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Offlinenesta
the Idiot
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 67
Loc: United Snakes
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's
    #4107940 - 04/28/05 05:17 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

ok, i'm a newby at using whole grains (or even a pressure cooker for any purpose whatsoever)

i included a picture of the jar at the bottom of the post for reference. i apologize for the low quality, but i took it with a phone camera.

so my cooker came in the mail yesterday (12qt Mirro pressure cooker/canner) and i went out and bought some whole grain millet (i wanted rye, but my choices at the store i was at were limited to millet, whole brown rice, and flax seed, and i'm not sure if flax seed would even be very good for this, and i figure the dark color would make it harder to detect some contams later on so i went for millet)

i filled a single quart jar with 400g millet and 320g of water and let it soak overnight. earlier this afternoon i cooked it at 15psi for 1 hour. the grain seems thoroughly cooked, but i have some questions. first of all, a reddish brown ring appeared near the shoulder of the jar. i have no idea what it is or if it's anything to worry about. at the moment it doesn't bother me too much, it wasn't there before i cooked it and it sure as hell isn't contamination if it was developed while IN the pressure cooker....

what disturbs me more is the current consistancy of the millet itself. everything above the ring was a-ok, but the millet below seems to be pretty much like a verm-free pf cake. it has all stuck together, and no amount of shaking seemed to loosen it up. is this a result of putting it straight into the pressure cooker instead of cooking the grain prior to sterilization? is it something that normally happens and i'll just have to sit down for half an hour or so of shaking? is it particularly characteristic of millet (in which case i assume i'll have to simply use a mixture of other grains with it)? or is it something completely different?

i'm not sure exactly how i want to handle this. as to my understanding, the main benefit of using whole grains over verm/brf cakes is that you can achieve colonization of larger amounts of substrate much quicker than with cakes due to being able to shake it up periodically and mix the grains and the mycellium together. of course, if the millet has stuck together and formed a cake, i won't be able to do this and i would guess it would take forever to colonize. i was thinking if i had a long, thin stiff wire the approximate size of a needle i could simply sterilize that, reach in through the polyfill filter and use it to break up the grain. the problem with this would be that i don't entirely trust polyfill to begin with, and it would seem like an EASY way to contaminate the jar right from the get go.

i cannot simply open up the jar and mess with the grains because of lack of sterile conditions in my apartment (first year college students rarely have fun things like gloveboxes just laying around)

any advice regarding how to deal with this would be welcomed with VERY open arms. i wish to avoid contamination however, and so if it comes down to this i may just go ahead and inoculate tomorrow as is and see what happens. i don't want it sitting around for very long though.

perhaps i simply used too much or too little water? i used a preperation recommended on the shroomery archives, but it did mention that the recipe may have to be tweaked a little bit. due to my lack of resources and experience, i simply can't use trial and error or alter the preparation based on my own guesses...not yet anyhow.

anyway, please come to my rescue!


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Offlinenesta
the Idiot
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 67
Loc: United Snakes
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: nesta]
    #4107957 - 04/28/05 05:19 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

btw, the ring around the jar is not quite how it looked straight out of the pressure cooker. this was after i tried shaking it, so it is somewhat altered and spread out differently than before even though most of the grains simply stuck together in one big clump.

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OfflineSammy
Between the fold

Registered: 09/03/02
Posts: 1,031
Loc: you'll shoot yer eye out ...
Last seen: 16 years, 3 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: nesta]
    #4108137 - 04/28/05 05:58 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

did you strain your grains before pressure cooking?? No worries dude... if you mess it up.. it only takes an hour or so to get back to where you are again when you do a new jar. I'd sugguest you go get yourself some Finch Seed. .. and do up your jars with it.

Sammy


--------------------

I believe in the Golden Rule ? The Man with the Gold . . . Rules.
- Mr. T

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Offlinenesta
the Idiot
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 67
Loc: United Snakes
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: Sammy]
    #4108231 - 04/28/05 06:13 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

no, i didn't strain them, i cooked them in the water i soaked them in. i don't have anything to strain with other than a coffee filter or a spatula...neither of which would be good for this kind of thing, obviously.

would this cause them to stick together perhaps?

blegh! i don't wanna start all over, but i will if i must. took me about half the bag of millet for that jar, and the bag cost like 3 bucks...course i bought two bags so i'm in good shape....but blegh anyway!

btw, if people are having trouble seeing my pic, get the url for it and paste it in the addy bar. i forgot that webshots doesn't allow you to post pics they host in other locations....bastids...

