After 1-2 weeks on all 6 jars, even one that couldn't be innoculated in all 4 holes.. all jars are about quarter way to half way white. It's looking good, I did the PF Tek, but even I knew I was being a tad sloppy during innoculation (or at least felt like it). I did boil the jars twice for 90 minutes over a 3 day period, only because I wasn't able to innoculate on time and it was recommended.. Is it possible that I could have a sudden surge of shittiness coming my way or does contamination usually start before the mycellium? I think I might of just got lucky though, my temperatures aren't special, my methods weren't exactly as good as they could be.. I feel like I should over run what I did just incase anybody could give me pointers though - I measured out the PF Tek supplies perfectly and did it according to RR's youtube video's which include them special little things that ensure success in mixing the substrate. I boiled it for a 'full' 90 minutes, and due to me not being home as soon as I thought I would be to innoculate, I was told to just reboil them seeing as I already exposed them after the original boil. These jars were the half pint tapered jars, 4 holes each and the holes were covered first by tape and then the whole lid by foil. I also wiped that moisture off the inside of jar lid pretty thoroughly and left the 1 inch of dry verm like he says. Innoculation - I wore a hat to keep my hair back, gloves wiped with alcohol for handling things, and a face mask. The desk which I would be innoculating on was also wiped with alcohol. Then I sprayed my closet with Lysol which I would be innoculating in (which was empty besides the equipment and pretty much a closet size where only one person could fit comfortably..)... Then, I wiped the stuff I was putting the jars and other miscellaneous equipment with alcohol aswell. For sterilizing the syringe I simply heated it with a bic lighter, however I never went to a red hot (held it for about 5-10 seconds, then would do the squirt to cool)... I sterilized between each jar but forgot between two of them... After the innoculation was done I'm not sure if I am or am not fucking my set-up up. I never completely removed the tape after innoculation, I am actually unsure as to what to do with it. I never recapped the foil either if I was supposed to do that. All the jars are together being held steady, but they are also in a plastic trash bag (white), then covered with a heavy towel, and then placed by something indirectly causing some warmth. Anyway I'd appreciate any help. If I should be any more specific let me know.
When innoculating you can leave the jars in the pot for days till you are ready to innoculate. Just don't open the lid till you are reay, not that there is much to see... Yes your jars can still get contaminated, and some proabley will cause the foil was removed. Just keep the box and area they are in clean. (don't go over boeard and rub everything down with lysol every day) Next time around leave the foil on till you are ready to birth the cakes. the only other thing i would be worried about is over boiling, seeing how you boiled the jars for a long time. If you see a little bit of water inside the jars your fine. You might want to dunk your cakes after you birth them or after the first flush if they dry a bit and after every 2 flushes or so dunk agian. Over all seams you are doing good. Are you going to case them? J.C
After I boiled a second time (which was only because I had previously opened the pot but never innoculated), I used one of the jars to test the moisture (only innoculated 6 but had 7). They were not dry at all, in fact almost seemed as cold as it originally was mixed. I was pretty pissed when I found crumpled off all the foil not thinking about it, and then on top of it wasn't in the right position to go get more foil. :-\ I don't know what casing is yet, what's that?
Lol, Mate if your going to grow mushrooms you should have reserched it fully .. By the way, if your doing the verm/flour substate have bad yeilds. If you are making Cakes then no casing layer is needed, Good Luck,
Yes, I did research it fully. If you read my post fully, which I'm surprised seeing as you seem to do things fully, you'd understand I made an error in area's he left unclear, meaning he probably assumed for the most part I would do the right thing. Thanks for the wishes.
No way to know yet. The jars may stop getting whiter and be useless...there's no way to know. There never is. Time will tell. If it works out try this: Clean a fork (alcohol) and remove all the contents of the jar. Put them into a 5" by 10" tray, which has also been wiped with paper towels and alcohol. Evenly distribute it, no more than 1" thick. Now lightly cover the top with steralized vermiculite. The top should be all Vermiculite, so that when you water it, the water won't touch the cake directly. Lightly water those trays and then put them in a dark bin for 7-10 days. Open them up, lightly water again (a few sprays), and give them light for 12-20 hours a day until you see pins. Good luck.
