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The Simplest Monotub Method That Actually Works — Transcript

by Dalton Grows · 2,656 words · 376 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00This is one of my recent monotub grows,
0:02and I'm going to show you the exact
0:04process I used to go from nothing
0:05[music]
0:06to all these mushrooms. Everything
0:08you're seeing here came from a simple
0:10setup, but most people get stuck
0:11somewhere, whether it's contamination,
0:14conflicting advice, or just not knowing
0:16where to start. I've run this process so
0:18many times now, I can practically do it
0:20in my sleep. And once you understand
0:23these key fundamentals, it actually
0:24becomes really hard to mess this up,
0:27even if you're brand new. So, in this
0:28video, I'm going to break down these six
0:30proven steps so you can go from no
0:31experience to a full monotub, just like
0:34this, all while avoiding one of the
0:36biggest mistakes beginners make. I also
0:38made a simple checklist so you can
0:40follow along while doing this. I'll link
0:41that down below.
0:45Step one is making grain spawn, which is
0:47basically what your mushrooms are going
0:48to grow from. Now, the easiest way to
0:50get started here is using something
0:52that's already made and ready to go,
0:54like some bags of Uncle Ben's ready to
0:56eat rice or a pre-sterilized grain bag.
0:59They're already hydrated and sterile, so
1:00you can kind of skip this step if you
1:02want to, but if you do want to make your
1:04own, here's exactly how it works. You
1:05want to start with a grain like whole
1:07oats, brown rice, or millet. I use whole
1:10oats because they're cheap and easy to
1:11find. First, you want to hydrate them by
1:13boiling them until they're nice and
1:14plump. Then, you want to let them dry
1:16until the surface is no longer wet.
1:18After that, you want to load the grains
1:20into jars and sterilize them in a
1:21pressure cooker at 15 PSI for about 90
1:24minutes. This process kills off any
1:26competing organisms and ensures that the
1:28only thing growing in these jars are the
1:30mycelium that we want. If you rush
1:32sterilization, nothing else in this
1:33process is going to work, so take your
1:35time here. When you do this step, you
1:37want to make sure your lids allow a
1:38little bit of air exchange. What most
1:40people do is modify their lids with a
1:42hole punch or just buy some that already
1:44have a filter. I'm intentionally keeping
1:45things simple here, but if you want a
1:47full breakdown on spawn prep and how to
1:49make these jars, I cover all that in
1:51depth in my monotub playlist.
1:55Once this step's all complete, we're
1:56ready to introduce our culture and let
1:58the mycelium take over.
2:01This step didn't seem like a big deal
2:03when I first started, and that's exactly
2:04why so many of my grows failed right
2:06here. This is where we inoculate our
2:08grain. Basically, we introduce mycelium
2:11so it can start growing. The easiest way
2:12to go about this is using something
2:14called liquid culture, which is
2:15basically just mycelium suspended in a
2:18syringe, and we just inject that right
2:20into our jars or bags. Now, here's the
2:22part that nobody told me about when I
2:24first got started. The biggest enemy in
2:26this step is the air all around us.
2:30There's contaminants constantly floating
2:32through the air, so we need some means
2:33to control air flow. The most simple way
2:35to do this is buying a still air box
2:37online, or if you have an extra plastic
2:40tote, you can just flip it upside down,
2:42cut a couple holes in it for your hands
2:43to fit through, and that'll do the job
2:46just fine. Both are solid options, and
2:48if you want to check out all the gear
2:50I'm using in this video, it's going to
2:51be linked right down below. Once you're
2:53all set up, you just need to sterilize
2:54everything with 70% isopropyl alcohol,
2:57inject your culture, and you're ready to
2:59go.
3:14Now, we wait. Over the next couple
3:16weeks, you're going to see the mycelium
3:17slowly spreading through your jar and
3:19turning it white. That's exactly what we
3:21want to see. If we see any other colors
3:24like red or blue or green, those are
3:26usually signs of contamination and
3:28something probably went wrong in your
3:29process somewhere. Once it's fully
3:31colonized or completely white, you are
3:33ready to move on to the next step.
3:37This step is known as spawn to bulk, and
3:39it's where everything really comes
3:40together. In this step, we're going to
3:41take our fully colonized grain spawn and
3:44move it over to our monotub so it can
3:46finally start producing those mushrooms
3:48we want. This is, unsurprisingly,
3:50another place that I kept messing up
3:52when I was new to growing mushrooms, and
3:54this is probably the biggest mistake
3:56beginners make. Make sure your grain is
3:58100% colonized before you open up your
4:02jars or bags or whatever you're using.