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OfflineSammy
Between the fold

Registered: 09/03/02
Posts: 1,031
Loc: you'll shoot yer eye out ...
Last seen: 16 years, 3 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: nesta]
    #4108287 - 04/28/05 06:26 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

Yes. Definately would make them stick together. It sounds like your grains are too wet.

What you do is ... soak your grains until you're satisfied... then drain for 45 minutes or so.. until it doesn't drip at all. If it drips one drop. .. it's TOO WET!

If your contents are too wet.. it'll invite contams and will colonize very slowly.. sometimes too fast.

Return that other bag of millet and get some Bird Seed!! It's only like 6$ for 20lbs! I did like.... 8, 1QT jars with a little over 1/2 the bag. Not bad eah?

Good luck

Sammy


--------------------

I believe in the Golden Rule ? The Man with the Gold . . . Rules.
- Mr. T

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Offlinenesta
the Idiot
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 67
Loc: United Snakes
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: Sammy]
    #4108303 - 04/28/05 06:30 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

i've read a lot about people having to do something to pick out sunflower seeds and such from WBS? is there any blend of seed you know of that doesn't have anything you need to remove? just curious.

thanks for the help though! hopefully i'll soon be on my way to casing-city...

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Offline_JJ_
PsychedelicRevolutionary
Registered: 06/12/01
Posts: 369
Loc: NSW, Australia
Last seen: 8 years, 9 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: nesta]
    #4108333 - 04/28/05 06:38 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

As Sammy said before, finch seed will do the trick.

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Offlinegratefulredhead
member

Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 488
Loc: Off the map....
Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: _JJ_]
    #4108344 - 04/28/05 06:40 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

nesta--usually, if you use bird seed, just add some water to soak or steep, and the sunflower seeds will float right to the surface for easy pickin'.

you might try some other types of grain.


--------------------

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OfflineSammy
Between the fold

Registered: 09/03/02
Posts: 1,031
Loc: you'll shoot yer eye out ...
Last seen: 16 years, 3 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: nesta]
    #4108350 - 04/28/05 06:41 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

Nesta,

I'm new to birdseed also.. and was confused on the exact same thing. I first bought Penningtons Wild Bird Seed from Walmart for about 6 or 7$ / 20lbs. I didn't pick out ANY of the sunflower seeds ... there were a bunch floating when I finished soaking so I just mixed it all back up with a spoon. Then.. I saw a post where someone said that Finch Seed works much better. After another stop to Walmart... got Pennington's Finch Seed (See my post in Grow Logs & Pictures for pictures of what I got) and did a run of those.... I believe 4.

Anyway.. both kinds of jars are colonizing just great. I just wish my TiT would heat up to 85!

Sammy


--------------------

I believe in the Golden Rule ? The Man with the Gold . . . Rules.
- Mr. T

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Offlinenesta
the Idiot
Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 67
Loc: United Snakes
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: Sammy]
    #4108521 - 04/28/05 07:41 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

thanks for everyone's help! i'll invest in some finch seed soon, but for now i'll keep trying with the millet.

anyone know anything about that ring of discoloration? like i said, i'm not too worried about it being anything bad, i'm just curious because i haven't seen things like that with PF cakes, and i'm just wondering what the bloody hell it is....

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Offlineo0brandnewcolony
PsychedelicEnthusiast
Male User Gallery

Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 01/23/05
Posts: 625
Loc: Upstairs...
Last seen: 12 years, 10 months
Re: first time using whole grains - sterilized jar today, have some q's [Re: nesta]
    #4108592 - 04/28/05 08:05 PM (18 years, 10 months ago)

Personally I don't bother with bird seed.

In the past it has proven to be a yucky mess, when Whole brown rice has done wonders for me.

Any of the more experienced cultivators have any input on what advantages using a more complex material such as seed has?

peace


--------------------


LSA Extraction Pictorial



Keeping my spirit alive.

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