We chose brown rice because several tests have shown that mycelium can grow quickly and stably on this grain.

You will also need:

– mason jar

– a pair of rubber gloves

– isopropyl alcohol or denatured alcohol

– a lighter or gas burner

– paper towels

– liquid culture or spore syringe

– a pressure cooker

– and of course, brown rice. (If possible, use organic brown rice and the rice should not semi-cooked.)

Prepare the mason jar:

You’ll need a prepared mason jar. It’s best to get a rubber injection port and some self-adhesive air filter discs for this. Drill two holes in the lid of the mason jar to the appropriate size. One will hold the injection port, and the other will be sealed with an air filter disc to ensure the air exchange necessary for the mycelium to develop.

Prepare the grain:

The whole process starts with cooking the rice. Boil water on the stove. When the water starts to boil, add the rice. You will need 280 grams of rice to fill a half-liter mason jar.

Once the water starts to boil again, let it cook for 10-15 minutes. It is not good to cook it too soft, because then the medium will be too wet for the mycelium to grow. (We don’t want to cook the rice grains, we just want them to be moist on the inside.)

After 10 minutes, strain the rice, wash it with cold water and spread it on a tray that you have previously spread a kitchen towel on.

You need to wait until the outside of the rice grains dry so that they do not stick to each other or to your hands. This usually takes ninety minutes. In the meantime, move the grains with your hand from time to time to dry evenly. Then fill the mason jar, close it and put aluminum foil on top to protect the air filter from too much moisture during sterilization.

Sterilization:

Fill the bottom of the pressure cooker with water and place the preserving jar in it. Avoid direct contact of the jar with the bottom of the pressure cooker. To do this, use a steaming rack and place the jar on it. The water should reach the bottom of the jar at most, as we only want to sterilize with steam, not boiling water.

Close the pressure cooker and place it on the stove with the steam valve open at a high temperature. As soon as you see steam starting to escape through the steam valve, close it. This will force the cooler air out of the inside of the pressure cooker.

As soon as the steam starts to flow through the valve again, you have reached the correct operating temperature. At this point, reduce the temperature to the minimum. This will start the sterilization process. Leave the rice grains to sterilize for 90 minutes. Then remove from the stove and let them cool to room temperature before opening the pressure cooker.

Inoculation of spores:

The next step is to inject the grains. In our video I use a liquid culture, but you can of course use a spore syringe. In the latter case, colonization will take a little longer. Sterility is very important in this step, so make sure to do it in a clean environment and clean all equipment with alcohol, including the table surface.

Loosen the foil on the jar, shake the syringe to mix the spores or mycelium in the liquid as much as possible. Sterilize the injection port and the needle of the syringe with an alcohol wipe. If you are using a sterile syringe, just cleaning it with alcohol is enough, but if the needle has already been used, it is recommended to hold it near a fire until it starts to glow. You can then wipe it with alcohol, which will cool it. Insert the syringe into the injection port and inject it the liquid culture. Between 2 and 5 ml of liquid culture is sufficient to inoculate a half-liter bottle, a larger amount will result in faster colonization, although more than 5 ml is unnecessary. After injection, wipe the injection port with an alcohol swab and then replace the foil. Let stand for 5-10 minutes, then shake thoroughly to mix the rice grains and solution as well as possible. You are essentially done inoculating the grains.

Once your jars are ready, you will need high-quality Liquid Cultures to start the process. Check out our organic selection here: [Growshop]

Colonization:

Place the bottle at room temperature in a place protected from direct sunlight, a cupboard is perfect for this purpose. In the case of liquid culture, signs of mycelium growth will appear already on the 3rd-4th day after inoculation. In this case, complete colonization takes approx. 2-3 weeks.