26 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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[YoshiTrainer]

P. subaeruginosa getting started on 1lb. rice w/2oz pearled barley. This is the new recipe with increased water, 4tsp water per 1/4 cup rice or 6 oz water per pound rice.

I also have P. Semilanceata (2nd picture) and P. Serbica working on rice agar.

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[YoshiTrainer]

I read the other day that semilanceata is a stone producer. This makes me more excited to try growing it on rice for consumption.

Here is 1lb brown rice and 2 Oz pearled barley with wedges of semilanceata.

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[coAsTal]

Really grateful for your experiments with BR-- I have plans on working with it more in the coming months, and this thread is great brain food.

 

A question/thought-- have you considered perhaps cold-soaking the rice for a few hours prior to PC, just to soften it up a little and hydrate the outer seed (then probably you'd go back to your earlier liquid ratio to avoid too much liquid overall since the rice would have some modest hydration going in).

 

I wonder if having slightly hydrated medium would allow more steam to soften a larger portion of rice during PC?

 

Just thinking aloud-- and thanks again for the documentation of your work!

[Moonless]

Brown rice does have some advantages over WBS, Oats and other grains as it has a very low endospore rate. This means that jars of whole grain brown rice can be prepped without a PC and if you want to do bags like this tek, you can use an electric PC like the instapot.

[YoshiTrainer]

Thank you coAsTaL, so far, I have not presoaked, just dump the ingredients in the bag and PC. After reading about double PC for other grains, I have been thinking about a cold soak first. So far, when I use a clean culture and seal the bag properly, my bags have stayed clean. Since using the new recipe with slightly more water, I've noticed complete colonization without any extra effort. I'll be curious after 3-5 months how they look.

Thank you Moonless, I did not know that about rice, it puts my mind at ease, a little. I'll still PC because I can but that is great info!

Pic, Subaeruginosa finished with a 1lb of rice and 2oz pearled barley, now the wait begins.

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Edited by YoshiTrainer, 14 October 2020 - 12:46 PM.

[Moonless]

No worries about it Yosh! I personally use brown rice for all of my grows because I exclusively use an instant pot to prep my jars and bags. The reason that this is cool is that electric PC like the instant pot only get up to 12-14 PSI and its nice to know that bags can be prepped like this.

[YoshiTrainer]

Here is some Lion's Mane started 8/15 on about 1.5C cooked brown rice using the original recipe posted here. I was trying to make "tempeh" and kind of forgot about them in a dark drawer. I made them into a mini dub tubs and put them near a N. facing window. Now some fruits and "tempeh".

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[YoshiTrainer]

A quick update, I've increased the water to 200ml per pound of rice. After months in the bag, they seemed to get a little dry. So far, the new ratio seems good.

In the picture is Ps. Papuana on brown rice, inoculated 12/16, seems to like it!

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[sandman]

Try 300ml /lb for a 40% moisture. 455 + 300 x 0.40

 

It is better to let the water soak up into the grains or rice for at least several hours before cooking the bags to prevent the expansion while the bags are soft which weakens the bags and can cause breakage.

Edited by sandman, 02 January 2021 - 08:25 AM.

[YoshiTrainer]

Thank you very much Sandman for the advice, I will try it! Thankfully, so far, the bags have stretched w/out rupturing though they do get a little "pear shaped".

Is 40% the ideal moisture level for all grains or just brown rice?

Edited by YoshiTrainer, 02 January 2021 - 02:52 PM.

[sandman]

For bags ~40% is a pretty good ratio to start off at. ~35% works best for more stubborn grains like millet.

 

Just to get the right ratio you need to calculate what percentage of water is in the total weight of the bag. So 1lb grain + 0.5 lb water = 1.5 lb bag with half a lb of water in it = 33.33333% water not 50% water if you get my drift.

[YoshiTrainer]

Thank you again Sandman!