So!
I'm at a point where I'm seeing enough success with my (relatively) new SAB that I wanted to post photos- in case my own designs and mistakes might help someone else whose thinking about building their own..
Ironically, i deconstructed my flow-hood for parts to build this- the electric-system (solar) in my house is no where near powerful enough to handle the flow hood- so!
The Location for my mushroom-'clean room' is pretty terrible- it's just next to my shower, which is just next to the kitchen.... The house that I'm renting.... the weirdest feng shui pretty much ever- First photo is a shot looking 'down' into my 'clean' room- It's an 8 foot square pool- inside the house (idk what the person who was building this house was thinking) It's not ideal but it's really the best spot I have to work with- and, the fact that I have seen success in this space is indicative that pretty much anyone should beable to find a suitable spot to do mush-work.
You can see my SAB with cover in the corner.
I plasticed over the walls and ceiling with heavy greenhouse plastic- which currently acts as a 'door'- Though the air displacement needed to enter I don't like much. I need to build some stairs- but other projects currently have priority.
2nd photo- A picture from the side of the SAB-.
My dimensions are 2 feet, x 23 inches, x 3 feet. Sitting on top of a table that comes up to my waist- I believe it's 30 inches.
I don't remember who all posted in my thread a few months back asking about SAB techniques, but I took the advice to heart- 'LOTS OF SPACE!' 'BIG ARM HOLES' we're what people said. Well, my armholes are about 8 inches diameter, which is big enough to fit some 10quart shoe-totes inside. Buttt. As far as size goes, I actually built the thing a bit too damn big. It's a real reach to reach the back wall to clean- and I have to stand on small stool to be high enough to work in the thing. I had the glass custom cut so unless I go back and get another top made, I'm stuck with it.... It's a minor inconvienience- but I share the story in case anyone else is thinking about building thier own. It is possible to build it too big!
I'm a major nerd for 'flow' of process- so alot of my additions have been to create ease of movement.
Paper Towel / tape holder= awesome- though I'm going to change the location to center and underneath the main worktable once I rebuild that to better specs (more surface area.)
You can see in the last photo I built two 'plate shelves' on either side (Above the paper towel dispenser)- Which helps to get stuff off the work table when I'm doing alot of transfers etc.
Here's the best photo I could get of my work light- It's an 8 watt LED strip I screwed to the wall and added a visor on top of to keep glare down.
I guess I should also mention cuz I don't think you can see from the photos- I sanded all the wood down with an angle grinder, and then covered it in some weather-proofing- and additionally stapled the rest of the greenhouse plastic I had to the inside to create a non-porous surface. All corners/edges got siliconed.
Next photo is a picture of the main workstation (movable) which sits about 6 inches off the table, and maybe a 2 feet wide. It's too narrow though- and I intend to rebuild it wider, and with 2 levels, along with pre-cut holes to act as 'cup holders' for my jar of alcohol / agar tools.
Now Onto Current Agar Projects!
Whew! I'm finally feeling confident/competent with the agar after the last round- Partially I think due to the efficacy of the 'Antibacterial' agar experiments which I have definitely addressed some of the contamination issues I was having with yeasts/fast growing bacteria....
Currently, I have two 'recipes' running-
One is a Carb free Green Tea Agar- 25 g green tea in 500 ml boiling water, steeped for something like 30 minutes, + 7.5 g agar
Second is another anti-microbial agar experiment- using Black Walnut Hulls-
Black walnut hulls have been traditionally used as an anti-fungal and anti-parasitic for quite some time- And that's the main reason I have them on my shelf- (I'm an herbalist and use it in formulas frequently).... So when I was in the agar mindset a week or so ago I figured... Why not try it?
So This recipe was '28 g Black walnut, in cold water, brought to a boil, simmered for around 30 minutes, and strained
+ 500 ml Water, 10 grams of unprocessed brown sugar (panela) and 7.5 g of agar.
So far, results seem promising, but need more testing before getting excited about.
First two photos of a Golden Teacher culture grown out from a transfer taken which has been sitting in the fridge for a couple of months - one on Green Tea agar, the other on the black walnut- The BW is slightly faster, because of having a sugar source, but not by too much. This culture seems FAST- hungry to get nourishment after being dormant for so long. Kinda wispy, but I'm not going to be hard on em :)
Next photo is exciting-
First real success I've had with a clone attempt- taken from an outdoor mushroom (This one)
I took four transfers, split open the mushroom with my hands - which is challenging! (to avoid pushing bacteria into the sterile inside with a scapel)- From the top of the stipe, and from the inside of the fleshy part of the cap. It looks like This one is the only one actually 'taking'.... Which I suppose is a pointer that part of the agar game is 'statistics'- Do multiple transfers until something takes!
I'm a bit confused about this plate, as I haven't seen contamination like those little sparkles- I'm fairly certain the one radial culture in the lower left is the Lions mane (this was inoculated from an old LC).... but I havent seen contamination like those other bits before....
This next is the same Lions mane LC on Green Tea Agar- you can see one spot of mold- but the fact that it's just been sitting there and not aggressively taking over the plate is testament to the fact that the green tea is antimicrobial (/and/or that zero-carb is an effective method to control unwanted microbial growth)
Terrible condensation in this plate- but! you can see the shard of lions mane body in the middle, surrounded by what (I'm pretty sure) is the re-vivification of it. This was my second attempt at reviving a culture from a dried fruit body ( from some lions mane I bought from China)
I've taken a second transfer from this plate, and I plan on taking it to grain tonight.
This was not done on the antibacterial agar.
Finally, same try with cordyceps!
Edited by Severian, 14 December 2022 - 04:53 PM.
