drying after harvest???

[sam0seed]

was wondering what the best method of drying out mushrooms after i've picked em. I don't have a dehydrator or anything so i used my oven on a warm setting and left them in there for about 10 hours and they turmed out like crap. Any tips for a poor man on a better cheap way to do it?

[GadgetGuy]

I have just let them sit out before in open air with a fan on them. It takes a little while longer than a dehydrator or dessicant but it works. Do not put them in an airtight container until they are fully dried. Dehydrators kick ass! I need to get one soon. Some people leave the heating element in but I rip it out because it's not really needed and I like to save all the medicinal properties I possibly can.

[masterplain88]

very bad idea. heat kills the pycilcibin(sp). your beetr off throwing them in a paper bag or box. check out the vault there's some good drying procedure i there. i use a tub with racks in it and there are some computer fans (2) rigged to it and i keep the tub shut with the fans pulling in fresh air flow.http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushroo...oms_mmgg.shtml

[GadgetGuy]

Originally Posted by masterplain88

very bad idea. heat kills the pycilcibin(sp). your beetr off throwing them in a paper bag or box. check out the vault there's some good drying procedure i there. i use a tub with racks in it and there are some computer fans (2) rigged to it and i keep the tub shut with the fans pulling in fresh air flow.http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_mmgg.shtml

Kind of like a gigantic dehydrator, genius man! Good for those poo harvests where they just plain won't fit in a food dehydrator.

[sam0seed]

I didn't know that heat would kill the psilocybin, thanks for the tip. I read this pretty extensive book that said putting them in the oven overnight was one a method . Do you think my mushies will be worth a damn now that ive done this?

[calicyco]

Was the oven on? A warm oven that is turned off shouldn't damage them much if at all. I've deep fried mushrooms, made pizza, pasta sauce, all sorts of prep and they worked fine.

Typically just put them in front of a fan for a couple days until pretty dry, then finish off with desiccant.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Heat shreds some of the magic, but only a taste test will tell you for sure!

[masterplain88]

dont know about that i just dont use heat for drying peroid.

comlements of erowid:
There are several ways to dry them, but we will only cover the best way. What ever you do, don't use heat to dry them. Heat is very harmful to the psycho-active compounds. You will drastically reduce the mushroom's potency if you use heat to dry them.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Errowid can be good reading, but it tends to be years behind the findings presented on this site.

[sam0seed]

well the oven was on warm and the oven door was open so the mushrooms werent baking in it, more like just drying them faster I think. They turnded out looking like crap and are still spungie . Oh well theres always next time.
Thanks for the help

[RestartLater]

Air dry for us. the boss took a lace type cloth stretched it over an old dressor draw.. used tacks to hold lace in place.... we also use silica packets from vitamin jars etc.... after dry and placed in baggie :+}~

RestartLater

PS Never rush a good thing

[firerat]

Originally Posted by sam0seed

well the oven was on warm and the oven door was open so the mushrooms werent baking in it, more like just drying them faster I think. They turnded out looking like crap and are still spungie . Oh well theres always next time.
Thanks for the help

If they are spungy, put them in a box with some damp rid, silica paks, or even some dry rice.

That may help to get them "cracker" dry.

That's what I would do anyway.

[slummunky]

Im not sure how much of the magic you lose to heat, I dry mine with the dehydrator on the lowest setting 95 degrees if you hold you hand where the air is coming out it not hot at all just a little warmer the the ambient air. Also I have made tea a million times and I promise you the magic is still there!

[RestartLater]

oh yes as said in the other thread now is also a good time to hit garage sales up for a Dehydrator....LOL Picked a 5 tray up for 5 bucks 2 years ago.

RestartLater

[stimpy]

i leave my dehydrator heat element on high as it goes, doesnt seem to make a difference. Says it gets up to 145 mine is at 130 something

[Scratch]

Somewhere I saw a recommendation to use cat
litter for a desiccant. Can't remember if a brand
was mentioned. Saw some cat litter at wartmart
that was made up of blue, white, & green crystals.
More expensive than normal cat litter at about
$15 for a big jug.

Is that the right stuff?
Anyone have success using it?

[MLBjammer]

Some cat litter is silica gels, which will work. Sam0seed, I would bet money those shrooms are still active. You should not abandon hope!

[BuckarooBanzai]

Heat doesn't destroy all the magic, but it does have an impact. Again, only a taste test will tell you for sure what you are dealing with. Chances are extremely good you still have active mushies.

I have the heating element in my dehydrator on a separate switch for jerky and veggies - but I only dry my shrooms with room temp air. I tested it a couple of times and I can def tell the difference between fungus dried with heat and without (same goes for Amanitas).

[slummunky]

The sample you tested dried with heat what was the temp you used? And what temp did you notice the difference?

[sam0seed]

I tried them, they worked pretty good, not as good as i hoped they would but they did the trick.I ate 2.5 grams to start, took awhile to kick in so I ate another 2 and a half thinking they werent working, i was wrong lol. I'm def going to try a different method next time though, they were good, but not good enough....

[slummunky]

I drank 2g in tea last night, they were dried in the dehydrator at 95 and the were amazing!! If they did loose potency then good I didn't need it anyway!!!

[GadgetGuy]

Originally Posted by sam0seed

I tried them, they worked pretty good, not as good as i hoped they would but they did the trick.I ate 2.5 grams to start, took awhile to kick in so I ate another 2 and a half thinking they werent working, i was wrong lol. I'm def going to try a different method next time though, they were good, but not good enough....

How were they grown? I have found mushies grown off poop to much much stronger than cakes... And they kick ASS when they are freshly picked. A little extra kick for sure.

