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iamyour_messiah
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Registered: 03/07/06
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fractional sterilization of popcorn
#5489233 - 04/07/06 08:39 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Hey guys,
This is my first grow and sadly I have no pressure cooker. Also since it's only my first go I'm deffinately not gonna go out and buy one right away, cause that aint really in the budget.
The grain I'm using is popcorn. I boiled/simmered it according to one of the teks that I found on here. It said to do so for 45 mins approximately, but since I didnt do a 24hr soak before hand the kernels were still fucking hard after 45 mins. So I let it go another 30-45 mins, at which point the kernels were soft enough, but sadly most had split. (Although I think in that 50 page archived thread started by Baby Hitler they came to the agreement that split kernels wern't necessarily a bad thing..)
Anyway, so I let the corn drain for like 45 mins, then I layed it out on a towel to absorb any more excess moisture. Loaded them into pint jars with polyfill filters in the lids and gave them the first boiling session for the fractional sterilization. Once they were taken out of the pot and cooled down, alot of condensation built up on the inside of the jar and all around the kernels. I thought that overnight it might go back into the kernels or something, but I checked today and it not the case. (Btw, sry this post is so long for such a simple question but always on overgrow I would ask questions and get told to give more background info....)It's not to the point where water is pooling on the bottom or anything, but it still does seem excessively wet. I'm also sure no water got in whilst boiling cause first of all I put foil over the tops, and also, right when I took them out of the boiling water there was no condensation on the inside at all. It only appeared as the jars came back to room temp. So I guess, after having you guys reading this for an hour, my question is if its alright for there to be so much condensation. It doesn't look very nice, which is why I ask....
thanks in advance
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blackout
Registered: 07/16/00
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: iamyour_messiah]
#5489340 - 04/07/06 09:35 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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It may be a problem, you could microwave them or leave them in a hot press or on a radiator to dry them out. I hope you are boiling for at least 60mins to fractionally sterilize. 30mins is bullshit since the inside of the jars will not be hot after 30mins of steaming.
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iamyour_messiah
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: blackout]
#5489433 - 04/07/06 10:21 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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In fact I was doing it for 30 mins. Thats what I read on the "tek" that I found on this site. ALthough I'm sure 1 hour is technically better, and if more ppl advise me to do so I will, but those jars were fucking warm when i took them out, and they took a long time to get back to room temp.
COuld it have anything to do with the fact that I left the aluminum foil over the tops. Maybe there is not real air exchange happening through the polyfill??
I just don't understand cause I'm sure water didn't get in and I drained/dried teh popcorn really well before loading into the jars...so wtf
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iamyour_messiah
Stranger
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: iamyour_messiah]
#5491262 - 04/07/06 10:23 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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anyone?
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HippieChick
Chicks can do it too!
Registered: 02/20/05
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: iamyour_messiah]
#5491385 - 04/07/06 11:03 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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What are you planning on doing with this corn?
Peace,Love,Happiness and Harmony Hippie Chick
-------------------- Peace,Love and Happiness HC Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose.............. I LUV My Greenhouse http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/5545848#5545848 My First Pans http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/6212058#6212058
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skeletor
the dude
Registered: 09/06/05
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: HippieChick]
#5491800 - 04/08/06 01:53 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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fractional sterilization sucks. all it will do is get you to buy a PC. either stick to pf and steaming if this works for you or get a PC. you can get some really cheap ones.
-------------------- im sorry about your mother. She was a terrible attrative woman. Get back to nature; hunting burgers and gathering fries.
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iamyour_messiah
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: skeletor]
#5492198 - 04/08/06 08:52 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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hmm well although I'm sure a PC is much better and I'll probably end up getting one before long, that doesn't exactely help me at this point in time...
I plan to let the popcorn colonize fully, at which point I'll use it as grain spawn for a load of straw, and then I'm gonna try and set up a mono-tub and hope that works out for me.
