My own drying tek?

[Boboso]

A lot of people use dehydrators, fans in boxes, and other drying techniques, and I devised my own that will work for small quantities of mushrooms. Bulk harvests probably wont work out as well, but if you're picking small hand fulls at a time, this should work for you.

I'm using my computer to dry em out for me. In VIP chat, as well as in a few threads here, I've learned that there are a lot of geeks (including myself) that like to grow mushrooms. If you built your computer, especially with the intentions of making a gaming rig, you probably cut holes for new fans, and even upgraded fans for good air flow...

With that said, I put a thermometer just outside my power supply resting on my radiator for 10 minutes to find a nice steady 88 degree breeze coming out... For people that aren't water cooled, you may need to find a different way to confirm your air temp. This temp is 15 degrees higher than my room itself.

I then put my harvested mushies into a paper towel, taped the towel to hold itself closed, then taped it to my computer case allowing the warm air to dry the towel which is drying the mushies.

Of course, if you are using a prebuilt computer or you can't feel a breeze coming out the PSU due to low air flow, this may not work for you.

Enclosed are a couple pics and when the few mushies I have drying are done, I'll post with a completion time.

[koldjgdaro]

No loss in potency compared to normally dried shrooms?

[Moose]

Neat. Definitely a space saver! I'd be wary about fire hazards though, paper towel and all them wires seem questionable. Maybe use a thin wire mesh screen to make a drying baggie.

Moose

[Boboso]

Originally Posted by koldjgdaro

No loss in potency compared to normally dried shrooms?

Couldn't tell ya, but it's still cooler than a lot of food dehydrators. If my room was hotter, the air would be hotter still, so there are a few variables to this method...

Originally Posted by Moose

Neat. Definitely a space saver! I'd be wary about fire hazards though, paper towel and all them wires seem questionable. Maybe use a thin wire mesh screen to make a drying baggie.

Moose

Good call. I don't currently have any mesh readily laying around. I'm not too worried about fire hazard though. 88 degrees is well below the flash point on a paper towel. I don't know what the flash point is...but if it was that low, we'd be wiping BBQ sauce off our faces with something else. There's still room for air to escape from my PSU, and since I've cut into my computer and added fans for additional airflow, the air is actually being pushed straight through the PSU instead of the PSU's fan moving it itself.

That's why I would recommend people with customs to do this. Lil poop companies like Dell and HP don't typically build thermally sound computers.

[P4ulada]

Ow Boboso, it´s a good tek man.
I use a "normal" ventilator and I put the them on a plastic bottle with CaCl2, a good dissecant =P
Works to me, low price too hhe

[Moose]

I hear what you're saying Boboso about it not being hot enough to burn, and yes that's true, however i once had a friend almost lose his house after a roll of paper towel that was sitting next to a power bar once mysteriously caught on fire. All he could figure was the bar must have sparked. I noticed the power bar in your pic. Just trying to be safe. Terrible tragedy to have to get the fire department into your house, also a great way of getting busted!

Moose

[Boboso]

Originally Posted by Moose

I hear what you're saying Boboso about it not being hot enough to burn, and yes that's true, however i once had a friend almost lose his house after a roll of paper towel that was sitting next to a power bar once mysteriously caught on fire. All he could figure was the bar must have sparked. I noticed the power bar in your pic. Just trying to be safe. Terrible tragedy to have to get the fire department into your house, also a great way of getting busted!

Moose

Nice call on electrical safety! I thought you were referring to the computer cables themselves... Yeah, I think I'll move that a lil closer to the wall...

[tbonus]

I dont notice much loss of potency due to mushies being dry vs. fresh.I ate 2 grms the other day & got off like a rocket.Besides,to me their much easier to eat once dried.

[Observer]

i used a similar technique with my laptop's fun
the downside is that you can only dry a couple
of shrooms at a time.

[Boboso]

Originally Posted by tbonus

I dont notice much loss of potency due to mushies being dry vs. fresh.I ate 2 grms the other day & got off like a rocket.Besides,to me their much easier to eat once dried.

I like to break em into chunks and swallow em like pills. I'm just drying em for storage purposes cause I'm going camping with some friends pretty soon. But I had em fresh of the cake the other day and fell in love with fresh. Tastes so much better, but the after taste is still horrid...

Oddly, I have a friend that likes the taste...

[GadgetGuy]

You eat em too quick to dry em Bobo lol.

Im hoping I'll need a laundry basket and a box fan before too long.....

[apokalypse]

I've never been able to get cracker dry with just a fan, but since you have some warmer air passing through it you might be able to without using a desiccant.

[trips6928]

I wonder how that would work with the huge 200mm fan on my Antec Nine Hundred.

[Boboso]

Originally Posted by trips6928

I wonder how that would work with the huge 200mm fan on my Antec Nine Hundred.

That's a beautiful case... I went cheap and bought a Xion 2 case. I like the green LEDs... With the clear plexiglass side and puny 80mm fan, I used a dremmel and made a hole for a big 120mm with an air filter...

Anyways, enough geekyness, put a thermometer in front of the air output for a good 10-15 minutes just to make sure it isn't too hot. A lot of heat comes out even though it doesn't feel like it and if the airflow isn't dissapating it fast enough, it will be much warmer.