4:04If you use any uncolonized grain here,
4:06it's going to contaminate your entire
4:08grow, and you'll have just wasted the
4:10last few weeks, which is exactly what
4:12happened to me, and it took me way too
4:14long to figure out I even made this
4:15mistake. At this point in my grow
4:17career, I was using these pre-sterilized
4:19bags of Uncle Ben's rice, and I cut a
4:21few of them open, and they were mostly
4:23white, probably 80 or 90%, but that 10
4:26to 20% was still uncolonized rice. I
4:29figured it would be fine. I'd just mix
4:31it all up, and then that rice would get
4:32colonized in no time. Wrong. You see,
4:35that uncolonized grain is a magnet for
4:37contaminants, so the second I opened up
4:39these bags and mixed them all throughout
4:41my monotub, I was mixing all these
4:43uncolonized grains, and they were just
4:44taking in little bits of bacteria and
4:47mold and other things that I don't want
4:49to now grow in my humid monotub. It took
4:51me a couple more weeks of waiting before
4:53I finally realized my entire monotub was
4:55ruined, and at this point, I had wasted
4:57like six weeks. Learn from my mistakes.
5:00Okay, so obviously, you have your grain
5:01spawn fully colonized, so you're ready
5:03to move on here. The grain spawn gives
5:05our mycelium all the nutrients it really
5:07needs to grow mushrooms. It's just
5:08missing one major thing, water. And
5:11that's where something called coco coir
5:13comes in. Coco coir is basically just
5:15shredded up coconut husk, and it does
5:17one thing really well, and that's
5:19holding on to water. So, we'll mix some
5:21of this coco coir in with our grain
5:22spawn, and over time, that coco coir is
5:25going to hold water, and it's going to
5:26allow our mycelium to tap into that
5:28water as it needs to start growing
5:30mushrooms. To prepare coco coir, it's
5:32pretty easy. You're just going to throw
5:33a brick of it into a container of your
5:35choosing. Then, we're just going to pour
5:37boiling water over it, normally about
5:39three to four parts water to one part
5:41coco coir, and then we cover it up and
5:43wait for it to cool down. This is known
5:45as pasteurization, and it's not just
5:47hydrating the coco coir, it's also
5:49killing off any potential contaminants.
5:51Once it's cool, we have to test just how
5:53hydrated it is, so the way we do that is
5:56to grab a handful of the coco coir and
5:58squeeze it. If it's properly hydrated,
6:00when you give it that firm squeeze, it
6:02should only drop out a few drops of
6:04water. If you have a lot of water coming
6:06out of it when you squeeze it, you're
6:07now going to have to squeeze every
6:09handful you take before you put it into
6:10your monotub. Now, for the tub itself,
6:12you don't need anything too fancy. A
6:14simple plastic container works just
6:16fine. When I first started, I saw
6:18everybody cutting holes into containers
6:20and adding fancy filters and whatnot,
6:22and I did the exact same thing, but it's
6:24really more complicated than you need to
6:26make it. This $2 container from, I think
6:29I got it at Kohl's, like a department
6:30store, it works just fine. And if you
6:32want, you can add what's called a liner
6:34into the bottom of your monotub. This
6:36just kind of helps everything grow more
6:37evenly and prevents mushrooms from
6:39growing sideways, but by no means is it
6:41required. From here, just break up your
6:43grain spawn, mix it up with the coco
6:45coir. I normally do one part grain spawn
6:47to two to three parts hydrated coco
6:49coir, and just go ahead and level it
6:51out. Once it's all level, I'm going to
6:52take another couple handfuls of coco
6:54coir and just create a thin layer to
6:56cover everything on top of the monotub.
6:58Now, you can just put your lid back on
7:00your container and throw it in a closet
7:02to let it colonize. Just like the
7:03mycelium did with our grain, over the
7:05next couple weeks, you're going to see
7:07the mycelium spreading out and
7:08colonizing the entire monotub. Once
7:10everything's colonized, we're officially
7:12ready to fruit our mushrooms.
7:15This is where all the hard work finally
7:17pays off. Up to this point, we've just
7:19been growing our mycelium, but now,
7:22we're ready to grow mushrooms. To do
7:23that, we want to slightly change the
7:25conditions inside our monotub. All we
7:27need to do is simply crack the lid and
7:29leave it slightly off-center. This will
7:31allow some fresh air to come into the
7:32tub while also preserving humidity. Now,
7:35as we have fresh air coming in, we want
7:36to make sure the tub doesn't dry out, so
7:38monitor the walls of your tub. You
7:40should see condensation still forming on
7:42the walls and lid. If you notice them
7:44looking a little bit dry, go ahead and
7:46grab a mister and just slightly mist all
7:48the walls. As long as your mycelium are
7:50getting fresh air and you're still
7:52seeing moisture on the walls, everything
7:53is A-okay. After a few days of fresh
7:55air, you're going to see these little
7:56white bumps forming on the surface, and
7:58these are known as pins. This is great
8:01to see. These are basically the early
8:02stage of your mushrooms. Once you see
8:04these pins forming, you'll probably be
8:05shocked by how fast they grow, often
8:08doubling in size overnight. Then, before
8:10you know it, Merry Christmas. You wake
8:13up one morning, and you have a monotub
8:15full of mature mushrooms. You can tell
8:17they're all mature because the caps are
8:19starting to flatten, and this little
8:20thing underneath, known as the veil, has
8:22begun to tear. That's our sign it's time
8:25to harvest.
