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Fungi Logs

Focusing on Small Batch Mushroom Gardens

Author: mushcat

Hardwood Pellets in Instant Pot

Posted on January 12, 2025January 12, 2025

So, today I tried hardwood pellets in the Instant Pot for the first time. I did 5 cups with approx 7.5 cups water, closer to 8.5. Then, I pressure cooked it on high for 30 minutes, given these pellets are supposed to be sterilized to begin with. I then let cool and added directly to bag. After a few hours cooling, I added each to a mini bag, yielding 5 mini bags at about 750g (1.65lb) each. This cook was a complete FAFO. I should have put the hwp in the bag and sterilized, cooled, opened bag mixed in colonized grain, but gonna try this with out sterilizing bag first.

One note on this no one seems to discuss: cleanup! I did this all on a clean countertop and just hand swept the hwp dust onto floor for sweeping. The drier I can make the cleanup, I’ve learned the easier it is. For the tools: scoops, instant pot inside container, etc, I took them outside and used a dry cleaning rag to wipe up the tools then shake out the dust. Using a dry towel and dry approach instead of a wet cleanup made this so much faster and easier.

Drippy Corn in Instant Pot

Posted on January 10, 2025January 12, 2025

Ingredients:

  • Instant Pot
  • 32 oz popcorn kernels
  • corn syrup
  • water

Using PGT’s video as a reference, I did all the steps he mentions with the exception of I pressure cooked the popcorn for 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes. The yield was 10 half pint jars.

Reishi

Posted on January 9, 2025January 12, 2025

This is my very first antler reishi grow and I’m fascinated how it develops:

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Showercap Solution

Posted on January 8, 2025January 12, 2025

I was able to get a good puff ball off of my Lion’s Mane and Bears Head Tooth, but the growth seemed to stop afterward. It seemed like the bag had more to give, but since I’d already cut off the top of the bag I wasn’t getting that same foggy environment to help it along. My solution? Some cheapie shower caps like the kind you can get at any grocery or dollar store.

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Back to Basics

Posted on December 11, 2024January 12, 2025
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After the first bucket failure I decided to go with a cycle of bags instead of buckets for my next round which included some antler reishi, lions mane, bears head tooth and honey mushrooms. I waited too long to transfer the honey so it didn’t have much success and the reishi took off immediately but when i cut open the bag, died. I should have left bag closed and done slights, stupid stupid stupid.

I’m getting an instant pot tomorrow and am considering using it to help sterilize some HWP and try buckets again. I have chestnut and turtle shell beech ready to colonize.

Final Buckets Removed

Posted on August 26, 2024January 12, 2025

Still wasn’t quite sure I could open the buckets and check how they are doing and the last few just don’t look too good. I’m trying to zero in on the mistakes I made and I believe it was either:

  • Contaminated bran
  • Too much heat (too close together?)
  • Should have left the holes uncovered (I used micropore tape over them)

I’m getting ready to try some drippy corn and give a second batch a go.

Booo! Contamination

Posted on August 19, 2024January 12, 2025

This site is called “logs” for a reason and that included documenting failures so that I can learn from them in future. My baby bucket recipe did not do well with the bran included. I was able to flash a light on the buckets and spotted trich in them (green). This was an unexpected advantage to using this particular brand of “clear” bucket! I buried them in hopes they are able to resurrect themselves. In the meantime, 2 lions mane, 1 turkey tail and 1 white enoki are still going strong!

Humidity Kink

Posted on August 15, 2024January 12, 2025

I noticed a drop in humidity despite not having changed anything in my setup. I ran into this one before, last summer. After running a bit, the hose running to the tent will become weighted down and collect water, clogging the humidity stream to the tent. If I lift up the hose, water drips out. The solution for now is I made the hose as tight and straight to the tent as I could, if that don’t work, I used to prop up the hose with metal hanger into a rainbow arc. We’ll see how it goes.

Automatic Timers

Posted on August 9, 2024January 12, 2025

Fighting with heat this past week I realized my smart plugs “circulate” function had stopped working on two of the timers, namely the fresh air exchange and humidifier. Finally got some new ones from Amazon and got it circulating. Fresh air 1 min every four hours and humidity 1 min every 20 min for now and it’s staying around 76F and 80% humidity.

Flow Hood (Fan Filter Unit) Complete!

Posted on August 3, 2024August 4, 2024

Finally got the components working together, added some wallpaper for style and a table to hold both the FFU and my humidifier and keep things tidy and compact.

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Hardwood Pellet Hydration:  1 cup hardwood pellets to 1.5 water
1 standard six quart Instant Pot holds 6 half pint jars
One Instant Pot holds 5 cups of hydrated hardwood pellets and yields 5 mini (5x4) bags.
One 32oz popcorn kernel bag yields 10 half pint jars
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