Problems with bags

Started by g fung, August 13, 2009, 08:04:27 AM

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g fung

I have never had a problem like this and I'm very frustrated.

This is my usual setup: I put about 6 quarts of soaked and drained grain in a spawn bag. I impulse seal the bag(s).  I then pressure cook it from 1 to 1.5 hours (depending on whether I have 1, 2 or 3 bags in the cooker). I inoculate through an injection port. I Then put the inoculated bags into my incubator setup which is a full size hotel steam pan that floats in another steam pan with a fish tank heater set at 86.

I have just lost 3 bags. This really irritates me because while I have had a bag here or there go bad, I have never had something like this go wrong. The bags started strong as usual but have now been tainted by green mold after 25% colonization.

I typically use bags from myco-supply but this time I was forced to get them from sporeworks. The bags seem to have a thinner filter patch. I was wondering if the condensation on the bags hit the filter patch and dripped down to introduce the contam. 

What is the prevailing opinion on shaking bags?  And for those who approve what is your procedure? I am a fan of the shake and would like to know your two cents. This is my biggest suspicion. The spawn that may have come into contact with the filter patch, during the breaking up and mixing of the spawn, was compromised and thus compromised the bag. Another thing that I considered is that the handling of the bags during the shake punctured the now pressure cooked and brittle bags.
 

Deadneck

I don't use spawn bags, so I can't be any help there. If you are incubating at 86F, that sounds like a breeding ground for contaminates. You might want to lower your temp.

psilocybin warrior

Lower the inc temps, and PC longer. How big are the bags?

PW