TegalexDec 22, 2022
OK #mycology , my agar is constantly spoiling and I'm doing everything humanly possible to sterilise. I'm using a fitted glove still air box, a stovetop pressure cooker, and my actual brain 🧠 What's the next step? I need Lion's Mane more than ever!
Show threadJennie L Catlett

@tegalex look at your environment and how you are transferring the agar. If it’s spoiling either it isn’t sterilizing or it’s being contaminated after sterilization. A pressure cooker should work to sterilize, but it needs to get the agar and everything the agar is exposed to up to temp, no cold spots.

What do the contaminants look like? Multiple morphologies or just one? Same every time?

Pictures of your setup and the contamination might help.

Dec 22, 2022 at 1:55pmWeb
Show threadTegalexDec 23, 2022
@JennieLCatlett I got a kind of penicillin looking mould and some cobweb mold... I think I have contaminated it after sterilising as i have to transfer agar and petrie dishes to the still air box ..
Show threadJennie L CatlettDec 23, 2022

@tegalex The trick is to get the agar and other substrates into a contained environment that can be brought to 120 C within the pressure cooker then transferred to your clean air box without exposing it to outside air.

If you are already using sealed sterilization pouches or mushroom bags or something similar, the contaminant may be in your air box.

Show threadTegalexDec 23, 2022
@JennieLCatlett hmm. Maybe I didn't clean my gloves well enough.????
Show threadJennie L CatlettDec 23, 2022
@tegalex it’s a place to start!
Show threadJennie L CatlettDec 23, 2022
@tegalex also, don’t feel discouraged! Contamination is the bane of any controlled environment. You will find something that works.