By Hippie3 (Hippie3) on Wednesday, June 20, 2001 - 12:38 pm: Edit

Hip's Bulk Tek

First, let me say that I'm a big fan of the PF Amazonian 'classic' strain (still my #1!) and a firm disciple of the PF Tek. PF himself has my utmost respect and all my little 'innovations' are merely elaborations upon his ideas.

In my mind, the biggest drawback to the tek is the damn 1/2 pint jars... they cost $$, can be hard to find, and must be washed after use, quite a chore if more than just a dozen or so are involved.

So let's talk about oven bags. As in Reynolds-brand oven bags, used for roasting turkeys, chicken, etc. whole. They come in various sizes - small is 10" by 16", rated to hold 4 pounds weight and oven-safe at up to 400° F.

They are also available much larger, as in the 'turkey' size, are cheap (a few bucks, <$5 for a box of five 'small') and available year round in any decent grocery store.

They make dandy 'jars' for PF-style substrate in bulk amounts. Just mix up enough rice/verm. for X # of jars, (see note at bottom for a few ideas on this part) spoon into the bag, tie the bag closed with a wad of polyfil in the neck for air exchange,, bake at 250° F for 45 min. Allow to cool in the oven until safe to touch. Stick the now cooled oven bag inside another, larger bag, ziplock and let cool to room temp. When cool, one can inject spores/innoculant right through the plastic (seal hole with tape) or the polyfil. Once white growth becomes visible in a few days, one can speed up colonization by shaking the bag, and mixing the patches into uncolonized areas. Instead of spores, one can use mycellial solutions, spent cakes (remove outer surface & use clean core), etc.

Note: one can fit rather large amounts into these bags but contamination losses increase proportionately. Try it with enough for 6 jars 1st & see what you think.

A few pointers:

Double bag the substrate - i.e. fill a regular size oven bag with the substrate, seal that by twisting and the tie included in the box (heat-resistant, non-metallic for microwave fans), then place that inside yet another, larger oven bag and seal it likewise.
Squeeze most of the air out of the inner bag so steam has room to expand and leave some air in the outer large bag, so as the inner bag cools, any air sucked in is also sterile.
Once "baked" for 45 minutes, pop the entire thing in yet a larger third ziplock storage bag, the kind that can handle hot foods. Then into the fridge to cool.
Use an electric mixer on low to mix up 4 - 6 jars worth of substrate in a few seconds in a large bowl.
When filling the oven bags, fold back the rim several inches, so no foodstuff gets on the bag near the neck/seal.
When innoculating, don't let the needle touch the substrate, just raise the plastic above the 'cake' an inch or so & squirt spores everywhere, about 3 cc will do plenty. (About 3 dozen 'jars' worth with 1 syringe!!)
After innoculation, throw several into a black plastic trashbag to keep out the light & help prevent contams.
Test bags before using by filling with water, discard any that leak.