  
fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Friday, November 15, 2002 - 12:23 pm: | 
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I dont know if someone has already thought of this , so if someone says I stole the idea, too bad!
I wrote it up and made instructions. But as far as I know this is an original idea.
The Fungusmaximus Bulk Dessicator.
Things you will need:
1 storage container
1 space heater w/no heat option (wal-mart 10$)
1 pringles can
dessicant (damp rid)
screen
paper towels
coffee filters
Exact-o knife or sharp blade
duct tape
1 candle
weather stripping
First take the storage container and fan and trace around the fan to make your cutting guidlines.
Then light your candle, and use the flame to heat the exact-o knife until it is able to melt the plastic, follow your guidelines, reheating as needed.
Then mount your fan inside the new hole, it should be fairly snug, and proceed to seal the gap around the fan w/ duct tape.
Use your weather stripping to seal the lid.
Next take your pringles can and in two corners of the lid trace the circumference of the can. If you have a bigger hole the fan will blow harder, thats the reason for two holes, one large hole is fine. Then w/ the pringles lid on cut the plastic out of it leaving a ring that fits the can, for the bottom use a can opener.
Place coffe filters over the holes and seal.
Put a long strip of tape across the lid/container on one side to make a hinge.
Cut screen to fit bottom of container.
Fill the bottom w/ a thin layer of dessicant and cover w/paper towels.
Put screen on top.
Then place mushies on top of that.
Close it up and check em in 2-3 days.
You can also place a small shelf inside to utilize the vertical space.
The heater should be set on FAN w/ no heat.
Although the heat does speed things up a bit, I dont advise it.
This was made to use the fan and dessicant while drying, but mainly for me to dry bulk quatities without blowing spores everywhere, which can be hazardous to your health when drying quantity. Especially for people w/allergies.
NOTE: do NOT turn on fan until mushies have been inside at least 30min - 1hr, to allow dessicant to absorb water and prevent blowing dessicant dust all over your drying mushies!
Also many layers of screen can be layed on top of each other w/ mushie spread out on them to make stacks. |
NixxoN (N1x_X0n)
| | Posted on Friday, November 15, 2002 - 01:49 pm: |
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Absolutly wonderfull. I think I will be building a "dessicator" soon, if not some sort of hybred. I've been looking for a good dessicant drying setup for awhile. Right now i'm just fan drying with a ghetto bucket setup for a couple of days and then throwing it all in a tupperware container with dessicant and something holding the mush above it with a lid on it but that will soon be no good for the kind of yeilds I'm interesting in  |
fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Friday, November 15, 2002 - 03:23 pm: |
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Remember not to use the heat setting and youll be OK. |
Hippie3 (Admin)
| | Posted on Friday, November 15, 2002 - 03:23 pm: |
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sweet.
great pix and instructions, this one is archive material for sure.
thx for sharing it with us.
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fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Friday, November 15, 2002 - 03:24 pm: |
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Visions (Visions)
| | Posted on Friday, November 15, 2002 - 05:48 pm: |
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Very Very Nice!...Love it! |
not *really* a Jedi (Mycofile)
| | Posted on Friday, November 15, 2002 - 10:52 pm: |
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So let me make sure I understand.
Basically the heater with no heat is just a fan, right? BTW, keep the heat under 120 and you're fine (per stamets in PMOTW).
The fan is introducing fresh air to the chamber, which is vented through the pringles cans on top?
If this is the case, I would make some recomendations. Not that this doesn't work, I'm sure it does, but I have experience with a similar unit, and made changes to it for drying lotsa shrooms.
The fan should simply be recirculating the air in the tub, not sucking in fresh air. This is especially important for people who live in humid areas. The dessicant in your set-up is constantly drying the ambient humidity. If the entire box is sealed, the rH in the tub will be lower, and the dessicant will last longer. This also negates the need for the pringles cans, and the coffee filters on them were never neccesary in the first place, dessicant chambers don't need to be filtered. Just seal the whole chamber, don't cut any holes in it anywhere, and have the fan inside it RECIRCULATING the air, not exchanging it.
I'm sure your set-up works well, and the pictures are very nice. I would suggest to anyone else considering something similar to go with a closed system. Simply throwing a fan into a standard dessicant chamber is the easiest way to do it. You get the drying effects of air circulation, the drying from the dessicant, and your dessicant lasts as long as is possible. Shrooms dry about twice as fast in systems like this than they do in dessicant only or fan only methods.
my $.02
btw, I like the new board! |
fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Friday, November 15, 2002 - 11:22 pm: |
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The filters and cans are nessacary, if you read the post I built it to combat spores. My girlfriend has allergies and when I dry bulk the sporolating caps release huge amounts of spores into the air while drying. Huge jr. burger sized caps that pollute the air. yes I have a hepa also. And I dont have to recycle the dessicant even half as much as when its in a sealed enviroment, I think the fan helps keep the dessicant drier than still sealed air. Thanks for your .02$ |
fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Friday, November 15, 2002 - 11:25 pm: |
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Another tip:
You can also place a damprid filled filter on the fan to dry the air before it enters the chamber. Damp rid filters are in the archives I believe, Hippie did you archive that stuff?? |
johnny rocket (Cfunkymunk)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 12:23 am: |
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well if its a closed system like mycofile said wouldnt that take care of the spore problem. and shouldnt you be picking those shrooms before they break caps. i bet one small computer fan on the lid directed at the shrooms would be enough air circulation for the first 12 hours of drying when the shrooms lose most of their water weight. |
fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 02:35 am: |
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Jhonny,
Air is gonna get out no matter what, air carrying the dried spores. I have to filter it,(I).
