24 replies to this topic

[Salty117]

Trying out some chia seed in a recipe. It thickens water, and provides some nutrients. Perhaps this could be a substitute or partial substitute for agar? The recipe I'm pc'ing right now is..

 

25g Chia Seeds

10g Agar Agar powder

6g Dextrose

0.75g Nutritional Yeast

500ml boiling water

 

 

Depending on how dense the agar turns out when it solidifies, I may cut the agar agar powder down to 8g. Kinda want to see just how much I can cut back on the agar agar powder to stretch it out more. Perhaps I should have cut the yeast from this batch to work on the density of the finished product.. ah well, I'll see how this turns out and come update the thread here.

Edited by Salty117, 11 November 2021 - 07:44 PM.

[Salty117]

Added a little bit of "Grass Green" coloring.. can barely tell lol.

 

 

[MushLuvR]

Good luck with the project... I'll have to keep an eye on ya.  Nice work so far.  

[Salty117]

Thanks! Tomorrow I'll be making some transfers into these cups from my ATL#7, Tampanensis, Natalensis, and Cubensis cultures I have going right now 

[rockyfungus]

For some reason my last batch of agar was semi-solid. So I went with an LC/agar. 

With 500 mL of H2O I get away with 5-7g of agar depending on it's gel strength. I bet with chia 5g is a good starting point, but don't jump the gun for me 

 

[Salty117]

For some reason my last batch of agar was semi-solid. So I went with an LC/agar. 

With 500 mL of H2O I get away with 5-7g of agar depending on it's gel strength. I bet with chia 5g is a good starting point, but don't jump the gun for me 

 

I am thinking that may be my end goal, to get down to 4g~5g of agar powder in the recipe. I started at 10g because I have been using upwards 12g of agar powder. At 10g the surface of my solidified agar would have a small pool of moisture that seemed to cover upwards half of the surface.. probably isn't harmful but when I bumped it up to 12g that seemed to do away with that extra moisture. I do like the way this batch turned out, pretty dense. I'm planning to cut the agar by 2g of every batch that produces satisfactory results until things get less so.

[rockyfungus]

Different brands have different gel strengths. My go to brand changed formulas and I’m closer to 8g 500 ml. (7.76g)

[Pepper34045]

Salty and I looked at some of the cups today. Other than the slight tilt due to the uneven house, they look great! Very interesting. Would probably be sick to look at while tripping!

[Salty117]

Different brands have different gel strengths. My go to brand changed formulas and I’m closer to 8g 500 ml. (7.76g)

 

I did not know that there were different gel strengths... I'm about to run out of my go-to brand and I wouldn't be able to get another one until late november at the soonest.. so I settled for another brand. What is your preferred brand Rocky?

[rockyfungus]

lol cheapest…

I just grab bulk off Amazon. Or if the local Asian store is cheaper.

Wait salt and pepper. Holy crap! Am I reading into this right???

Edited by rockyfungus, 13 November 2021 - 12:47 PM.

[Salty117]

Lol yes you are, it's a pun whipped up by my gf.

 

I have been getting a brand off amazon called Eco-Taste for a little while. I couldn't find anything on the label of the container describing the gelling consistency but I'll whip a couple batches up when the other brand gets in on monday and get it figured out.

[rockyfungus]

Wish I kept old packaging.Currently fitlane nutrition organic agar. Says 1/2 tsp per 1/2c water. 

Seen it labeled like g/cm² or something. 

 

Alright random site says 2 grams = 1 tsp. So 1/2 tsp = 1g agar.

1/2C water when I baked is like 118grams. 

2grams=1tsp. so 1/2 tsp =1gram.

so 1 gram per 118ml. If my conversions are right they claim 4ish grams per 500ml???

 

https://www.scienced...014305719321779

 

https://www.amazon.c...h/dp/B008SV6OLM

Used this before and liked it forgot if price was a factor on switch. 

