  
Nan (Nanook)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2001 - 08:12 am: | 
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The best way to dunk is to put the cakes back into Clean jars. At least run them through the dishwasher with some bleach unless they are fresh birthed.
Fill the clean jars with Clean Water until the water is right up to the lip of the jar. The cake will be floating... Then place a clean plastic soda bottle cap (hint: wash the bottle caps with the jars), rounded side down, on the center of the floating cake. Place the lid on carefully and screw it down over the sink.
A few tablespoons of water will spill out, the soda bottle cap acts as a spacer and holds the cake submerged. A nut sized wad of foil also works.
Pop the jar into the fridge. Note the hour.
After the dunk, open the jars over the sink, drain the water, and rinse the cake off under the tap. Then Re-Case and return to the Fruiting Chamber.
Yes you can dunk with pins.
That's my best Dunk Tek.
Contams after Dunking |
Bobby (Bobby)
| | Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2001 - 04:27 am: |
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I here alot of people talking about dunking in water before putting in terranium. Is this a good Idea. What the advantages, disadvantages. Can some one walk me through it(specifics and such). |
Brettiejams (Brettiejams)
| | Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2001 - 04:47 am: |
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Proper hydration of the mycelium is essential before each flush to ensure enough water is available for the fruiting cycle.
Dunking is a way to add water to your mycellium.
I advocate dunking highly.
Check out this link
Mycotopia Dunk Tek
www.mycotopia.net/teks/dunktek.html
If you have any further questions after reading that.... ask away. |
Some Body (Texasshroomer)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 02:27 am: |
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After I dunk my cakes for at least 12 hours, should I dry them with paper towels before putting them into the terrarium?
TS |
Nanook of the North (Nanook)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 04:47 am: |
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It really is not needed. Just fill a jar lid, small plastic dish, or some foil with dry verm (make sure there is a drain hole for water), set the cake on it, sprinkle a few tablespoons of dry verm on top... The soak the verm down until it is really wet... See you are going to wet it down again anyway, why bother drying it...
The fewer things/times the cake is touched the better off it is.
Then fan 2-4 times a day, mist the walls of the container lightly, and drip some more water on the verm casing if it dries. |
glitter goddess (Xazia)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2001 - 02:57 pm: |
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i just harvested my first flush on 8 cakes. i Cleaned them of Abhorts and immediately dunked them. i use regular tap water and did not put them in the fridge.
did i [email protected]# up???
because now i hear, "let the cakes rest first" and to use DI water and stick em in the fridge.
please tell me i'm not headin for disaster.
thanx in advance! |
Lichen (Lichen)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2001 - 03:02 pm: |
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you're fine. Just don't let them dunk for too long...10 hours is enough...24 hours is the outside, and beyond that they die, drowned. |
Trollhunter (Trollhunter)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2001 - 05:52 pm: |
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i wonder how they are going to take the clorine in the tap water? |
Brettiejams (Brettiejams)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2001 - 06:30 pm: |
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The chlorine in the water may stymie things a bit initially.... but the myc is pretty tough.... it'll be just fine i'd say  |
glitter goddess (Xazia)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2001 - 07:06 pm: |
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eeeekkkk!
CHLORINE!!!!!
what do you mean "stymie things at first"?
and i dunked for right under 24 hours, prolly bout 20 hours or so. |
Lichen (Lichen)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2001 - 11:30 pm: |
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Chlorine probably isn't good for the mycelium, in other words, and it may slow the cakes down a bit |
Waverider (Waverider)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 12:09 am: |
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Can you add dextrose or honey to the dunk to "feed" the cakes? Has anyone tried this? |
Nanook of the North (Nanook)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 02:30 am: |
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"Feeding" the cakes will cause contams to increase at a drastic rate. You are best off dunking in purified drinking water: like from the water machines popping up in grocery stores and wally marts everywhere. Good bottled drinking water or spring water are also excellent.
Glitter Goddess, you will be fine. Tap water is not the best for dunking, but you have done no serious harm. Relax
Nan |
glitter goddess (Xazia)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 03:54 pm: |
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WHEW!!!
thanx a lot guys! |
Saney (Saney)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 05:39 pm: |
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I dunked my hawaiian cakes for 16 hours in the fridge, Took 'em back out and stuck them in the terranium. Only 1 cake grew a mushroom, and it aborted.. So I dunked them all again for 24 hours. My cakes are 5x's heavier now, They feel really water logged. Is it possible to over-dunk? I know after 48 hours they will die..
On the brighter side, theres a huge white knot forming on-top of 2 of the cakes.. I probrablly just earned myself a few fatasses.
Also, after the first flush on my first casing, i scratched the casing layer, then added another thin layer of soil and let it sit for 3 days in the dark. I think what started to grow was cobweb mold, it looked fuzzy. When I shot it with h2o2/water is disapeared.. Weird.. |
poplar hill (Itchybake)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 06:22 pm: |
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it is definetly possible to over hydrate. if it feels water logged, it probably is. i over hydrated a cake, and there was so much water in it that the cake became weak and just crumbled. after the first dunk, the cakes were probably fine. you just have to be patient for pins again. i know eq's typically take a while for a second flush. |
Kooka C. Burra (Kookaburra)
| | Posted on Monday, October 29, 2001 - 09:46 pm: |
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I dunked my cakes for 7 1/2 hours yesterday, post first flush harvest. They've all got some bluish areas, just aren't looking particularly healthy.
