Hey everyone! I have been a member here for 20 years but i have been gone for quite some time. Certain things in life have caused me to pursue this hobby once again, but this time for a more mature goal in mind. Mycotopia was my original home forum, back on the old purple pages. I remember the day that it was announced that Hippie3 had passed. Since I am now pursuing this hobby again I thought i would give back to the community in the best way that I know how, with the sharing of knowledge that will hopefully help some of you guys out there.
After about a hundred pounds of mostly failed grain bags I think I have finally dialed this TEK in to where it is DEAD SIMPLE, effective, and cheap to replicate my results.
I start off with a fifty pound bag of oats from the feed store. Some of you may be wondering, "why oats?" The answer is simple. Oats are cheap(.50 cents a pound), widely available and are relatively clean in comparison to many other grains i have worked with. These are from tractor supply and cost $25 a bag.
I like using the medium or large spawn bags for this method. I have the calculations for both sizes. If you go with the 6x5x20 spawn bags i like to run 6 bags in a presto 23 qt. If you go with the big 8x5x20 I add 50% more grain per bag and only run 4 bags at a time. This equates out to exactly the same amount of grain spawn, but you save two bags from the landfill. Both of these options will give you just enough room to do G2G transfers and still have room to mix the bags around with a little massaging.
For the 6x5x20 bag you are going to use a 4 cup measuring cup(1000 ml) filled to the absolute maximum level. The oats should be about to spill over, but not so full that you spill everywhere when you pick it up. For those who like to be more precise you can weigh the grains. It comes out to just under 2 lbs(1.96 to be exact). Dump the oats into your spawn bag and add 750 ml of water(about 735 g). If you you want to add gypsum, you can but I don't find it necessary. about a tsp per bag is all i use when i have it handy, but i don't stress if i forget it. Now just stick your hand in there and get all the oats coated in water so they cook a little more evenly.
For the 8x5x20 bags everything is multiplied by a factor of 1.5, for a total of about 3 lbs of oats per bag, and approximately 1100 ml of water. Everything here is ballpark. just get close without stressing a few grams here and there. The point of this TEK is ease of use.
The next step is to fold up the bags nice and pretty, and then cook them. You DO NOT have to seal the bags or do anything special. Tuck the folds underneath, but make sure the ends ARE NOT submerged in the water otherwise the vacuum created by the loss in temperature will suck water into the bags. If you are worried about this fold the bags so the end is facing upwards along the sides of the pressure cooker for the bottom bags.
PC for 90 min @15 PSI. Make sure to cap the bags with a plate or something to keep the bags from expanding and blocking the vent of the pressure cooker. That is probably the most important thing when transitioning to bags from jars. The bags are dirt cheap online nowadays. Back when I started they were a luxury I could not justify. Once you make the switch you will be able to fit WAY MORE grain in a single pressure cooker run, thus improving your efficiency at least two fold.
That's all for now folks. I will do my write up on WBS soon. I am still dialing in a few things for that as well. I have a method down where i rinse, strain and cook, but I am playing with a no rinse method that seems to be working well so far. I would like to make sure it is good to go before putting the info out there and having people not get good results with it. I think the key is high quality seed, that isn't too dirty from the get go.
Edited by tobynutz, 30 July 2022 - 05:18 PM.
