Shroom Help

Thanks guys! I just picked up a 9qt pressure cooker that was on sale, hoping to restart soon. I know I previously asked this but what's the best way to sterilize the jars that have trich in them? Throw em in the PC for awhile?

Once after doing a GtG transfer in open air, one of my jars got contaminated with trich. I said, fuck it, let the bastards fight it out and I'll see who wins. Mind you, this wasn't a few dots here and there it was a full blown invasion.

A month or so later the mushrooms won, there was no trace of contamination.

Is it a problem if my pressure cooker doesnt go up to 15psi? Mine only does 11.6psi

Rule of thumb for sterilization: 90 minutes or more at a CONSTANT 15 PSI.

And yeah, it's a problem. Time to get yourself a presto bud.

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Mycologists unite, there's your deal on a pressure cooker.

CrownMeKing said:

Thanks guys! I just picked up a 9qt pressure cooker that was on sale, hoping to restart soon. I know I previously asked this but what's the best way to sterilize the jars that have trich in them? Throw em in the PC for awhile?

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Half an hour at temp should do but yes, that is the only way. And you will stink up your house.

CrownMeKing said:

Is it a problem if my pressure cooker doesnt go up to 15psi? Mine only does 11.6psi

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Wow - never heard of that but I think you could get by if you use longer times. Worst case in your situation is double cooking. Cook your grain for 90 minutes and then take your jars out and let them sit for 2 or 3 days, then cook again. I am certain that you will never have non-introduced contamination again if you do that. If you don't want to do that, I think that 11.6 is far far better than 212. It is the wet, high heat that kills stuff. I don't have my conversion handy but you must be getting about 240 degrees, right?

I usually do a packed cooker - thaht is, one that has been filled with 4 bags, for 3 hours. It takes almost an hour to come up to temp but I can not recall a time when I did this and got non-introduced contamination, in other words, those bags could be left for any length of time and not show contamination.

Ok so before you told me that canndo, I soaked all the jars in a pot of bleach and water for a little over an hour. Then I boiled another pot of water and poured that on top of the jars after the hour was up. After I opened the jars under the water as best as i could since it was a tight fit in there and emptied the contents out. I then wiped them with a rag, washed them with soap and water, and threw them in the dishwasher which gets pretty hot. After ALLL that do you think the trich is still alive? At this point the jars are all in my house so if it wasn't killed i'm heavily fucked but I hope I did enough. Whats your opinion guys?

I just dump the jars out spray them with lysol then rinse with water.. by the way my pressure cooker is like 10 psi I just cook longer and I never ever get contams any more.. sometimes I dont even use a lid just foil (for easy grain to grain transfers)

I would do more research, shroomery.org is a good one, you will find me on there under a different name of course. I've been a grower since 1999, just now giving it up actually. It was just a profit thing, i stopped eating them in like 2003. My advice would be to get a PC and do a grow or two with BRF and Verm cakes, but then to move on to casings. Casings put out so much more than a cake... And then when you have that, go Bulk, it's the only way to go. But for contams, when in doubt throw it out! No need to get botchalism or give it to someone else. It's a fun hobby and I hope you have fun with it, just don't eat some bad fungi because you are desperate to have fun, be safe! If you have any specific questions throughout your grow, just PM me, I'll do what i can to help ~419~

p.s. pressure cookers for myco use should run @ 15psi. if you are running 10psi, you should def run it for an additional 15minutes or so. Or you can do as I did before I got a "good" PC, i just tore out a decent sized piece of alum foil and folded it up until it was a good size/weight to put on top of the PC's weight. This made the pressure go up, to roughtly 15.5psi on mine.

Quick question so i don't have to start a new thread. Is it necessary or beneficial to air out your incubation chamber? If so, how often should you?

Alembic said:

Rule of thumb for sterilization: 90 minutes or more at a CONSTANT 15 PSI.

And yeah, it's a problem. Time to get yourself a presto bud.

I've recommended this one before, don't remember where, but if you go to https://app.bedbathandbeyond.com/prefs/pref.cfm?src=header& and sign up for their spam service, they will send you a 20% off coupon for your next purchase in store. This just made that $95 16 qt pressure cooker $79.16, or hell, your $105 23 qt pressure cooker $87.50.

Mycologists unite, there's your deal on a pressure cooker.

Click to expand...

I got a 16qt pressure cooker from walmart for 70bucks. Nice one too.

no, they need no air exchange in their chamber. they will get a new batch of air when you check them, but they don't need much at all.

JustAfter419 said:

no, they need no air exchange in their chamber. they will get a new batch of air when you check them, but they don't need much at all.

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This is inaccurate, they do not need much air but when fruiting they do need to be in lower CO2 environments than when the mycelium was active in spreading. One of the primary triggers for fruiting in many mushroom species including this one is a large drop in CO2. In high CO2 environments the mycelium is reluctant to pin, the fruit have long stems and small caps. The mycelium creates truely large volumes of CO2 and that gas needs to be vented frequently. Of course, as I say, this mushroom will grow in spite of the conditions we expose it to, but it is best to keep the co2 level in the 400 ppm range.