🍄 Online Course Navigation
The cultivation process is divided into two Parts. Each Part consists of "Units", and each Unit is broken down into steps.
Fungi.org Blog Post Categories
You can visit the Blog Home Page, or check out specific categories below.
Part 1 : Unit 6 : Using a Pressure Cooker for Mushroom Cultivation
Learning how to use a pressure cooker safely is an important step in your mushroom growing journey. A pressure cooker stands at the center of the mushroom growing process. Cooking grain, sterilizing tools and grain spawn, pasteurizing bulk substrate…all these significant steps of mushroom cultivation happen inside a pressure cooker.
However, this tool is as dangerous as it is formidable. Misuse, lack of attention or focus, or poor maintenance and inspection can result in literally explosive situations. It is vital that you read your specific pressure cooker instruction manual to make sure you understand its specifics before first operating it. If you’ve never used a pressure cooker before, make sure to check out the writeup on “principles of pressure canning.” In the following module we demonstrate how to use a pressure cooker for a short 25 minute session of pressurized cooking of Liquid Culture at 15-17PSI.
The video markers above 👆🏼correspond to the the various Steps in this Unit. Click on them to skip to a Step.
Inspect the pressure cooker pot for dents, cracks, bulges or anything else out of the ordinary. Next, inspect the pressure cooker lid, its various gauges and seals. Make sure all screws are tight, and that the rubber seal is in good shape. When you are satisfied with the inspection, place the PCAn acronym for Pressure Cooker. in the sink and fill as much water as needed. Here’s a rough guideline that can be used :
Place the rack in the pot, and put the items you want to sterilize on top of the rack in such a way that they are not touching the sides of the pot. If necessary, use a towel to line the inside of the pot. Inspect the lid, verify that all the valves are securely screwed and in place, and that the seal is intact. Close the PCAn acronym for Pressure Cooker. by aligning the marks on the lid with the corresponding marks on the top of the pot, and turn it to seal it. There should be a tight secure seal.
Turn on the gas to high and allow the PCAn acronym for Pressure Cooker. to heat up. As the water boils and heats up, the Interlock Assembly valve will eventually pop up. At this point, steam will be coming out of the vent pipe. Allow about 5 minutes for all the air to be expelled from the PC through the vent pipe, and then place the 15 psi pressure regulator on the vent.
The pressure starts building up in the PCAn acronym for Pressure Cooker.. If you have a gauge, you should see it slowly inching up towards the 15 PSI range. When the cooker reaches 15 psi, the pressure regulator weight will start bobbing around and hissing. At this point, turn down the gas to medium, to a point where the regulator weight continues to gently bob around. From this point, start measuring your pressure cooking time.
Once the high pressure sterilization has been completed, you can turn off the gas. The pressure cooker will slowly start to cool down. Do not open it yet. The pressure in the PCAn acronym for Pressure Cooker. will slowly go down, and when the PC becomes pressure neutral, the Cover Lock valve will drop. From this point, wait at least 2 more hours before opening the PC. If in doubt, just wait until the PC is not too hot to touch, or leave the PC overnight before opening.