First homebrew Test e, not too happy :(

[Hendrix11]

Well my raws arrived last week, and finally so did all the equipment needed to make my first brew.

My first mistake was stating the process on a Sunday morning with a hangover, not too smart, apart from that, sterilising went well, cleaned all glassware, bathed in rubbing alcohol bath, rinsed with distilled water, then all upside down in the oven for 40 mins.

measured out the powder, then got the oil up to 30 degrees, put powder in gave a swirl, all melted pretty easily, put in BA and BB.
The problem came with filtering, set up 2 50mg sterile vials to filter into, a friend and I took on one each with syringe filter. my friend was pressing down really hard on the rubber stopper and as a result finished product has tiny rubber bits due to a hole forming in the top from the downwards pressure. Mine also had small rubber particles mainly because i pulled the needle out a few times and must have broken off rubber from bottom with movement.

I have taken off old tops and replaced with sterile stoppers and caps for now. I'm thinking I need to filter this again, this time I will use a bottle top filter. 100ml is a right pain with whatman lol.

Any thoughts anyone??

 

[biebs111]

bottletop filter is the way to go bro

 

[calvare2]

Buy a glass media bottle for the filter, because the plastic one that comes with it, easily breaks.

 

[Hendrix11]

Thanks Biebs and Calvare, yeah gonna do that I reckon. glass media bottle sounds like a plan, less problems the better Learned a lot from the process though so all good.

 

[Hendrix11]

Just wondering about keeping the filtered oil sterile, when transferring from the media bottle to the vials. Any ideas or tips??? Cheers

 

[Xodusforever]

Home made flow hood. Nothing is guaranteed - but flow hoods keep contaminants to a minimum.

 

[White Wolf Labs]

Man I can't tell you how many times I had to get a replacement filter. That's why I decided to get a glass media bottle as stated above. Also, bottle top filters are great!

 

[mmmiron]

Home made flow hood. Nothing is guaranteed - but flow hoods keep contaminants to a minimum.

Any links for a DIY flow hood design?

 

[Xodusforever]

Sure do iron - now this will cost a bit more since it has hepa, but it's the gold standard in home made flow hoods and is as cheap as it gets. The equivalent prefab'd from any major supplier would set you back 4 figures.

http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/7346495

If you have any mechanical ability, which I do not and is the primary reason I buy my stuff prefab'd, you could just swap the cardboard for plywood. It may be overkill if you only brew a vial or two a month. However, 100$ - 200$ is a wise investment consider the cost of medical care for injected contaminants. But these are solid plans and identical in function to a lab flow hood.

This is only good for what we do or agar / biology work. If some idiot thinks he can make meth or something with this safely, he is going to have a bad time and probably cancer somewhere down the road.

 

[mmmiron]

Sure do iron - now this will cost a bit more since it has hepa, but it's the gold standard in home made flow hoods and is as cheap as it gets. The equivalent prefab'd from any major supplier would set you back 4 figures.

http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/7346495

If you have any mechanical ability, which I do not and is the primary reason I buy my stuff prefab'd, you could just swap the cardboard for plywood. It may be overkill if you only brew a vial or two a month. However, 100$ - 200$ is a wise investment consider the cost of medical care for injected contaminants. But these are solid plans and identical in function to a lab flow hood.

This is only good for what we do or agar / biology work. If some idiot thinks he can make meth or something with this safely, he is going to have a bad time and probably cancer somewhere down the road.

Thanks for the info! I brew at a very small scale just for myself so this will suffice. I would much rather be proactive and be as sterile as possible than sit in the ER trying to explain the lumps and infection.

 

[beedix]

Not a believer in jumping straight to bottle top. Use syringe filters with caulk gun into sterile vials first....tweak and perfect your recipe first.

The larger the surface area of your filter the more hormone loss you will experience. Start small and work your way up IMO.