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forgieboy
consumer ofmushrooms ofvarious types
Registered: 08/31/04
Posts: 9
Loc: australia (vic)
Last seen: 18 years, 11 months
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Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not?
#3080667 - 09/02/04 12:12 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Ok well I know that honey is used quite succesfully as a liquid media.... I'm wondering why it is that no one ever talks about using brown sugar (the kind of brown sugar that is very fine, and is slightly moist in the bag - it tastes quite different to white sugar) or is it just that white sugar is no good so no one has tried brown sugar? I made some brown sugar water the other night, and dropped a few miniscule threads of subaeruginosa myc in there, and after one night in front of the heater there are a few little 'cotton clouds' of myc in there already.
Is there any reason why brown sugar water is a bad idea? Anyone have any experience with it? Liquid myc is supposed to look like fluffy white cotton, right? (There's also a few bubbles inside the biggest fluff-ball) Does anyone know what the chemical makeup of this kind of brown sugar is? (The packet says "Rich Brown Sugar")
Thanks, forgieboy
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ragadinks
MrBeatle


Registered: 10/20/03
Posts: 1,298
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: forgieboy]
#3080873 - 09/02/04 01:00 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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I have never tried it, but I do not see a reason why it should not work. Think brown sugar mainly consists of dextrose and fructose but that is only a guess ...
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: ragadinks]
#3081173 - 09/02/04 03:11 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Here is what I found...
Brown Sugar -- Brown sugar is usually white sugar mixed with molasses or sprayed with caramel coloring. http://www.dorway.com/stevia.html
The "Grey Cardboard (instead of agar)" recipe suggests that you can use moalsses instead of malt powder.
-FF
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forgieboy
consumer ofmushrooms ofvarious types
Registered: 08/31/04
Posts: 9
Loc: australia (vic)
Last seen: 18 years, 11 months
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: fastfred]
#3081292 - 09/02/04 04:03 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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I pulled out the myc to add to some woodchips today - there was some other, different looking white stuff in the bottom of the jar as well, which doesn't look like it's myc, but it could be. Here's a pic, if anyone could give me any opinions on what this stuff is? It sits at the bottom, but if I agitate the water it comes to the top.
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: forgieboy]
#3081513 - 09/02/04 05:57 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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What kind of media did you use? Brown sugar?
That white stuff looks too dense to be mycelium... Did the jar smell like it was contaminated?
-FF
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ragadinks
MrBeatle


Registered: 10/20/03
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: forgieboy]
#3081522 - 09/02/04 06:02 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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For me it looks more like a contamination . How much brown sugar did you use per liter of water ? How long did you sterilize and how did you inoculate ?
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ragadinks
MrBeatle


Registered: 10/20/03
Posts: 1,298
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: fastfred]
#3081527 - 09/02/04 06:03 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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> The "Grey Cardboard (instead of agar)" recipe suggests that you can use moalsses instead of malt powder. And what is "molasses" actually ?
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hawksapprentice
Yearns to Snowboard


Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 3,195
Loc: Oregon
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: ragadinks]
#3081726 - 09/02/04 07:48 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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-------------------- "I celebrate the Earth, my home, my mother, my grave, and as long as men are Man they must, if they would preserve the integrated being, do the same---[and preserve]--this rank casual hungry smelly sweaty lusting transitory body, my oozy pulpy liquid-bag-swollen body, bones, blood, hair glands, my bejeweled sex; I love and celebrate it all. never to let men forget that they are animals as much as gods---that is one thing I shall say." Edward Abbey
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debianlinux
Myconerd - DBK



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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: ragadinks]
#3081728 - 09/02/04 07:49 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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molasses is a by product of sugar cane refining into sugar.
in a sense, brown sugar is like brown rice, unbleached and less refined.
one argument for not using it is the fact that it does not facilitate the visibility clearer solutions such as karo/honey do.
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fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: debianlinux]
#3081798 - 09/02/04 08:17 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Actual molasses is made from sorghum, not sugar cane. Sugar refineries nowdays often sell their byproducts as molasses, but this is not traditional molasses, it's just unrefined sugar syrup, you can get unrefined sugar in stores also. -FF
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forgieboy
consumer ofmushrooms ofvarious types
Registered: 08/31/04
Posts: 9
Loc: australia (vic)
Last seen: 18 years, 11 months
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: fastfred]
#3082009 - 09/02/04 09:37 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Yes, it's brown sugar water. \ As to strength and sterilisation... this was only done as a quick experiment to see if it would work - so it was only sterilised by boiling water - I can't remember how much sugar was added, but it was quite a lot (probably about 1/2 a cup to around 500mL water).
The myc looked quite different - much thinner and whispier - you could see right through it because of how fine the strands were, whereas this stuff is opaque. The only reason that I was unsure was because it was exactly the same colour as the myc.
It did smell a little bit strange now that I think about.
This wasn't done with the expectation of a contam free, usable liquid culture, it was just a test for me to see if I could grow sub. myc in brown sugar water. And it looks like I can. I will try doing it properly (sterilised and measured quantities) soon.
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psiloz
Stranger

Registered: 06/03/03
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Loc: Australia
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: debianlinux]
#3082443 - 09/02/04 11:31 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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I dont know about other Countries but im sure that in Australia we have several sugar types in order or refinement (approx)
Icing sugar White sugar Demerera sugar Brown sugar Raw sugar Molasses
just approximately
anyway i think Raw sugar is the crude one whereas brown sugar just looks crude but is actually refined to look like that
I use raw sugar and can attest to its richer flavour - you can still taste traces of molasses and 'caney' stuff in it
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forgieboy
consumer ofmushrooms ofvarious types
Registered: 08/31/04
Posts: 9
Loc: australia (vic)
Last seen: 18 years, 11 months
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: psiloz]
#3084691 - 09/02/04 09:08 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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psiloz - I also use this sugar as my food sweetener. It certainly tastes better then ultra-refined white sugar in my coffee (of which there are many per day ) I'm not sure if this is raw sugar or brown sugar........ it's not the normal brown sugar, which just looks larger and slightly browner then white sugar, it's the stuff that's very fine, slightly moist, and clumps together. Hmm this is no longer very shroom related. I know that I've read somewhere that the less refined the sugar, the better it is for humans. Would this apply to shrooms?
I'll side track this thread again (but bring it back to shrooms) by asking whether or not anyone (probably in oz) uses liquid culture techniques with their subs?
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ragadinks
MrBeatle


Registered: 10/20/03
Posts: 1,298
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: forgieboy]
#3085776 - 09/03/04 01:33 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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It seems that the molasses adds some minerals, vitamins etc. to the sugar, which could be good for the mycelium. But I would not use too much brown sugar in your recipe since that can inhibit the growth of the mycelium. I would start with 20-25 gram for 500 ml of water.
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Mycena
mycoexplorer
Registered: 05/02/03
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Re: Does anyone use brown sugar as liquid media? Why not? [Re: forgieboy]
#3095598 - 09/05/04 03:46 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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dont over cook it it might caramelise
It might also be cloudy
I would use white brewing dextrose so i could see any contam
if making an agar then use a malt syrup with the water from steaming vegetables for vitamins and salts i cant see much benefit to brown sugar and i have used it
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