NSF

Tripsis...any cultures of anything? Or just no cultures of Omphalatus?

I hear rumors some are found in eastern victoria, but i know no more than that.

I've always been wary of fungi in road verges. I don't know why but i always thought they'd gather pollutants from the soil and concentrate them in the fruiting body. No idea why i think this way. But i've also heard red bruising fruit bodies have different concentrations to yellow bruising bodies. If you wouldn't eat fish caught in local rivers, then maybe don't eat fungi grown in local parks.

King oysters are delish and have a great texture, they just pip Agrocybe aegerita for mine. Morels for picked (although officially someone else picked them)

What about hints on getting spores from the foil to solution? Or even from paper to agar using your method hillbilly?

Some people don't mind contams. Also, the mushroom mycelium (in fast species like oysters) are generally great at putting up barriers and preventing the spread of the contam. Whether it's a physical or metabolite barrier. If I get contams I don't throw the block out, I see how it progresses, but I do isolate it from others and I won't fruit it with others. Outdoor fruiting only for those. People are often amazed that a block with contam colonises much faster with mushroom mycelium than other blocks free of contam. The theory goes that once a battle for nutrients has started then the mycelium spreads far and wide as fast as possible. It's always good to observe this kind of behaviour and know what your mushroom and your enemy is capable of in battle.

Yep feeding spent wood lover substrate to composters is fine, but as gerbil says, i'd be worried about using compost twice (in theory, as i haven't grown them). Keeping substrate on grain in the fridge is not best practise but it's ok to do. It may slow the species down initially on substrate but only for a day or two. Which is far better than losing your spawn now. Chilling it down is ok, but how cool are you talking? EDIT: Was I drunk when I wrote the above paragraph...that makes no sense at all! Chilling things in the fridge is fine, for far more than a day or two, up to a couple of months depending on the species.

PM me, i have blues... And greys, which seem pretty similar.

For me, plumbing in a gas burner is going to be a far greater expense. Even gas bottles emptying half way through a cook would be far too annoying. I see what you mean about less moving parts means less can go wrong and yes, an element has a shorter lifespan than the pot but changing an element isn't brain science ;) i love mixing that metaphor. Although changing an element in a pressure vessel is a different kettle of fish safety-wise.

Thanks tripsis. What a retarded design shortfall that is. "no no, let's not put in a both useful AND safety feature, instead, let's just put in an alarm that rings after a period of time". That's About as useful as a cock flavoured lollipop! I guess you could just plug it in to a lamp timer and set 2.5 hours on that. Shit work around though.

Oh and for PCs if i upgrade ever from a Hawkin's big boy it'll be to an electric AA. You can just set and forget can't you? Just tell it to run for 2.5 hours and it shuts itself off? Seeing as i'm about to rewire my garage i should look at the load these suckers put on a circuit and design for that.

Why does the bottom take away container end up bubbled? Couldn't you use a trivet to lift it or all of them out of the water? I haven't pre poured and sterilised but for short term stuff it sounds like a good idea. The less contam vectors the better. And i put my erlenmyer flask straight on the stove, that's what it's designed for. (but yes i then PC it with foil on top)

Doesn't reishi cure a lack of kidneys? Bullet wounds too? Death? So nah, you don't need kidneys, just the hood.

Just buy this one! ;D Ebay #: 150400550198

What's a healthy agar? It won't be pink like it was in high school science class. For me, for the moment i like non nutrified agar. I use one packet of tgold rophy brand for $1.40 from the azn store. I put on litre of water in a saucepan, i put in 60g of wheat grains (i don't have rye) and i put in 60g of sawdust. Boil for 45 minutes then strain then pour slowly through a coffee filter into a measuring jug (although i have an erlenmyer flask). If it's short of 800ml then i top it up with boiling water. I then add approx 20g of the 25g packet and i swirl and stir until it's dissolved. I tear off a square of foil and cover the top of the flask with it, then I PC for anywhere between 45 and 120 mins. If i don't use it as it cools it doesn't matter. I leave the foil on and it stays fine for weeks/months. When i want to use it, i just heat the flask over the flame of the stove. Then pour my plates. I try to not take the lid off much, just making it ajar and pouring through the smallest crack i can.

EDIT: double post

Sorry, on mobile, can't edit my post, so have to paste the link in a new post. http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i434/NotSoFro/Fungi%20to%20Share/54619a25.jpg

Mine's great and i have a low contam rate. I never get contams in my bags, which i sterilise and then innoculate in the hood. I have a a few contams in agar, about 10%. The best thing is that i work with my hands under glass, as in, it's got an angled piece of glass on the front, that i put hands under, so i can't breathe onto my stuff. So it's only a small opening, but a larger space inside. It's made by Oliphant, who are Aussie but may no longer be in business. It weighs a tonne. I can't imagine working in front of just a hepa, a home made one, i'd contam shit all the time.

@worowa: i think you are right but the one i bought had been coverted to go the other way. But i'm sceptical because there's a bunch of UV lights, why would you UV something before the HEPA or whilst venting. Maybe the uv was a mod too on mine.

Ideally you'd want your heating tube to have maximum surface area, so either lots of tubes, a spiral with a return pipe or even a pipe with 'fins' along it's length, to dicipate the heat away from the tube and into the fridge. The central column of water will control the fluctuations, and it'll all behave once the space in the fridge comes to temp, due to insulation of the fridge.

Within the fridge...hmmm what about setting up a longer vessel? Like those pieces of PVC pipe with a screw cap on each end that 4WDs have on the roof racks. This could spread the heat around. No wait, pvc might insulate. Copper at a reasonable diameter would be far too expensive. Maybe an old piece of cyclone fence post? Heater at the bottom, warm water rises, cold water falls...that kind of thing.

Wouldn't water evaporating off be a good thing in this application?? Driving humidity higher? Also, couldn't you stick a probe heater to the floor of the tank? Who says it needs to be mounted vertically? Then the water level would have to get VERY low before exposing the element.

Does that mean the thermal mass of the water with the aquarium heater would be good? I guess the water heater will also add humidity to the room. Does anybody know anything about this kind of heating and whether it's of any value? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GREEN-HOUSE-PORTABLE-HEATER-GREENHOUSE-TUBE-HEATING-x2-/300564333194?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item45fb07c28a

This has been fixed and memberships are now flowing smoothly again.

Thank you very much for the feedback, I'm looking into it now. Once I have it fixed I'll let you know and you can try again. Sorry that it's not working to sign up, we had no idea.