Kill_blind_elite wrote: ↑Thu May 28, 2020 3:56 am
Whoah, what the hell guys. Most of those are contamination. Black is not what you want unless you know something that i don't. I mean, if you drop amanita chunks straight in it and the chunks turn black without black growing anywhere else, that is fine and would jist be the dying flesh of the mushroom. The whole thing should be pure white fuzz. I'm scared for you guys if you are drinking stuff with black in it. Anything green or black, orange, blue, red as well as yellow or grey those are all contamination. I used to grow mushrooms and i also brew meads. Which is what I'm making right now. I pasteurized everything and used one step sanitizing rinser with everything, not letting it touch anything but air for five minutes. , not the open mouth on the carboy, just 20 seconds on that. If mine doesn't turn out pure white like mycelium should be then it's going in the garbage and I'll inoculate it next time by growing it in small mason jars and then cutting out samples and throwing them in the pasteurized carboy.
I got on here cause i needed to ask some questions. I have read the book and also there is a video of don making fleece ambrosia on youtube. I was trying that method but with mead mash, (honey water) that is sterile.
Like i said, i sanitized everything with a no rinse solution for sanitizing brewing equipment and i didn't have tyvek shipping material like in his video, so I used an airlock and have breathable paper material on the outside of the airlock to reduce any mold contamination. I was just trying to find out if anyone had made this with a carboy and used any alternatives to tyvek and what they think i should have done. I mean it's done already and it's either going to be clear or contaminated, so now it's a waiting game. This is the middle of the virus bs, i i couldn't get sanitizer or isopropal to put in the airlock instead of water. That's something that some brewers use as a trick. I am wondering if i should have thrown yeast in it to keep the wild yeasts in it from making it taste like shit.
Yeah I hear you! Actually the fleece is a nice bright white until it matures, then gets very black and dusty. My personal experiments have led me to conclude that if I can get past the mucorphobia of the black spores, the resulting mass of myceliated foodstuffs is more concentrated with the active chemicals I'm looking for. It sure isn't pretty, but in working with the fleece I think it's worth it to let it get black and then process it how you will.
The similarity of the fleece to other mucors present in tempeh for example is pretty high though so I totally understand why there is so much fear around working with it.
My last contam experience was new actually, it was a mold that grew a little faster than the fleece, but was white, hairy, and ALSO had black spores. The difference was that the hyphae were very short, such that it didn't raise from the grain much at all, unlike the fleece. Also fleece to me smells kinda "meat"-like. This contam almost had a mint-like smell. I recently learned that a fungi is actually responsible for producing the "mint" within the mint plants, so perhaps there was a connection there.
I'm not a mycologist and have yet to crack open the basic textbooks on the subject, but I have experimented quite a bit and I truly believe that we have yet to unlock it's true potential. I'm way past the argument on whether it does or doesn't contain any actives, of course it does! But I'm very curious as to the nature of the chemical. It IS similar to muscaria, but it IS ALSO different, and difficult to put into words... and I am slowly working up towards being able to take a large dose. It requires a lot of material...
Using an airlock would work! But it would grow under the surface mostly and perform anaerobic respiration. No alcohol will be produced, only the "active chemical" and co2, unless you accidentally introduce yeast. The yeast will outpace the fleece so be careful. It will also take a lot longer too I think 2-3 times longer. If you wanted to combine fleece and yeast you may have some success if you start with fleece and let it go for a while before adding yeast. It will likely pack a strong punch. I had A glass of wine a little while after taking what I thought was a small amount of dried fleece, and I became pretty drunk. Pleasantly so, but it surprised me with the interaction. Many chemicals potential alcohol, so add the fleece to that list!
I gotta say that making the Ambrosia is definitely the most difficult just due to keeping the contams out. I will always recommend starting with grain, let it go black spores, or even barely sporulated and then start an ambrosia with those spores. Starting an ambrosia with ground amanita is asking for failure just because it isn't and cant be sterile. Think of it like you're trying to isolate the mycelium on agar.
You're one of the few even bothering to attempt this, so good luck to you!