Conversion up to 90% or 60% question

[Jahoda]

Hey lovely people!


I've been wondering if using three up-to-30%-conversion steps would be the best. 1) Drying the mushrooms up using correct temperature (68-70C for me) in a similar to Excalibur dehydrator, 2) Simmering the mushrooms for 20 min or so, 3) lemon tek.

This method is said to convert up to 90% of ibotenic acid to muscimol. Is this 90/10 ibo/muscimol ratio the best? I know that ibotenic acid is desirable in small amounts. Would that sweet spot be 10% (as in 90/10 ratio) or 40$ (as in 60/40) ratio, skipping one step of conversion.

Additionally, how long would I dry my Amanitas in 70C for? I've heard 24h on one of Amanita Dreamer's videos, but many friends of mine did it only 6-8 hours and was just fine. In other words, does the conversion of Ibotenic acid to muscimol finish when the mushroom is cracker dry or even if it's dry, additional time can convert more?


Cheers!

[thevoluntaryway]

Note: I have no direct experience with Amanita... However I wouldn't expect any conversion to take place in the absence of water so the slower the drying process is, the better. If you have accurate scales you could weigh the material (or a particular piece of it) ever hour and track where the weight loss levels out.

[Donn]

Additionally, how long would I dry my Amanitas in 70C for? I've heard 24h on one of Amanita Dreamer's videos, but many friends of mine did it only 6-8 hours and was just fine. In other words, does the conversion of Ibotenic acid to muscimol finish when the mushroom is cracker dry or even if it's dry, additional time can convert more?

The only work I've seen on this, it seems to me that the percentage went up somewhat over time - but not as much as the total went down. This is a somewhat neglected aspect of the conversion story, and I don't know if this is literally how it works, but you might think of it as a degradation process where muscimol is the second stage in that process.

Anyway, I think the motive behind drying is largely to prevent mold during storage. Once it's real dry, that objective has been reached. The motive behind the simmering is I think largely to give the active ingredients time to leach out of the material. I don't know if anyone has determined that it has to be boiling (simmering, whatever) or if it would really be better to keep it down to for example 70°C.