knowing.



Tryp

Pastywhyte said:

Agars ability to gel will be impeded by an acidic pH. Is it possible your water is acidic?

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arlo.arlo said:

Lo-Z said:

KeyMaker said:

Have you guys ever had bad experiences with different brands of agar from Amazon?  I never had problems with the Telephone brand, now I don't live close to an Asian market.  I cannot get this shit to blend like it's supposed to.  I heat the water, mix it in slowly, then kill the heat as it started boiling.  I whisk the hell out of it.  500ml water, 10g agar agar powder. PC for 15min, pour into dishes while it's still real warm.  Am I doing something wrong?  The dishes stay watery after pouring/cooling, and I have thick shit left sitting at the bottom of my agar bottle after pouring plates.  It's happened three times now with 3 different agar recipes.

---

This happened to me to using this agar (below) from amazon. I made LME plates and they stayed watery until they dried like the agar never held onto the water.
would be interested to see what everyone else is using that has on point agar game.

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Yeah that brand sucks. The cool kids all use telephone or living jin. Nerds use gellan gum.

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Has never failed me ...



... from Amazon

callmehippie said:

Oh.. you mean the actual container is too short? Need more space for water and headboard for jars.  Gotcha.

Yes water bath with trivet.  would be whats has to happen here.. is also what's described in the tek.  churpps suggestion for the double boiler was a really good one for this reason.

Honestly I would use that (double boiler/steamer) if I had one. That would really Ensure your jars deal with minimum moisture and splashing Etc

I couldvev swore In the original tek  the pot  guy uses isn't much bigger than that. But it is bigger.

Either way for sure I agree with you a bigger pot(whatever the kind) would be more ideal. 

Especially in terms of keeping your shit dry and not having to replace the water as much.

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