7 replies to this topic

[YoshiTrainer]

I started working with brown rice and pearled barley for grain teks involving Lions Mane, Semperviva, Caerulescens, Pseudoaztecorum amd hopefully others. My previous attempts at boiling the rice for 10 min then drain and fan before loading in jars or bags and PCing would come out wet. This tek is still not 100% finished but so far so good. I start w/a 5lb bag of brown calrose rice in my filter patch bag. Then I add a 1lb bag of pearled barley, you don't have to, I like pearled barley and the mycelium seems to enjoy it too. Mix the dry ingredients and dump in 30 oz water, fold the bag over with the patch on the inside and add a piece of tape. Then just PC at 15psi for 2.5hrs. Alow to cool in the PC usually for 24hrs. When it comes out of the PC, you'll notice the rice is unevenly cooked. The rice in the bottom of the bag is fully cooked maybe with some ruptured grains. The rice on top, above the water line, is barely parboiled, that is ok. From here, it is up to you, add agar, LA, LC, or grain then seal. Once sealed crumble your block to mix in your source mycelium. After a few weeks, crumble again.

So far, my block (only 4lb) looks healthy and not wet at all. I used LC on 8/16 and crumbled on 8/23. We'll see in a few months if it is a success or not.

You might be able to do this in a wide mouth pint or 1/2 pint or other jar size with no shoulders. This stuff will not shake!

Simple mix ratios:
3 tsp of water per 1/4 cup rice
5 oz water per 1lb of rice

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[ElPirana]

Before inoculating the bag, do you think there might be some benefit to mixing the grains in order to better distribute the moisture? I’ve done a bunch of no-prep millet jars and would always shake a few times over the next day or two following the PC. That last pic looks pretty good....is the mycelium moving through the grains at the very top of the bag?

Thanks for the write-up! Can’t wait for more updates.

[FunG]

Good write up yoshitrainer.

I like a good read about something new that seems practical. You cant convert me away from wbs at this time but maybe in the future I'll give this a try.

Thanks for the info mehn

[YoshiTrainer]

Thank you El Pirana! I'm not sure if there would be a benefit to mix it first or not? After inoculation, I mix and massage the bag pretty well. It seems like I get an even mixture of moist/dryer grains and equal distribution of the LC. The top of the bag does have patches of mycelium starting on it. I let the bag get a out 1/3 then crubled. The picture above is a week after that. Hopefully by next week it'll be 100% and healthy looking. Then maybe for New Years or even the start of Spring, I'll get to test it. :)

Thank you FunG! I'm not trying to convert you from WBS, that stuff works and has a nice price! This is mostly for mycelium teks.

[YoshiTrainer]

A quick update, the bag I cooked for the original post looks pretty good. Unfortunately for me, I was using new bags and didn't have my sealer set just right. During the first crumble, the seal came open a tiny bit. So, I have my suspicion's about this bag in the long run but for now, white and fuzzy. Ill most likely give it a crumble this week. My other colonized bag received another crumble just to be sure and will be left alone until New Years-ish?

I'm also thinking about going back to agar->grain->grain, LC make me nervous for grain teks that have to sit so long.

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[Dabluebonic]

This makes me want to try no prep again. I've been using whole brown rice for awhile and love it. Was thinking of modifying a rock tumbler for quick even drying of the external grain. But that is just me thinking out loud.

[Moonless]

Awesome! Just did BR jars the other day and was thinking about how I could do no prep for jars. I'll have to try this out if it gives you success.

[YoshiTrainer]

I'm thinking I might need to increase the water just a touch, maybe 4 tsp per 1/4C and 6 Oz per 1lb? The bag cooked for the original post looks like it is getting the sweats, I expected this after noticing the seal failure early on. My colonized bag is why I'm thinking i need to add a tiny bit more water. It just seems slightly dry, time will tell. Picture below is 1lb. brown rice + 2 ozs pearled barley with agar wedges of caerulescens added. If it works out, it'll get g2g.

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