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Drying temperature

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 8:25 am
by earnestpea
Hi All, the amanitas are plentiful in my part of the world at the moment :D

I've watched the prep video where it talks about a drying temp of 72c. I've got Excalibur dehydrator and set it to max temp of 68c. On my third batch through the dehydrator I measured the temp in the centre and it was 64c..

Batches were dried for 24 hrs and all came out cracker dry. Storage is in mason jars with desicant things.

Do I need to put them through a second run at 72c (in a cracked oven probably) or am I ok to proceed?

Thanks in advance :)

Re: Drying temperature

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:26 am
by NMNAT2
earnestpea wrote:
Fri Apr 24, 2020 8:25 am
Batches were dried for 24 hrs and all came out cracker dry. Storage is in mason jars with desicant things.
If they are dry, they are dry. You are good to go!

Re: Drying temperature

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2020 9:21 am
by earnestpea
Thanks heaps!! :)

Re: Drying temperature

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 1:21 am
by asunnyday
Hello everyone.
I am a little confused re ideal drying temperature.
From what I understand, the lowest temperature ideally should be 68C (154.4F) and the highest 74C (165.2) for the ibotenic acid conversion.
I have dried my first two batches at 74C in a dehydrator and they turned out perfect.
I'm just wondering if 70C would be a more ideal temperature, it just feels that way to me.
Also I am hoping that the ones I have dried didn't lose any potency due to the heat.

Can someone please advise me? It's a lot of work preparing them. They are so sacred a gift, and I would like them to be prepared at the most optimum.

Thank you!

Re: Drying temperature

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:00 am
by Eddie
asunnyday wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 1:21 am
Hello everyone.
I am a little confused re ideal drying temperature.
From what I understand, the lowest temperature ideally should be 68C (154.4F) and the highest 74C (165.2) for the ibotenic acid conversion.
I have dried my first two batches at 74C in a dehydrator and they turned out perfect.
I'm just wondering if 70C would be a more ideal temperature, it just feels that way to me.
Also I am hoping that the ones I have dried didn't lose any potency due to the heat.

Can someone please advise me? It's a lot of work preparing them. They are so sacred a gift, and I would like them to be prepared at the most optimum.

Thank you!
To asunnyday: Perhaps it depends on what you are using to dry the mushrooms as to what the optimum temperature might be. If yours turned out perfect I would say keep it up! The variables associated with drying - mushroom size, air movement, ambient temp, dryer temp, humidity, possibly even seasonal variation in the mushrooms? - could all lead to a slight variation by a couple of degrees either way in the ideal drying temperature. I consider it more in terms of effective/efficient drying temperature. I oven dried a batch in a 70C fan-forced oven. The smaller specimens turned out great. The larger, "juicier" ones got almost or ever-so-slightly burnt and seemed to need more frequent turning. I have tried to oven-dry an earlier batch in a 75C oven (couldn't adjust the increment to exactly 74C) and this was way too hot and the batch got chucked out. Lucky there is no shortage fresh of A. muscaria for me. Anyway it couldn't hurt to dry a batch at the lower temp in your dehydrator and compare. Good luck and enjoy.

Re: Drying temperature

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 10:35 am
by asunnyday
To eddie: Thanks so much for your reply. I'm using an excalibur dehydrator. And yes I did a bit of experimenting and 70C feels perfect as there's not such a strong mushroom smell, and they dry a little slower too which gives me a chance to watch them more closely and take the quicker drying ones out sooner.
I chucked out my first batch too as I dried them in my sister's oven and quickly they started cooking.
In any case, I made tea from some that were dried at 74C in the dehydrator and it's been great! My mum is taking 1/4 tsp a day and is sleeping 2hrs extra every night. She is still waking a few times in the night but is going straight back to sleep. For me, I have to take less as I'm very sensitive to them.