spawn in barrels?
Paul Stewart
stewart at bud.peinet.pe.ca
Mon Mar 20 11:32:33 EST 1995
I am trying to produce large amounts of shiitake and oyster spawn
to test-market in ready-to grow bags. I had the idea of inoculating the
appropriate pasteurized mixture into a rolling barrel composter I made
from an old, well-cleaned oil barrel; probably about 60 kg or more of
grain/sawdust/wood chips, etc (1/2 to 2/3 full). To mix the spawn every
2 weeks or so, I would simply roll the barrel. To heat to appropriate
temperature I will suspend the barrel in an old bathtub full of water
heated with a couple of aquarium heaters. I will shovel the finished
spawn into growing bags, heat-seal them, and distribute them as
ready-to-grow. The reason I don't just use autoclavable bags with my
substrate and inoculate them individually is that I don't have a pressure
cooker big enough to sterilize the bags, nor a flow hood big enough to
inoculate them. I understand that simply boil-pasteurizing them in a
barrel is not sufficient. Would this proposed method work? Any comments?
_PAUL from the Great Thawing Northeast
<stewart at bud.peinet.pe.ca>
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