<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Rikke, thanks for the kind words regarding my serendipity (as they say, there are two ways to be good, luck and talent; I guess I excel in the former). So here is an update: I prepped and cooked the first three bags of substrate (33 pounds) on Friday. This time I was very cautious about pH and monitored it closely in all stages. The substrate prior to prepping was pH-adjusted to 5.0 (down from around 5.5 drained from the mash). Post cooking the substrate pH dropped to 4.5, something I did not expect nor understand. Given the drop from cooking the substrate, I don't think I'll be adding any citric acid into the substrate for the remaining bags since the fermenting and cooking alone seems to drop the pH plenty low. It's funny how I spent all this time learning that I could succeed if I just tried
a little less hard - a true lesson in mushroom growing I guess.<br></div><div><br></div><div>The bags were inoculated 24 hours ago, and this morning I see some white hair-thin halos on a few specs of sawdust. Although I'd need magnification to know for sure--I should get one of those jeweler's magnifiers!--the only phenomenon that I know that can create this appearance is mycelium growth, so I think everything is going to be fine. Since there are already signs of growth after only 24 hours, the 4.5 pH must not be a problem at all.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Roger</div><div><br></div><div>PS - Given the pH drop I saw with cooking and how much citric acid I used to get a pH pre-cook of 3.8, it would not surprise me if the first set of bags had a pH of 3.2 or so. That is probably just too low for the mycelium to tolerate.<br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div
style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font size="2" face="Arial"><b><span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></b></font><div id="yiv1576792733"><div class="yiv1576792733gmail_quote"><blockquote class="yiv1576792733gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div><span class="yiv1576792733HOEnZb"></span><div class="yiv1576792733gmail_quote"><div><div class="yiv1576792733h5">On Sat, Nov 12, 2011 at 7:26 PM, Rikke Rasmussen <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:rikke.c.rasmussen@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:rikke.c.rasmussen@gmail.com">rikke.c.rasmussen@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="yiv1576792733gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div><div class="yiv1576792733h5">
Hey folks,<div><br></div><div>Here are the latest pics: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://plus.google.com/photos/103960152819764522461/albums/5673920333877202449/5673512162566650498">https://plus.google.com/photos/103960152819764522461/albums/5673920333877202449/5673512162566650498</a></div>
<div>- one is contaminated, and although the moldy spot on the surface is pretty small, you can tell how all the fruits are deformed and miscolored; the other is a happily fruiting uncooked coffee log.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Roger, thrilled to hear that you've discovered the source of your problems with the stipticus - really hope you get those critters to fruit!</div><div><br></div><div>Tony, you should totally come by the space on Monday and meet the mushroom grow people - there's a distinctly non-zero chance of there being other Tastebridgers around to talk to and get to know.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Hope to see everyone Monday at 7:30!</div><div><br></div><font color="#888888"><div>/Rikke<br></div></font></div></div></blockquote></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>