Don't want to do math with stupid conversions. But that one says 15g to 1000ml. So That's why I did 7.5g for 500ml. Then made it down to 5g...
telephone brand 1 gram to 120 gram water (1/2 cup)

 

Edit: did the dumb math lets clean this up. Now I'm more confused. All I know is teleophone>fitlane and that excellent strength was just that excellent. 

Edited by rockyfungus, 13 November 2021 - 02:48 PM.

[Salty117]

The chia seed agar with 10g of agar agar powder seems to be pretty darn dense. Made my transfers today, a few Natalensis, a few ATL#7, a few Tampanensis, a couple Pan Cyan "Rainbow Eucalyptus," and a couple cube varieties.. those are Tennessee cubensis, Martinique, and Cambodian. I hope that the growing medium isn't too dense..

[Salty117]

Here's a couple pics of the agar I was using and the agar that I just got. The old container doesn't give a gelling strength rating, but the new one says 700g/cm^2

 

What I have been using

 

What I have just received

 

 

If my pounding headache subsides I will be whipping up some more Chia Seed agar today. I'll be following the same recipe I previously used except with reduced agar powder. Some of the transfers I have made onto the first batch of chia seed agar have begun to reach out onto the plate. Will post some pics of that when they make a little more progress.

 

P.S. should I be concerned about the sodium content that I only just noticed is mentioned on the label?

Edited by Salty117, 16 November 2021 - 11:26 AM.

[rockyfungus]

That's good stuff! Had great success with it in the past. Never noticed the sodium unless it's new. 

[Salty117]

It seems the first batch of Chia Seed agar that I put together is a little too nutritious. Getting some clear gel-lookin' growth like when I first started making agar and was over-complicating things. I'm going to try another batch soon without the dextrose, same amount of yeast and chia seed.

[jkdeth]

Chia seed is pretty nutritious by itself. And I don't know if its related but turns to gel when hydrated. I think I would overnight hydrate the chia seeds before mixing the agar.

[bezevo]

i was using  telephone brand AGAR from chinese store ,  i just bought a giiant one lb jar of agar from amazon it was like $28 , cheaper than telephonne   brand.....oops sorry for gigantic pic

 

https://www.amazon.c...le?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

Edited by bezevo, 20 November 2021 - 08:59 PM.

[Salty117]

Sorry I should have elaborated, the mycelium growth was looking clear and gelatinous on some plates which is something that I have previously encountered when I was first starting to make my own agar, and really over complicating things.. I'll include some photos below, I hope that what I'm referring to is easy to see. Of all my samples, the plate that I laid the Martinique Cubensis tissue upon seems to be the only one enjoying itself. 

 

Cambodian Cube

 

 

 

Wild TN Cube

 

 

 

Ps. Galindoi (ATL#7), not sure if the photo is going to do what I'm seeing with my eyes justice but I'll post it anyway.

 

 

 

Ps. Tampanensis var. Pollock. This fellow is NOT having anything to do with the chia seed agar. Little to no growth on any 3 of the plates.

 

 

And here's the Martinique Cube that seems to be having a little party by itself.

 

 

 

All of these samples came from clean plates and aseptic proceedure has been exercised

 

I realize now that I ran this little experiment ass-forward... Should have just started off with 25g chia seeds, 10g agar agar (arguably 8g but oh well), and 500ml boiling water.. and work my way up from there... add yeast if things look good... if they improve with yeast but doesn't seem to overdo it then I'll try adding just a couple grams of dextrose.

Edited by Salty117, 20 November 2021 - 10:05 PM.

[rockyfungus]

"Potato dextrose agar (PDA) contains dextrose as a carbohydrate source which serves as a growth stimulant and potato infusion that provides a nutrient base for luxuriant growth of most fungi.

typical raw potato is 79% water, 17% carbohydrates (88% is starch), 2% protein, and contains negligible fat

Dried chia seeds contain 6% water, 42% carbohydrates, 16% protein, and 31% fat"

You're probably right about having way too much nutes!
If I was playing around I'd probably do minimal chia and just a bit of agar and see if that's all ya need.