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RogerRabbit
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: iamyour_messiah]
#5492207 - 04/08/06 08:57 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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You're setting yourself up for failure and wasted money. If you have no PC, look into the pf tek. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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iamyour_messiah
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: RogerRabbit]
#5492562 - 04/08/06 11:33 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Wow, so it's not that i dont appreicate the advice that a PC will be the best investment I make, but quite frankly the only thing that Ive gotten from this thread is discouragement and less hope for success.
thx
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RogerRabbit
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: iamyour_messiah]
#5493778 - 04/08/06 05:06 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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A better way to look at it is you've been saved from failure. The money you'd lose on a contaminated batch of popcorn and wasted spores will buy a used pressure cooker at goodwill or salvation army. Folks are just trying to help. We've all been through this before. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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skeletor
the dude
Registered: 09/06/05
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: RogerRabbit]
#5493892 - 04/08/06 05:41 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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why does everyone take critisism badly. its good! when you write a book you want people to critique it and tell you want to fix, then you can change it. same deal we're just helping you out haha. personal experience is fractional sterilization blows. so stick to doing PF cakes adn crumble those to your straw or get a PC. good luck
-------------------- im sorry about your mother. She was a terrible attrative woman. Get back to nature; hunting burgers and gathering fries.
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iamyour_messiah
Stranger
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: skeletor]
#5496304 - 04/09/06 11:41 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Sorry if it seems that I'm being a dick, thats not what I meant. It's just that, fair enough, I might be heading towards failure, but I've already started now. So getting a pressure cooker at this exact moment is just not an option. Neither is the pf cakes cause I'd have to go buy the supplies for that etc etc (not to mention that in Switzerland I'll have a great time trying to find verm. consdering the nuseries here don't even seem to have perlite)
And technically, I payed $30 for 3 spore syringes, so thats approximately $10 each, plus like some negligable amount for the popcorn. SO not sure if I could get a pressure cooker for $10 (maybe 12 plus the corn). There is also the problem that there is no salvation army here in Switzerland as far as I know....so can't actually do that.
Fair enough though, I understand what you guys are trying to tell me and I'll take it into account. Nonetheless I'm gonna have to finish off what I started here. Coming back to the original question which was about the condensation inside the jars... well I've read around a bit and apparently some condensation is quite normal, and theres no water at all pooling at the bottom, so it's deffinately not too much moisture I think.
Anyway, gonna boil my jars for the last time right now, and if my mono tub works out I'll be sure to post up some pics!!
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mogur
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: iamyour_messiah]
#5496724 - 04/09/06 02:17 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Well, now that the obligatory PC sermon has been delivered [and it by far the easiest method]... Fractional sterilization depends on tricking heat resistant endospores into germinating. Soaking by itself doesn't help. And boiling for hours just turns grains into mush.
IMO, here's the proper way to fractionally sterilize grains for spawn. Immerse grain in water and bring to almost boiling. The endospores are triggered at about 70C. Turn off the burner, and let sit covered (so new spores aren't landing in the soup) for a few hours, since studies show that germination occurs within about 90 minutes at 30C. Then bring the pot to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the covered pot go through another 3 hour cooling cycle. Now drain thoroughly, and jar it up. Steaming the jars takes longer than simple boiling, because like blackout says, the interior of the jar is insulated by the air trapped in the jar between grain kernels. So if you don't have a thermometer to use in a test jar, steam the jars for about an hour and a half. If you do have a thermometer, like one of those oven meat thermometers with a remote probe, then you really only need to steam about 15 minutes after boiling temps are reached in the center of a test jar.
All of this doesn't help you at your current stage in the process, of course. I'm posting it for general info. As for the excess moisture in your jars, I would say that it's fine. But, it certainly depends on how much air exchange you have. With a lot of exchange that moisture you see where grains touch the glass should disappear in a few days. If you don't have much exchange, and the excess moisture hangs on, it will likely slow the colonization, but not do any harm. Contams are more likely with too much extra moisture, of course, but that is up to the contam gods at this point.
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iamyour_messiah
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: iamyour_messiah]
#5496933 - 04/09/06 03:23 PM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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Ok thats some info that will actually help me in my situation. Thanks for that man and thanks to the other ppl who contributed as well. Like I said, when/if I get results I'll be sure to post them up.
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blackout
Registered: 07/16/00
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Re: fractional sterilization of popcorn [Re: iamyour_messiah]
#5499233 - 04/10/06 09:26 AM (17 years, 11 months ago) |
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The 30mins is straight out of a textbook. These same textbooks give far lower sterilization times at 15psi than what members here use. The lower times mean it is at 100C for 30mins, not steamed for 30mins. If you used large jars then you will be lucky to get all grains to 100C when steaming for 30mins. After they are all at 100C you must hold them at 100C for 30mins.
I made several comments about this at the bottom of the FAQ on fractional sterilization. It has a bad name and I have no doubt that it is mainly due to people only steaming for 30mins.
If people PC'd for the times in textbooks people would say it doesnt work too.
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