Dunking

Nan's Nook : Archives : Dunking
  Subtopic Posts Updated Creator
Dunking In Milk?  32    
Contamination after dunking  19   poplar hill
Voodoo Tek  62    
How to Dunk?  101   Bobby
Inner Reservoir Tek, lets talk business  158   Nugdumper

By Nan (Nanook) on Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 09:23 pm:

Start with this TEK page:  Dunking Tek  Then come back and pick up these threads. Post any new questions in growing.

Related Areas:

1) Water
Use good water

2) "How to clean PF cakes after flushing?"
Clean cakes after flushing, then dunk in the fridge.

3) Double-End Casing according to PF Tek
Case the cakes after dunking.

After dunking you will likely see White Fuzz. Don't panic, it's a good thing :)

By Spunion_Elf (Spunion_Elf) on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 07:02 am:

Just wondering your opinions on the most contam-free method of rehydrating cakes, double ended casing, dunking, or IR/Voodoo (and if so, how many holes). I don't care if it's the most difficult, I've always been able to follow lab procedure to a T, I just want the method that's gonna keep my cakes healthy and fruiting for as long as possible. Also, has any one tried giving fresh nutrients to an old cake? If my thinking is correct on this, old cakes eventually contam because they become too weak to fight off contamination, but if they have a constant supply of fresh water and nutrients, you could keep one cake flushing (theoretically at least) indefinately. Then again I really have no idea, my first spores haven't arrieved yet.

By Hatcher (Hatcher) on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 07:59 am:

You've researched first! That's good. Now, when your spores arrive, go to PF's site, start at step one, don't even think about step two til ya got it pat, then so on, and you should be OK..

By jim brown (Shrhobbyist) on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 09:19 am:

And adding fresh nutrients to a cake can increase the chance for contams as uncolonized substrate is what is most prone to contams. Look in the archieves for dunking in rice or skim milk. Your best bet is usually just to use new substrate not to add to an existing cake but rather use to make a new cake.

By quote: (Quote) on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 02:31 pm:

i'm thinking a cake with the verm. scrapped off, with 2-3 holes drilled an inch deep.
pretty contam resistant.

By Spunion_Elf (Spunion_Elf) on Thursday, January 17, 2002 - 05:07 am:

Thanks Quote. After I get some experience under my belt, and some backup spores for breating room, I'll try injecting sterilized honey or karo into the center of a spare cake and let ya'll know how it works out.

By Dr. Cubensis (Shroomzilla) on Thursday, January 17, 2002 - 05:45 pm:

Hey quote,

When it comes down to resovoir tek and dunking, which do you prefer? Or does it depend on certain conditions which one you choose?

By quote: (Quote) on Thursday, January 17, 2002 - 11:34 pm:

well, i dunk when i want to experiment with dunking,
and i use holes when i'm working on that.
both work well.
dunking is a bit more work, but it seems to give the cakes a real nice boost, which you can clearly see as it whitens and grows fuzz.
holes, empty or verm. filled, don't give such dramatic displays, but are easier and still quite effective.
if i only had a few cakes, i'd go the extra mile and dunk.
but if i had a bunch, i'd be lazy, and just fill holes.

By Spunion_Elf (Spunion_Elf) on Friday, January 18, 2002 - 01:01 pm:

Hmmmm, I'll probably do a few of both then.

I've decided with my first 10cc PFC syringe I'll use 2cc's on one 1/4 pint (to have some for a concert at the end of Feb.), 1cc in a 1/4 pint (to compare speed), 2cc's in each of two or three 1/2 pints , and 1cc on one or three 1/2 pints. So that'll give me six or eight jars to work with.

I'll probably birth all the 1/2 pints into bigger jars for printable caps, and maybe the 1/4 pints too. I just hope I can avoid any major contam problems until after I can get a few good prints and 1/2 oz. of shrooms or so.

Hope I don't fuck up

Spunion.

By Dr. Cubensis (Shroomzilla) on Friday, January 18, 2002 - 05:29 pm:

"if i only had a few cakes, i'd go the extra mile and dunk.
but if i had a bunch, i'd be lazy, and just fill holes.
"

Thanks man.

"I'll use 2cc's on one 1/4 pint " Overkill spunion, you will ruin your water ratio...
1 cc should be fine, you don't wanna contam or ruin your jars do ya? And, adding more juice is WAY more effective using a colonized liquid tek, as opposed to just spores...

Well, fuckit, forget everything i just said, experiment and enjoy!! My bad!

Good luck!