You on the other hand dont.
And the fan wont operate properly in a sealed enviroment, I tried it. Im drying one layer over an ounce in just a little over a day really large shrooms too.
More layers more drying time.
Experiment and see what YOU like best.
Also, yes they should be picked pre-sporolation, but when you have BULK you cant always pick at the right time cause there are so many.
Plus sometimes bigger shrooms are a plus, more weight. |
fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 02:37 am: |
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Hippie,
please include this in the instructions.
Also many layers of screen can be layed on top of each other w/ mushies spread out on them to make stacks.
When stacking mushrooms remember to rotate the shelves/layers, the wettest aways being closest to the dessicant. If not, water from higher shelves/layers will be pulled thru the drier layers making the whole process take longer. |
Hippie3 (Admin)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 01:43 pm: |
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mycofile, you pseudo-jedi, wassup buddy ?
glad you like the new board, we're pretty proud, too.
changing out the dessicant each day for fresh helps alot, then you can dry what you've pulled out today for re-use tomorrow, always having fresh dessicant in there to maximize drying speed/effectiveness.
and no, i haven't moved any threads to the archives yet, i normally only do that after they've gone inactive a few weeks, just in case someone adds some more comments because once it's archived the thread is read-only for non-admins.
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johnny rocket (Cfunkymunk)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 02:01 pm: |
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im sure it works great man .i was just wondering if there is a need for damprid since the air is being constantly exchanged.i know it wont hurt having damprid but have you tried it without it.you might get the same results .heres an idea.what if you took a container similar to the one you built(without damprid)and put it inside another container that had damprid in the bottom.so you would have one container that is sealed "fairly" well with damrid and a low RH factor.inside of this low RH enviroment you would place a smaller container that held the shrooms and circulated "low RH" air through your babies.id imagine that they would be cracker dry without heat in record time with such a set-up.im just being subjective ,i think its good for the board. |
Ronald T (Hempwizard)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 03:03 pm: |
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Your idea looks good but I have a feeling you live in a part of the country with low humidity.If I were to use such a setup in Virginia where I live I dont feel that the dessicant would take long to saturate with humid air constantly being brought into the system.Now if you were to use the dessicant prefilter on the fan I could see getting good results.I have to disagree with you on the fan not working properly in a sealed box.As long as the intake and exhaust are not obstructed there would be no reason why it wouldnt work because it is able to suck the same amount of air in that it blows out,It would just be recirculating the same air.Now if you were to have the fan mounted in the side of the box as in your pic it wouldnt work into a sealed box because of the pressure build up but there would be no pressure build up if the fan was completely inside the box.
Hempwizard |
Ronald T (Hempwizard)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 03:11 pm: |
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Oh, and as far as what you said about the spores are gonna get out no matter what,NOT true.A dessicant chamber should be fairly airtight.I do this by using self adhesive weatherstripping.The reason i say that the spores will not get out if you put a fan in a sealed box is because it will not be building up any pressure to push out the spores.In a sealed system the fan is not drawing in any additional air to pressurize the box,it is only recirculating what is already in there.
Hempwizard |
johnny rocket (Cfunkymunk)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 03:23 pm: |
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thats what im saying RonT.you want to create an overall sealed inviroment with low relative humidity and air circulation through the shrooms for optimal drying conditions even if you live in the rain forest.i feel a design coming on.oh yeah,i have been using single side adhesive foam tape for sealing tubs,and it works great. |
willwonk (Willwonk)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 03:29 pm: |
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Here's a picture of stage 1 of my drying system:
 |
Hippie3 (Admin)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2002 - 06:22 pm: |
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lol
i have the exact same set-up, willwonk.
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fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 02:04 am: |
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Different strokes brother,different strokes. |
fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 02:06 am: |
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I fellow myconut, OZZ is making the same setup, we will see how it turns out |
willwonk (Willwonk)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 02:52 am: |
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fungusmaximus, didn't mean to stomp on your tek.
sorry |
fungusmaximus (Fungaloid)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 04:13 am: |
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Willwonk,
No I didnt take it that way at all, besides its not really a TEK its just how I do it. I listed the instructions for others to try. I was mainly talking to J.Rocket and Ron.T. Outside opinions and tips are good for development! |
Hippie3 (Admin)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 01:49 pm: |
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just a joke,
just a joke.
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willwonk (Willwonk)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 02:28 pm: |
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hey, where is the joke |
cowshitblues (Cowshitblues)
| | Posted on Monday, November 18, 2002 - 12:19 am: |
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\image} |
cowshitblues (Cowshitblues)
| | Posted on Monday, November 18, 2002 - 12:23 am: |
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cowshitblues (Cowshitblues)
| | Posted on Monday, November 18, 2002 - 12:25 am: |
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http://archives.mycotopia.net/discus/messages/2/17067.html?1037550433
ill get this whole picture posting stuff soon...plus i deleted my picture of the dryer..DOH |
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