8:27If you wait too long, they're going to
8:29start dropping spores and kind of making
8:31a mess, so I try to harvest them right
8:33at about this point. All we need to do
8:34here is grab them by the base and give
8:37them a gentle twist, and you may be
8:38surprised by just how easily they pull
8:40up from the substrate. What we want to
8:42do is harvest everything here. Don't
8:44worry if some of them look small or
8:45weird, it's all good. You can throw them
8:48in a bowl, weigh them, show your
8:49friends, show your dog, whatever. Now,
8:51go ahead and give yourself a pat on the
8:53back because you, my friend, have
8:54officially grown some mushrooms. Now, be
8:57careful here. We don't want to celebrate
8:58too early because this is actually the
9:01exact moment where I lost my first
9:03successful grow. Let's get into what to
9:04do next so the same thing doesn't happen
9:06to you.
9:09This is like a little bonus step before
9:10our last step because it doesn't really
9:12involve growing mushrooms, it's more so
9:14about proper storage of your mushrooms.
9:16Now, once you harvest all your
9:16mushrooms, unless you plan on eating
9:18them all today, you're going to want to
9:20dry them for long-term storage. The
9:22easiest and most reliable way to do this
9:24is with a simple food dehydrator. I like
9:25to dry mine at 104° Fahrenheit until
9:28they snap like a cracker, and that's the
9:30real test of doneness. This usually
9:33takes me about 24 hours, depending on
9:35the size of my mushrooms. Make sure you
9:36perform the snap test with your biggest
9:39mushrooms because those are going to
9:40hold on to the most moisture. If they're
9:42a little bendy or flexy, they need more
9:44time on the dehydrator, and don't worry,
9:46as long as you're using a low
9:47temperature, you can't over-dehydrate
9:49your mushrooms. And this is where my
9:52first harvest went so wrong because I
9:54was so paranoid about leaving my
9:55mushrooms on the dehydrator that after
9:58probably 8 to 10 hours I took them off
10:00cuz I was like they're going to over
10:02dry, they're going to overheat, they're
10:03going to get ruined and I threw them in
10:05a jar and I came back 2 weeks later and
10:08this jar had completely rotted.
10:12And I had a pretty good sized harvest
10:14here. I lost so many mushrooms. I think
10:17it's the hardest I've ever cried in my
10:18life.
10:19So once your mushrooms are all dry and
10:21they're passing the snap test, you want
10:22to throw these into a glass jar and also
10:25add a desiccant pack. These desiccant
10:27packs help absorb any potential ambient
10:30moisture and I like to use these ones
10:32that have the little orange beads in
10:33them. These indicator beads will turn
10:35brown if they absorb any moisture and so
10:37I can just look at my jars, I see the
10:39beads are still orange and I know the
10:41mushrooms in there are perfectly fine.
10:43Now with our mushrooms safely sealed in
10:45the jars, they can last years. Pretty
10:47cool, huh? But we're not quite done just
10:49yet because our last step makes a huge
10:51difference in how many more mushrooms
10:53you're going to get.
10:56If you stop here, you're leaving a lot
10:58of potential mushrooms on the table.
10:59Most mushrooms are over 90% water so
11:02after our first harvest, our substrate
11:04cake has lost a ton of moisture. So to
11:06grow more mushrooms, we want to
11:08rehydrate it. So instead of beginning a
11:10brand new batch and starting all over,
11:12we can just keep the same monotub going
11:14for three, four, maybe even five more
11:16flushes. To do this, we need to do
11:18something called floating the cake. All
11:20you really need to do here is add some
11:21water to your monotub and put something
11:23clean on top of the substrate to
11:25submerge it. I like to let it soak for
11:26anywhere from 4 to 24 hours depending
11:29how dry it feels. If this was your first
11:31harvest, it's probably not that dry and
11:33you don't need to soak it too long.
11:34After it's rehydrated, you want to make
11:36sure you drain out all excess water. Do
11:38not leave standing water in your monotub
11:40or you're going to greatly increase the
11:42conditions that allow contaminants to
11:44thrive. So after you've drained all that
11:45water, put your lid back on but leave it
11:47cracked for air flow. Once again, we're
11:49just back to monitoring, make sure we
11:50see some moisture building on the walls
11:52and before you know it in another week
11:55or two, you're going to have more pins
11:56and more mushrooms. Eventually growth
11:58will drastically slow down, your
12:00harvests are going to start producing
12:02just one or two or three mushrooms and
12:04that's usually when it's time to toss
12:06the tub and start fresh. Now if you're
12:08ready to start growing your own
12:09mushrooms, I have a full monotub
12:11playlist right here that breaks down
12:13every one of these steps in greater
12:14detail especially the parts that most
12:17people get stuck on. If you want to get
12:19this process right on your first try,
12:20that's exactly where I'd go next and
12:23that's it. Thanks for watching and happy
12:25growing.

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