It's now about 19 hours since I took em out of the clean fresh spring water I dunked them in, but the blue areas don't seem any better. Aren't they supposed to turn white again, after being rehydrated?
Are my cakes ok?  |
Nan (Nanook)
| | Posted on Monday, October 29, 2001 - 10:01 pm: |
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7-1/2 hours is not much of a dunk. I usually start out with twice that dunk time and go up from there on blued post-second flush cakes. You can dunk them again. 24 hours dunked in the fridge does not hurt them. |
Hatcher (Hatcher)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 - 01:50 pm: |
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Thanks Nan. Dude, I've been just letting them float in individual jars. (Remember guys, gotta keep 'em separated!) Any comments on weighting them down to fully submerge them? Probably not worth the extra effort, huh? Later! |
Brettiejams (Brettiejams)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 - 04:53 pm: |
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If you put the cake in the jar, and then(over the sink) fill the jar with water all the way to the top... the cake will float of course. Then, push the cake back into the jar with the lid while putting the lid back on the the jar.
For me, this method leaves little to no air in the jar when dunking.
It seems that dunking in a big ziplock bag would be an easy way to make sure the cakes were fully submerged as well.... easy to get all the air out |
Nan (Nanook)
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 - 07:42 pm: |
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Invert a plastic soda bottle cap and place it on top of the cake before screwing the lid down. It's a perfect sized spacer. |
Hatcher (Hatcher)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - 06:48 am: |
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So, get 'em submerged I take it. Using distilled water tho..you guys are using city tap water, right? I have misted cased cakes w/the water I spray my toads with. I.e., tap water that has been treated with pet store ammonia-lok and dechlorinator. Care for that idea? Thanks guys!
Hatcher |
Nan (Nanook)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - 07:01 am: |
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Yeah you want them submerged and the plastic soda cap is just the perfect hight to get them completely under without squishing anything.
I use reverse-osmosis treated water from the local grocery store or wally mart for all my mycology stuff. I bought a glass five gallon carboy and handle awhile back and I fill it at the machine for under $3.00. It's real clean and contains no dissolved salts or minerals. I use it for _everything_ and never worry about the quality of the H2O. |
XUnkyHerbX (Notapplicable)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - 11:01 am: |
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Hatcher, ball of pieces of tinfoil, stick them on top of your cakes, then seal the lid over it.. make the tinfoil ball the size of a soda cap ;) |
Nan (Nanook)
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - 02:30 pm: |
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Yep yep... A small wad of foil is my second choice. |
none (Paradigm)
| | Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 01:38 am: |
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For everyone who started out dunking cakes in large bowls and wasting a lot of water this may help you a bit. Try taking a ziploc bag and adding a bit of water to the bag (experiance will tell you how much) then just suck the air out of the ziplock (try not to choke on water) then seal the top this leaves the cake completly covered in water and doesnt take up as much space as well as keeping the amount of water waste down and now you dont need to worry about setting something heavy on top of your cake to keep it under water just try to keep the bag in a place where if it did manage to spring a leak you dont ruin something important. |
Snoopy (Snoopy)
| | Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 01:43 am: |
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good call! |
An guy (Boomer)
| | Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 02:12 am: |
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Hey- great idea!
Thanks! |
Lichen (Lichen)
| | Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 02:19 am: |
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why not just put the cakes in the jars they came out of, fill with water, and put the lid on???? |
SYDYSTYK (Addict)
| | Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 02:38 am: |
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the jars should already be full of substrate colonizing again |
Nan (Nanook)
| | Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 02:50 am: |
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Plastic bags work fine, and I have used them. But I still think the best way to Dunk is to put the cakes back into Clean jars. At least run them through the dishwasher with some bleach.
Fill the clean jars with Clean Water until the water is right up to the lip of the jar. The cake will be floating... Then place a clean plastic soda bottle cap (hint: wash the bottle caps with the jars), rounded side down, on the center of the floating cake. Place the lid on carefully and screw it down over the sink.
A few tablespoons of water will spill out, the soda bottle cap acts as a spacer and holds the cake submerged. A nut sized wad of foil also works.
Pop the jar into the fridge. Note the hour.
After the dunk, open the jars over the sink, drain the water, and rinse the cake off under the tap. Then Re-Case and return to the Fruiting Chamber.
Now plastic bags are clean and sterile, but I want the cakes completely submerged. Plastic bags end up being much messier and more wasteful. You use a lot more water too.
That's my best Dunk Tek.
Contams after Dunking |
venusfly (Venus)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2001 - 07:49 pm: |
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I have several cakes in an aquarium.They have little pins on them.I would like to take them out and dunk them.I should scrape the fuzz off right?then dunk for at least twelve hours.Here is the real question.Can I dunk then take the cakes and cut them up and do the layer tek for a tray of casing?Thanks |
hippie3 (Hippie)
| | Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2001 - 08:16 pm: |
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no need to scrape off those pins, or any fuzz.
just dunk and handle it gently.
and yes, you can certainly cut them up after dunking. |
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