proper procedure on when to shake grain spawn jars

[arcamedes333]

From your experience how often should someone shake spawn jars?

[rags724]

If you look at the vaults you'll find your answer. But, I'd be a dick if I didn't answer your question. I only shake once, when the jars are between 50 to 75% finished. This should allow them to finish the rest of the way. good luck and remember, take the shady roads.

[mydarling]

my advice:

shake immediately after inoculation.
leave alone to germinate, then shake once somewhere between 30-70% colonized.

don't shake more than once during colonization, or you will slow the myc down too much by all the time it takes to recover from a shaking. it will take 1-3 days to recover from the 1 shaking you deliver, but you will make up for lost time by jars finishing early due to even colonization.

[Irishlion]

Originally Posted by mydarling

my advice:

shake immediately after inoculation.
leave alone to germinate, then shake once somewhere between 30-70% colonized.

don't shake more than once during colonization, or you will slow the myc down too much by all the time it takes to recover from a shaking. it will take 1-3 days to recover from the 1 shaking you deliver, but you will make up for lost time by jars finishing early due to even colonization.

couldn't have said it better.

[johnnydigital]

Listen to MyDarling.

SWINJD shakes once after innoculating, once at about 30%, then lets it ride up until 100%. In my experience, you dont really want to shake it after it gets to 60% or so.... it just doesn't do it any good. The trick is to shake once its a little colonized, like 30% or so, then it's effective. Also, you may have to give it a little shake when you're ready to spawn it just to break the kernals up a bit.

[mydarling]

yep, good call there JD. i like to shake my jars at 30% colonized as well. like you say, it doesn't do too much good after that, and besides it gets very difficult to break up grain when it's that far colonized. even at 30%, it can be a good challenge.

my preferred method is to roll up a towel into a log and put it on the ground, then hold it down with my knees. then i smack the jar on the rolled up towel repeatedly til it breaks up pretty well, then swirl and shake to evenly redistribute the colonized grains.

to break it up at 100% for spawning, i just use a sterilized spoon

[johnnydigital]

What kind of grain spawn are ya usin bro?

[rags724]

on a side note: spawn bags are the best solution to shaking. I no longer shake, I massage and knead. I also wait until at least 40 or so percent. I have had a few jars/bags stall on me when shaking to early. Just my experience.

[johnnydigital]

Ya 30-40... same diff.....Never used the bags... thought about it, but SWINJD already had hundreds of jars, so might as well use em...

[arcamedes333]

Rye grains.

[arcamedes333]

Thank you for the help guys.

[johnnydigital]

Anytime... rye is sweet. Good Luck!

[eatyualive]

my general rule of thumb is. grain to grain transfer. shake and roll the jars until you evenly distribute the colonized grain with the new grain. let it incubate 3 days. then shake again. usually about 1/4" growth on kernals and i shake. usually have jars colonized in 7 days or less depending on how much grain is transferred to the new jar.