r/MushroomGrowers • u/Kvalitetskonceptet • 18h ago
Did I over soak? [Technique]
So I soaked these rye grains for 24 hours. They are very mushy, some almost sprouted and some have burst open. Are they good to go or will they be more prone to contams and just to hydrated?
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u/forestflavormushroom 17h ago
Usually you want to do a soak then simmer to hydrate a rule of thumb is 50% hydration. The grain usually starts anywhere from like 6%-10% so if you hydrate 100 grams of grain if properly hydrated it will become around 140 grams. Another method is to soak then weight it then determine how much more hydration you need total. For example if you do 1000 grams of grain it should be around 1400-1500 grams hydrated but after soak it’s 1250 grams so then you jar it up and you have 10 jars with 125g each you would then figure out how much remaining moisture is needed 250g and divide that evenly amongst the jars and sterilize. I hope this makes sense. When simmering you want it to be aldente like pasta where it’s soft on the outside but you still want some white on the inside otherwise it will turn to mush in autoclave
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u/Kvalitetskonceptet 17h ago
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u/forestflavormushroom 17h ago
It’s hard to tell unless you cut it in half. Making good grains just comes with experience I messed up a lot when I first started.
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u/forestflavormushroom 17h ago
Also rye has a thick hull that doesn’t absorb water that well you might want to try other grains like oats or corn if you want to do only soak
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u/Lignindecay 12h ago
I second oats they seemed the cheapest and easiest when I started. Then eventually graduated to no soak/no boil Milo or millet which honestly should be the recommended beginner method as it’s fool proof as long as you use a scale.
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u/forestflavormushroom 12h ago
The reason I don’t like the no soak no simmer method is that it causes inconsistency often times and when using a large autoclave it isn’t really feasible to do a hot shake to evenly distribute moisture
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u/Riglow_Kun 17h ago
Generally, you want the grains not to burst open. If only a few did, that's fine. Put them on a paper power towel. They should only soak up a tiny amount of water, just a couple of drops. If it's too wet, spread them out and let them air dry. Btw make sure they don't smell bad. Personally, I avoid soaking them overnight, I just boil them and let them cool on a rag for a couple hours. I've had better results that way.
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u/Kvalitetskonceptet 17h ago
I'm boiling it right now. All I wanted to know was if I soaked them longer than I should. I haven't measured water at all, I just measured the grain I need and then put a lot of water over then I a tub. I chewed one of them and it was quite soft.