Quart Jar Synopsis
V1.00b
Compiled by KB, based on
ideas by Workman, Mycofile, Mycomountain, Hippie3 and Others, as
well as the main ideas of The Mushroom Cultivator
(Stamets).
Materials
needed: Widemouth Canning Jars, Quart
Size Polyfill (pillow stuffing available from Crafts Stores), and
liquid innoculant or agar wedge. Organic Spring
Water.
Actual Poly-Fil. Lifetime supply
Substrates which can be
used: Almost all types of grains or birdseed can
be used. Finch seed, rye grain, Wild BirdFood, amaranth,
Quinoa, etc. Generally one can experiment and find the grain
or seed which best suits their purposes. Keep in mind some
simple rules of thumb when using a grain. The smaller grains
needs less time for pre-boiling (generally in the 20-30 minute
range. The larger grains such as wheat or rye require a good
hour. The main point is to get the water content
correct. Correct water content will result in grain/seed which
easily shakes and does not clump.
Preparation of the
Grain: Get a large pan. Add organic spring
water. Bring water to a boil. Fill with desired
amount of grain. Pour an amount of organic spring water about
a 1/4 inch or so until it's above the grain. Reduce
temperature to a very low setting, so that it simmers.
Stir thoroughly, then cover pot with lid. Simmer for one hour,
checking once ever ten minutes or so to stir and make sure that too
much water hasn't boiled off. Add water if necessary.
When your hour is up, dump the contents of the
pan into a collander. Let excess water strain
thoroughly. Allow grain to cool to room
temperature. If any clumping has occured, then simply break it
up with a spoon.
Preparation of the
Jars: Take your tin lid and then with a scissors
or other sharp instrument, make a hole about the size of a
pencil. Take a bit of Polyfill and pull it through the hole
until the hole is packed extremely tight. Optionally, you can
make another small incision as an innoculating hole. (Make
sure to tape it if you do). Cover the entire lid with tin
foil.
 Quart
Jar prepared with Polyfill. Tape used for innoculation
point.
Sterilizing the
Jars: You must use a pressure cooker.
Optimum time appears to be about 60 minutes at 15PSI. If using
Rye Grain, you may want to up the cooking time to slightly 75
minutes. It's recommended to let the jars cool in the cooker
overnight. Spray lysol on outside cooker lid and rinse
bare hands in rubbing alcohol. Open cooker and quickly place jars in
freshly disinfected homemade glove/hepa box. It may not
be recommended, but this technique can be successfully done in an
open air environment if common sense is used. Make sure
everything is as clean as possible and make sure to work quickly
with as few drafts as possible.
Innoculating the Jars:
If using a syringe, simply squirt about 5cc's into the
jar, rotating the tip so that a good bit of grain is touched.
If using Agar: add lysol sprayed petri dishes and remove
plastic wrap seal. Rinse hands again in alcohol and loosen quart jar
lids, open petri dish with petri lid angled over the rest of the
dish and cut out a small section of agar with a flame sterilized
blade. Drop in jar and tighten lid. Shake to break up grains and
incubate.
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Tip (Workman): Baby sitting the jars isn't
necessary and neither is getting all the grains to break up
individually. Concentrate on the contamination vector. Even the best
looking cooked grains are useless if moldy. Try exposing petri
plates in the various stages of your work in areas that should be
clean. Label and check for molds to pinpoint the procedure that is
inadequate.
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Re-cover with foil. Put in a dark place
for a few days. Check back and see if mycelium has started to
colonize. If it has, then shake the container well. Your
goal is to try and hit as many uncolonized kernels with colonized
ones. Once done shaking, place jars away again. Check
again in several more days and see if colonization is
complete. If not, shake again. Keep a careful eye out
for any contaminants. If all is well, you have a clean culture
of grain, now ready to be used as spawn or ready to be
cased.
 Two
colonized Quart Jars
Half Gallon Jar with Massively Colonized
Grain
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