Over-Pasteurization?

[RedOctober]

Is there such a thing? I am currently pasteurizing some straw/dung and I did a 24 hour bleach water submersion and I just started what will be a 24 hour bleach/lime/water submersion. Is this overkill? Am I destroying potentially beneficial organisms and nutrients by doing it for this length of time? Or am I simply preemptively killing more harmful bacteria and endospores that would otherwise thwart my mycelium in battle? I stuck to the same ratios of bleach and lime that are recomended by Hippie in the bleach/lime pasteurization thread in the archives.

As a side note, is it actually possible to overpasteurize substrate. I once saw a mycology show on the science channel and they showed professional mushroom farm pasteurization procedures, and those guys have a multistage process that takes like 3 weeks to fully pasteurize. The of course don't exceed the 170 degree barrier but they dunk in progressively hotter water until they reach 170. I don't think that the pros use bleach or lime though, I pretty sure they stick to good old H2O.

[Hippie3]

over-pasteurization would be sterilization,
indeed possible.
one must not fall for the fallacy that
if a little is good then more is better,
often that is not the reality.

[dial8]

If you are wanting to leave beneficial bacteria then, yes, over-pasteurization is indeed possible. It does not matter so much with cubes but it appears sometimes that overpasteurizing straw can lead to more contamination quicker than if the straw was pasteurized properly.

And then there is the case of casings. SOme species of shrooms need the beneficial bacteria found in the casing layer. With this scenario, again, over pasteurization is possible.

If you are using the recommended quantities of water/bleach/lime then your 24 hour dunk is overkill.

[CoyoteMesc]

How many hours do you suggest with that recipe?

[RedOctober]

so have I already gone too far? I have finished the 24 hour bleach dunk, but what if I only do the bleach lime dunk for 6-8 hours? or have I ruined my substrate with the 24 hour dunk?

[Hippie3]

as long as the straw isn't bleached white
should be ok,
let it air out well before spawning,
no bleach smell.

[RedOctober]

I just finished. The straw isnt bleached white, but it sure smells pretty vile. Kind of like a swamp. I'm using different manure this time but I've never had it smell this bad. I hope that that's not abnormal. I don't see how bacteria could have been breeding in my bleach/limewater so it must be normal soaked manure smell.

[golly]

Proly from anaerobic bacteria due to the long submersion time..A good airing out is proly best to kill em off...

[dial8]

If he is using a cup of bleach per 10-15 gallons of water then it should be submerged for about 4-6 hours. Same with the lime bath. Typically the bleach and lime dunk would be done at the same time.

Originally Posted by CoyoteMesc

How many hours do you suggest with that recipe?