How I Do Liquid Culture - A Tutorial

sonar

Well-Known Member
A few people have asked about liquid culture lately and how I do mine, so I thought I'd write up a guide quick. I don't take credit for this tek as I got the idea to use the syringe filters from another site/tek.

Why even bother with liquid culture? Well, I see 2 main reasons. First, being colonization time. Spawn and cakes can colonize up to a week faster user liquid culture since you are inoculating with live mycelium rather than spores which take time to germinate. The second being to conserve spore solution. A few drops of spore solution can be used to make gallons of liquid culture. Some people will actually make a "master" culture out of a pint or even a quart container and store it in the fridge. When necessary, they'll use the master culture to inoculate smaller "working" cultures.

So, we start off with a wide mouth jar lid.



We drill two holes on opposing side. One hole I made 1/8" for inoculation and extracting culture. The second hole is 1/4" for inserting the syringe filter. I used regular drill bits, but it works better with forstner bits to get a clean hole. I found it helps to actually finish the hole in REVERSE once you feel like the bit is getting close.



Next you'll want to get some RTV silicone and apply a generous amount to both sides of the inoculation hole. For the syringe filter, I apply it to the bottom and press it into place. Some will squeeze out on the underside and I smooth that out with my finger.



Notice how I keep the silicone AWAY from the opening in the syringe filter. This will allow for gas exchange and most importanly will allow clean air to enter and equalize the pressure when we extract culture. If we didn't use some sort of air port, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to extract liquid because it would create a vacuum.



Give it at least 24 hours to dry and you are ready to add the solution of your choice. I use a 4% Karo solution, which comes out to around 2 teaspoons per cup of liquid. Generally I make 1 cup per half pint jar, but I don't use the whole thing. I only like to fill it up to the lip of the jar. I also like to add something to help break up the mycelium. In this case I used a stainless steel nut. Screw the lid on tight, cover the top with foil, and PC for 20 minutes at 15 psi.



That's pretty much it. Here is an example of the finished product. This culture is only a few days old in this picture and could probably be used already.



Questions?
 

DarthD3vl

Well-Known Member
Dont forget Clone LC's from fresh tissue!!! they out preform regular lcs ten fold.


good to see you around sonar.

by the way I just added a link to this tutorial in the mushroom sticky. ;)
 

sonar

Well-Known Member
Good point. I'm about to try cloning to LC here shortly with some Golden Teachers. I'll post the results in a few days.

Oh and BTW don't be afraid to use LC with PF Tek. I've read several places it doesn't work very well, but I've personally had excellent results with it. Speeds colonization by at least a week.
 
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