yup you got it step by step its:
1) put your grains n
wood chips or dowels in a pot cover em with
water after a few hours change the water let em sit for 12-24 (unless you plan to use popcorn if so let me know) if the water looks kinda scummy or gets that starchy skin on top change it
2)make you lids while the stuff is soaking you can get a bag of polly fil from walhell or a craft store for like 5 bucks it'll last years and the silicone is in the automotive section usualy sat RTV high temp on the package sometimes I've seen it marked as like liquid gasket or gasket filler using a drill you can make holes in a nice little stack for what your doing you only need 1 slightly bigger hole for the poly and 1 for the injector but if you decide to try cakes as well I'd say have 4 nocc points per lid. oh and also if you can try and use wide mouth jars much easier to clean after your done. i add a lil drop of silicone to each side of the lid and then stick it in a slit cut in the edge of a box for a drying rack or you could just set it on the jar
3) add a little dry as in un soaked grains to the bottom of your jar if your using wild bird seed then think just a couple layers
enough to cover the bottom of the jar
4) drain your soaked grains well some people spread then out in a pan lined with towels and put a fan on em for a bit you want a decent amount of moisture inside but not much out side step 3 helps to give you a lil more leeway here as they will help soak up any extra moisture but to wet and you'll favor bacteria rather than fungi
5)fill your jars between 1/2 and 2/3rds the grain will expand and you want to have room to shake em later make sure to wipe the rims of the jar with a clean dry towel i usually put the lids on upside down( more important if your doing grain to grain transfers but more on that in a bit) go a head and sug em down doesn't have to be super tight but you don't have to leave em loose like you normally would when PCing since we have a good vent cover the lid with a bit of foil to keep your filters from getting soaked with condensation in the PC (a little gypsum can help to keep it from clumping too)
6)make sure you know your pc check that the vent is clear that the seals are good that it has a safety valve/plug of some kind and something to keep the jars up off the bottom a trivet a layer of lid rings bit of hardware cloth whatever you want the jars at least 1/2" off the bottom add plenty of water if you run out it can mess up your pc put the jars in and the lid on set it on the stove with the weight off until you see a good head of steam then drop the weight on once it starts rattling like crazy turn the heat down a bit so its just kinda ticking still rattling but not crazy like once its stabilized set your timer for 90min and hang around don't leave it unattended after 90min@15psi kill the fire and let it set DON'T pull the weight off while its at full pressure aside from prolly burning yourself it could explode your jars and will explode the grain kernels once its cooled down and vented slowly but is still warm to the touch carefully open it up and with
oven mitts on take the jars out and give em a good shake leave the foil on settin the jars on a towel is a good idea as I've set hot jars on a cool counter or sink and the thermal shock shattered em
7) this kinda depends on how your house is and what space you have available if your ocd and have a closet or bathroom you could eat off any surface in you can skip the glovebox just give everything a extra cleaning taking out anything you can (like TP rugs toothbrushes
soap that kinda stuff) tape over any vents oust/lysol bomb the room and close the door to let it settle go wash up put on freshly laundered clothes get your gear and bring it into your clean workspace you'll need your jars your spore or culture syringe a alcohol lamp (ever heard of a penny stove?) some paper towels a bottle of 70% rubbing alcohol(fill your little lamp with higher %alcohol it'll burn better but for wiping the 70%is better) light the lamp and set it to the side give your hands a good washing with acl then your jars the syringe with the cap on give it a good shake to mix up the spores or culture and pop the cap off the syringe and run it through the flames best if it glows just a bit with a fresh alc wipe down the injection site and give it a couple drops of spores if its a LC you can use a bit more but you don't want to throw off your moisture content some people shake the jar at this point i usually don't unless i used a lot of LC in each jar this way i see when the myc starts to form if you shake it it can sometimes start from the middle and you can't see it so you think your jars stalled out
set em someplace warm but not hot unless your someplace really cold don't worry about a incubator try not to mess with em to much wash your hands before you handel the jars and try not to shake em up till it hits at least 50% then if you want give it a good shake it'll take the myc a day to recover but it'll go faster after that when it looks like its 100% give it a few more days to a week longer