[whatchamacallit]

Only way SWIM ever dries em, is in front of a big box fan. Then if it's a humid area or they don't get fully crispy, then into a dessicant (damprid or drierite) chamber for a day or so to get em totally cracker dry.

[coyoteyogi]

I use a Popeil dehydrator plugged in. I made spacers for the bottom tray and put a thermometer on the top drying rack. I kept trying different length spacers (3" works well) The temps stay at 95-100 and they come out cracker dry. I read somewhere that the damage begins at 115 and above.
All Temps are F.

[Azuloso83]

My friend lines a strainer with paper towel and spreads uncooked white rice and some salt over it. Then he places fresh mushies between two paper towels or thin napkins, and puts them onto the bed of rice/salt. Finally, he spreads more rice/salt over the top of the fresh mushies wrapped in napkin/towel and either places in front of fan or just sits on counter. Check from time to time, and cracker dry after a couple days.

[MLBjammer]

Originally Posted by sam0seed

I tried them, they worked pretty good, not as good as i hoped they would but they did the trick.I ate 2.5 grams to start, took awhile to kick in so I ate another 2 and a half thinking they werent working, i was wrong lol. I'm def going to try a different method next time though, they were good, but not good enough....

Hey, at least it was not a total failure. And now you know some effective drying methods.

[Doctor D]

Originally Posted by Scratch

Somewhere I saw a recommendation to use cat
litter for a desiccant. Can't remember if a brand
was mentioned. Saw some cat litter at wartmart
that was made up of blue, white, & green crystals.
More expensive than normal cat litter at about
$15 for a big jug.

Is that the right stuff?
Anyone have success using it?

Damp-Rid is super cheap. I think the crystal cat litter would be too expensive, and I'm very leery of putting my mushrooms in with those blue cobalt chloride cat crystals. Also, I suspect the cat litter silica is not as efficient at absorbing moisture as other desiccant may be. I've just switched to crystal cat litter in my cat boxes, and I've noticed that you can leave the crystals sitting out in the open for weeks without it turning to a nasty soup from absorbing moisture of the air. An unopened container of Damp-Rid would turn runny and nasty much sooner.

Goodwill and other thrift stores commonly carry used food dehydrators. I've picked up several for under $5 each. Perfect for our purposes, and if you somehow damage it while pulling out the heating apparatus, there's no great loss.

[extrememetal43]

finally got a chance to reply to this thread.

I think the most important thing is to try and drop the humidity in your drying space. During the summer the average humidity at my spot is about 70%. But if i run an air conditioner i can drop that humidity to between 20 and 40%. I think this has a great positive impact on drying.

Now the thing is the temperature will also drop to about 70 degrees. i feel the colder air has a negative impact on drying. So in the closet i dry in i use a small space heater with a thermostat and try to heat the temp up about ten degrees. this will also drop the humidity about 10 more percent.

The space heater is usually on the top shelf and is not directly blowing on the shrooms just adds a lil heat or should i say takes away the chill from the air.

I put the shrooms on big box fans on high to dry.

I wouldnt dry mine with direct heat or anything that may decrease the magic that is out of the question.

Damprid finishes the job. also after i dry them i keep them in jars sealed with damprid until ready for use. I notice shrooms like to absorb some ambient moisture from the air and i dont like that. Ive had cracker dry ones turn soft after being leftt out so theyre always with a dessicant.

Now during the winter the humidity is already lower at least where i live in the snowy months so dropping the humidity is not necesary. if i use the small heater fan during the summer months without first dropping the humidit with an ac it actually will raise the humidity and is detrimental to drying so the procedure is different for me in the winter than it is in the summer.

[whatchamacallit]

Originally Posted by extrememetal43

i feel the colder air has a negative impact on drying.

Seems cooler air rather than warmer air would degrade the actives slower since any reaction happens faster with heat. I think cold is a good thing.

[masterplain88]

about the dry ice freez drying method or co2. are those good procedure to dry large amounts.

[Om shanti]

To dry cubes I often just shred them into thin pieces and put on newspaper. Where I live, they will be cracker dry in >24 hours that way. Whatever potency loss may be involved in this due to the slightly 'violent' handling of the shroom tissue has been too small for me to notice, and for me it doesn't matter that I don't have whole dried shrooms - it's easier to measure a dose with smaller pieces anyway.

[extrememetal43]

Originally Posted by whatchamacallit

Seems cooler air rather than warmer air would degrade the actives slower since any reaction happens faster with heat. I think cold is a good thing.

the problem i was having was with cold air it would take up to 4 days to dry with a fan. By upping the temp a bit it took drying time down to a day. I do feel that the constant air being blown over the shrooms can make things oxidize also in addition to the temp so any way to have less time for whatever reaction to occur is helpful. All i know is there are no potency complaints whatsoever that i hear.

also, i knida do a light cure about every eight hours. With the fan the outsides get dry almost right away and i feel it holds the moisture in. Every couple hours i turn off the fan and let them sit for about 15 minutes./ the mushies get spongy and rehydrate kinda like curing then i turn the fan on again. i think this helps also.

Wonder if there is a way to dry without heat or air?

[ggod]

Don't ask for a citation but I have read that the heat starts to effect the actives at 106*F.

Personally I fan them until they are 90% dry then put in desiccant chamber for a day. I lay harvest on paper for a day before fanning. Then fan until ready for the desiccant. The way I fan is by putting into 5 gallon paint strainer and tying the bag to the top of the fan. Others build a frame and use two screens to hold shrooms in place... kinda like a screen and shroom sandwich.

[Dogen Zen]

I believe oxidation is as much a factor as heat. As long as O2 is flowing around the shrooms magic is breaking down.

[koldjgdaro]

CaCl2 - damprid