By benofnazareth (Benofnazareth) on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 12:26 am:

Anyone try drilling holes with invitro? I can't stand dunking... I'd much rather take this "lazy" approach. Soon enough I would have to be dunking 30 at a time, which i'd rather avoid. Hey, since I'm doing the neglect tek, why not be as neglectful as possible?

By Joe Mamma (Madscientist) on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 12:56 am:

Can You dunk a tray of straw the same as a cake?

By Kman (Kman) on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 01:48 am:

My freind had great success by putting a inner res of perlite inside the jar before sterilizing, that way he could inject water to the middle and I think it probaly has less chance of contaminating than straight verm.

By Visions (Visions) on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 05:56 am:

Hello everyone...This is what I would do. What you would do is make a self contained dunking system for your jar. Get some fine wire mesh from the hardware store or an old window screen. Cut the mesh about 2"in diam larger than the inside of the jar. Evenly fold up the sides of the mesh so that it can slide up and down the sides in your jar. Next get some phone line, the type with the round soft casing. Drill a hold in the center of the lid the same size in diam. as the phone line. Cut the phone line 3 times as long as the height of your jar. Cut off 2/3 of the phone line casing, now the wires should be able to easily slide in and out of the casing, if not remove one wire. Push one end ofthe phone casing through the hole in the lid about an inch. Tape the casing on the inside and out to the lid and make a tight seal. Don't tape the wires, leave them so they can slide through the casing. Connect the wires on the inside of the lid to the mesh(folded sides face up), one wire in the center and the rest around the sides. Get some "Rice Dream",Original Enriched Non-Dairy Beverage made from Organic Rice with Vitamins A,B12,D and rich in calcium. It comes in a box and you find it on the shelves at your grocery and health food stores. Costs $2 or less. You wont believe how much these mushies love this stuff!!! And whats fantastic about this stuff is that it is already sterile. It can sit on the shelves for years!... Poke a small hole in the foil lid and pour an 1 or so into your jar. Make your cake on the mesh and put it into the jar about 2" or more if you can from the Rice Dream by taping the wires that are on the outside of the lid to the wire casing. PC as usual and when it comes time to dunk just loosen the tape and lower your cake. Having the extra wire casing on the outside of the lid lets you lower sterile wire into your jar. If you didn't have it you would be lowering contams into your jar. Have fun!

By quote: (Quote) on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 03:56 pm:

damn, visions.
you're better than mcguyver.


never tried holes invitro yet,
but i see no reason it wouldn't work.
likewise with dunking straw,
although my experience with dunking
trays is rather dismal compared to cakes.

By ion ewe (Ion) on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 07:23 pm:

Macguyver! Yes! Man I loved that show... Just get stoned and watch a Macguyver marathon... it's some of the greatest stuff!

-ion

By Spun Yun Gi (Spunion_Elf) on Sunday, January 20, 2002 - 12:20 pm:

So, quote, liquid tech is easy for a newbie? (can't remember which thread you mention it in)
I guess I'll use some of my innoculum for that, I just remember a lot of posts about people getting contams with liquid cultures. But if it's simpler than working from prints I'll give it a try.

By Hatcher (Hatcher) on Sunday, January 20, 2002 - 12:32 pm:

got to Damn Spores! Spun..

By quote: (Quote) on Sunday, January 20, 2002 - 03:08 pm:

i think, if done the way i do it, that liquid culture is very easy and relatively low risk.
i just take a half-pint jar, fill it about half-way with water, then stir in a teaspoon of pure dextrose aka corn sugar.
the lid of the jar is prepared by drilling a 3/8" inch hole in it, near the outer rim. the hole is then stuffed with a wad of polyfil fiber.
i then place a piece of duct tape over the polyfil plug on the underside of the lid, to keep the water from getting it wet.
i then seal the lid on the jar,
and sterilize it by the usual method of steaming it 30-40 minutes.
allow to cool to room temp, then all you do is slide a spore syringe needle thru the polyfil plug, squirt in .25-.5 cc of spore solution,
and place in a warm area for a week or so.
once you see little clouds of mycellia growing,
you just reverse the process by inserting a clean syringe/needle back thru the polyfil, and draw up the solution without ever opening the jar.
tilt the jar slighly to get the liquid up high enough for the needle to reach.
that's it.
you can easily get several syringe-fuls of mycellia from a single jar, and it grows fast.

By Spun Yun Gi (Spunion_Elf) on Sunday, January 20, 2002 - 03:29 pm:

Thanks, man. The information I've gotten from you (and others here) will definately make my life much easier in the future, and I'm eternally grateful

For Ever Grateful, Never Dead
Spunion

By Visions (Visions) on Tuesday, January 22, 2002 - 06:55 pm:

I have a much easier method. I have it on a thread when I was talking to ion. I will try to find it.

