Here is everything you need and all the steps it takes to make sterilized fruiting blocks, which is essential to the Fruiting Phase of the Prep -> Seed -> Seedling -> Fruiting Stages. Master's Mix Fruiting Blocks are great for mycelium to colonize and fruit quickly, and require less measurements and steps compared to many other alternative techniques out there. You'll see in the graphic below how easy it is to make Fruiting Blocks! For now, all the information is on this graphic. I'll start going into detail about each step when explanations and more detailed photos are needed. Here it is in text form: What you need: - Soy Hull Pellets - Oak Pellets - Durable Stirring Tool (Wood is best) - 1400 mL Water - Large Mixing Bowl - 5 Micron Filter Patch Grow Bag (Around 8” x 5” x 20” in size) - Sterilizer Instructions: 1. Pour 2.5 cups of soy hull pellets and 2.5 cups of oak pellets into a large mixing bowl. Add 1400 mL warm or hot water. Stir until pellets are broken down and evenly mixed. 2. Pour mixed contents into the grow bag. 3. Carefully fold the grow bag so the top is now sitting at the bottom. 4. Place the bag into the sterilizer, and sterilize for 3 hours.

Here is everything you need and all the steps it takes to make sterilized grain spawn jars, which is essentially the Seedling Phase of the Prep -> Seed -> Seedling -> Fruiting Stages. Grain is great for mycelium to colonize healthily, but it doesn't contain the nutrients for most mushrooms to produce its fruiting bodies, which is why a Fruiting Block (substrate bag) is needed to mix with the grain spawn, supporting the mycelium to continue colonizing and finally fruit. For now, all the information is on this graphic. I'll start going into detail about each step when explanations and more detailed photos are needed. What you need: - 2x 1 Quart Autoclavable Mason Jar w/ Wide Mouth - Millet Grain - Wire Mesh Strainer - Large - Stove Pot - Medium or Large (For Boiling Grain) - Baking Sheet & Wax Paper/Paper Towels(To Dry Out Grain) - Aluminum Foil - Sterilizer Instructions: 1. Fill a 1QT Wide Mouth Mason Jar to 3/4 full with millet grain. 2. Fill the rest of the jar with water to soak the grains for 24 hours. 3. Once soaked, pour the grains into a medium or large pot to simmer for 30 minutes. Add enough water so the water level is a couple inches above the grains. 4. After simmering, strain the grain over the sink, shaking the water out as much as possible. 5. Pour the grains out over a baking sheet (with wax paper or paper towels laid on top) so the extra moisture can escape by steam. Lay it out for 25 minutes. 6. Collect the grains in some fashion, and pour them back into the two mason jars youh ave. Screw the modified lid onto the jar. 7. Place the jar into the sterilizer, cover lid with aluminum foil, and sterilize for 1.5 hours. 8. Let it cool, and then you’re done.

Why use hot water extraction on mushrooms? Mushrooms can already have nutritional and nootropic benefits when eaten fresh or dried, but further beneficial chemicals can be bioavailable with hot water or alcohol extractions. For Lion’s Mane, hot water extraction is used to extract the beta-d-glucans from fungal cell walls known as chitin. Hot water extractions are most useful for Lion’s Mane and Chaga mushrooms, whereas alcohol extractions can get very useful polysaccharides from Oysters and Reishi. Required Materials/Equipment - 1x Freshly Harvested Lion’s Mane - 1x Dehydrator (With 1 smooth and 1 gridded sheet) - 1x Blender / Coffee Grinder - 1x Medium Pot - 1x Stirring Spoon The Process Step 1: Cut the Lion’s Mane into thin slices and place them on a gridded mesh dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate the fresh mushrooms at 115 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10-12 hours. They are ready when they crack and snap easily. Step 2: Blend dehydrated mushrooms with a grinder until it is a fine powder. Step 3: Add the powdered mushroom material to a Medium Pot. Add water to cover the material and just a bit extra on top to make up for evaporation. Stir and make sure all the material is submerged. Step 5: Turn on low-medium heat to simmer the mixture. Step 6: Stir it every 15-30 minutes, and make sure it’s not fully evaporated. This can take several hours if there is a lot of excess water. Step 7: Once the mixture is goopy and not completely wet, transfer the mixture onto a smooth dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate until the water is fully evaporated. This is typically about 10-12 hours as well. Step 8: Once dry, blend with grinder until smooth—it is now ready in powdered form. Let me know if you have a better way to do this. Extracted Lion's Mane is super useful as a nootropic and it's why I continue to grow mushrooms at a larger hobbyist scale! It helps me focus more and work on tasks that I would have put off into the future.

So you want to start growing mushrooms, a hobby that embodies frustration, despair, but also complete elation when you finally see your first fruiting bodies! This is a step-by-step guide for procuring the right tools, hardware, and materials so you can move on to the nitty gritty Let’s think of growing mushrooms in four general steps: 1. Prepare Materials 2. Inject Grain Spawn 3. Mix Grain Spawn with Fruting Block 4. Set Fruiting Block to Fruiting Conditions Seems simple enough right? It can be, if you don’t get stuck in the details. But there are a lot of details, and we’ll be sure to cover them throughout all the guides. This guide is only about the tools required for each step in the process, so we’ll figure out how to use all of this in a separate post. --- What you need for Step 1: Prepare Materials. --- We need to have a Grain Spawn jar/bag, and a Fruiting Block. The mycelium propagates itself in Grain Spawn, and once it fully takes over the Grain Spawn, it is ready to mix into a Fruiting Block, which gives the mycelium enough nutrients to start producing fruiting bodies. Preparing the Grain Spawn jar/bag requires: - 1x 1 qt Wide Mouth Sterilizable Mason Jar OR, - 1x 6”x5”x20” Grow Bag with Fresh Air Exchange Filter and Injection Port/Micropore Tape - 1x Wide Mouth Jar Lid with Injection Port and Fresh Air Exchange Filter - 1lb+ Whole Grain Oats as the organic medium - 1x Medium Pot - 1x Wire Mesh Colander - 1x Stirring Spoon - 1x Pressure Canner/Sterilizer Preparing the Fruting Block requires: - 1x 8”x5”x20” Grow Bag with Fresh Air Exchange Filter - 1lb+ Soy Hull Pellets - 1lb+ Oak Pellets - 1x Stirring Stick (needs to be sturdy enough to mash things as well) - 1x Very Large Bowl (for mixing) - 1x Pressure Canner/Sterilizer --- What you need for Step 2: Inject Grain Spawn --- To inject the Grain Spawn jar/bag, you’ll need a liquid culture syringe (we won’t talk about agar plates yet) of a Hardwood-Loving mushroom like Shiitake, Oyster, Lion’s Mane, etc. But we also have to think about a semi-sterile environment so the Grain Spawn doesn’t get contaminated after we inject the liquid culture syringe.