imported>Claude: Wiki rebuild: cleanup and new cultivation articles

2026-10-22T19:00:00Z

Wiki rebuild: cleanup and new cultivation articles

New page

Liquid culture (LC) is mycelium grown in sugar water. A single jar can inoculate dozens of grain jars, and because the mycelium is already alive and growing, it gets established on grain much faster than spores do.

The trade-off: contamination in liquid is hard to see. Always [[#Testing|test your LC]] before trusting it with a big batch of grain.

== Equipment ==
* '''Jars:''' pint or quart mason jars. Fill only about halfway so there's room for air.
* '''Lids''' with a self-healing '''injection port''' (silicone or a rubber stopper) for adding and drawing culture, and a '''gas exchange filter''' (a synthetic filter disc or a hole covered with micropore tape).
* '''Stir bar''' (optional but recommended): a small magnetic bar in each jar, plus a magnetic stir plate. Without one you can swirl by hand, or add a few glass marbles to help break up clumps.
* '''Syringes''' with long needles (16–18 gauge is easier to draw up thick LC).

== Recipes ==
* [[Reference/LiquidCulture/Recipes/ClemGrows|ClemGrows LC]]: low-nutrient, crystal clear, resists blobbing
* [[Reference/LiquidCulture/Recipes/PGT|Philly Golden Teacher LC]]: a bit richer, very forgiving

Most good recipes land around 2–4% sugars by weight. More is not better: high-nutrient LC grows into thick mats on the surface, turns cloudy, and caramelizes in the cooker.

== Making it ==
# Mix the recipe and fill jars about halfway. Drop in stir bars.
# Cover the filters with foil so condensation doesn't soak them.
# [[Reference/Pressure Cooking at Altitude|Pressure cook]], adjusting time for altitude.
# Let the jars cool completely before inoculating. Heat will kill your culture.

== Inoculating ==
Working in a [[Tutorials/Basics/Sterile Technique|still air box or flow hood]]:
* '''From agar (best):''' cut a few small wedges from a clean plate and drop them in through a briefly opened lid, or push them through a wide port.
* '''From a spore syringe:''' inject 1–2 ml through the port. Spore-started LC can't be checked for contamination until it's grown, so testing it is especially important.
* '''From LC:''' 1 ml of good LC starts a new jar.

Wipe the port with alcohol before every needle goes in, and flame the needle until it glows red, then let it cool.

== Growing it ==
* Keep jars at room temperature, around 70–78°F, out of direct sun.
* Stir or swirl gently once a day or every few days to break up clumps and spread the mycelium.
* Healthy LC shows white clouds, wisps, or clumps of mycelium in clear or lightly tinted liquid. Most jars are ready in 1–3 weeks.

=== Signs of trouble ===
{| class="wikitable"
! What you see !! Likely cause
|-
| The whole liquid turns uniformly cloudy, milky, or murky within days || Bacteria
|-
| A slimy film on the surface or a sour smell || Bacteria
|-
| Green, blue, black, or colored fuzz || Mold. See [[Reference/Contamination|contamination ID]]
|-
| Dark amber before you ever inoculated || Overcooked. Usable, but not ideal.
|}

Clear liquid with white mycelium is what you're after. Cloudiness that clears when the jar settles may just be stirred-up mycelium; cloudiness that stays is a red flag.

== Testing ==
Before inoculating a big run of grain, put a drop of LC on an [[Tutorials/Agar/Making Plates|agar plate]] and on one test grain jar. If both grow clean white mycelium within a week or so, use the rest with confidence. This step catches most bad LC before it ruins a whole batch.

== Using and storing it ==
* Shake or stir the jar first so you draw up mycelium, not just liquid.
* Typical inoculation is 1–3 ml per quart jar of grain, or 5–10 ml per grain bag.
* Store finished LC in the fridge. It keeps for several months; let it warm up and give it a stir before use.

{{Cultivation}}
[[Category:Tutorials]]
[[Category:Liquid culture]]

Tutorials/LiquidCulture/Making and Using LC - Revision history

imported>Claude: Wiki rebuild: cleanup and new cultivation articles