By Visions (Visions) on Tuesday, January 22, 2002 - 07:31 pm:

This is where the whole thread is if you want to read it: Growing: IV bags with 5% dextrose $2.90 anyone ever try this ?

This was my respone, it looks like a lot of info but really it is quite quick,simple and easy to do!
By Visions (Visions) on Wednesday, January 16, 2002 - 05:58 am: Edit
This is what I have done. Searched the grocery and health food stores for clear bottles with clear or lite liquids with dextrose and other nutrients that might be good. Sports drinks work well. Then I get about a ft. of fish tank airline hose cut each end to make a sharp point. Put on the hose 2 clamps about 3 inches apart. Get the clamps at the fish store. Leave the clamps open and submerge the hose in alcohol. Drill a hole in the bottle cap just large enough for the hose to fit through then tape it(Clean the drill bit with alcohol and wrap it with a paper towel with alcohol while drilling, keep the towel slightly loose so it doesn't get wrapped on the bit). Inject spores and retape. Now fold a paper towel into a small square and add alcohol. Get a piece of tape and leave on your finger then lift out the hose and put the paper towel on one end and the tape on the other. Will take a moment for the alcohol to dry enough to place the tape so for a few seconds just hole the tape over the hole then tape it down when dry. Hold the hose vertical so that the alcohol in the hose runs down onto the paper towel, shake the hose to speed it up. Keeping the towel around the hose place the tip on the tape and push through, then tape the hose onto the cap(make a tight seal). Make holes in your cake growing jars the same size. When the mycelium is ready: You have 2 clamps. The one closer to the lid I call clamp #1. Clamp down #2. Shake bottle and invert. Clamp down #1. Now you have 3inches on mycelium broth between the two clamps. Wrap the end with a folded paper towel w/alcohol, reach in and remove the tape, keeping the end covered as much as possible poke through the tape on your cake jar then open clamp #2 letting in the mycelium. Reclamp and start over. I always use a hand sanitizer before I do this, it stays on your skin and dries fast you can get it at any restaurant supply. Have fun!

Iion responded with this---By ion ewe (Ion) on Wednesday, January 16, 2002 - 10:14 am: Edit

That's a bit extreme, there, visions... but it's a sound theory. Why go to such lengths? Do you not have a pressure cooker? Like I said, it sounds like it would work. I'd just like to know what your aversion is to the ease of needle work.

-ion

By Visions (Visions) on Wednesday, January 16, 2002 - 03:25 pm: Edit

Yea I have a very large PC but why bother when there are products with the same ingredients and they are already sterile and cheap. When you PC needles and dextrose water(whatever you may prefer)your not really sure if they are clean and each time you insert that needle to refill you are taking another chance to contam your mycelium, also when I would PC culcure water I would wait 3-5 days to see if there were contams, this way I don't wait. My way there is only 2 times you take a chance,#1 when you inject the spores and #2 when you insert the hose the first time into your spore water. My way is a one way system, after you open clamp #2 and let out the mycelium into your cake, you close clamp #2 and submerge and wash out the hose w/alcohol from clamp#2 to the end. Takes longer to write this than is does to do it. Oh, and I get bored easy, I like to try new things. I have some more ways and theories of doing things that I believe have never been discussed you may find interesting. If I have time later today I will start a discussion. Thanks for your imput! Different view points help to solve problems!

One thing I didn't mention is avoid drinks with citric acid in them, the spores will germinate but they won't grow. I don't think it kills them but it stunts their growth.

One more tip: If you make your air line hose longer about 2ft or 3ft, if it is possible for your set-up, you can hang your mycelium bottle upside down above your jars making it easy to inject into each jar.

By plinkerdink420 (Plinkerdink420) on Tuesday, January 22, 2002 - 11:18 pm:

thanks for the info visions... by typing \ link { url , text } without the spaces you can put a link to the thread without having to go through all that work.... you're a crafty one tho aren't ya... i wish i had that knack for invention... i just sit here and munch up all the table scraps i get

By Dr. Cubensis (Shroomzilla) on Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - 12:34 am:

I'm with plinkerdink...

The doctors say my brain is rapidly shrinking and by the end of the year it will be the same size as Marv albert's... Woe is me!
Kudo's to you vision! Say the dextrose/bag thread but never really ventured into it...

:)

By Visions (Visions) on Monday, February 04, 2002 - 04:05 am:

Thanks for the compliments! I havn't been doing this long but my best quality is being able to invent and simplify.