Hello,
This is my first time trying to flask using a homemade media. This post will be about the steps I used and also the media recipe.
First The Media:
300g of finely grated potato (skins on)
20g sugar
125ml coconut water (no pulp, no added sugar just 100% coconut water)
1 centrum multi vitamin (crushed)
2g fertilizer 15*30*15 (no urea)
1 liter distilled water
10g agar
I got this media recipe by reading alot of other peoples recipes that claimed it has worked for them. From all of the recipes, I took the ingredients that most of them used (like potatoes) or sounded like a good idea to try (like the Centrum tablet).
I have seen multiple people asking where to get agar. I got mine from a little health food store (not the muscle fitness products store, they just look at you with a dumb stare and say, AGAR hmm no, maybe you should try this) lol
Most recipes also asked for 20*20*20 fertilizer with no urea. I couldn't find one without urea, so that is why I used the 15*30*15.
I was going to add activated carbon(charcoal) powder but read somewhere it can give false readings on the PH paper, so decided to not use it. I am also not sure if that statement is true or not cause I did read lots of recipes with it.
Ok Now for the fun stuff. I estimated that it would take us about 2 hours but it ended up taking 3.5 hours (lots of time waiting for things to cool down)
Step 1: Get yourself prepared with your favorite drink. Mine was Gin, Tonic and Mango juice.
Step 2: Clean your kitchen and get everything ready.
Pressure cooker - I got a 5.5 liter one on sale for $30
Scale - on sale for $15
Tongs - $1
10 baby food jars - I got them on sale for 60 cents each, baby food and all.
PH paper - $10 at a Hydroponics store.
Lemon juice and baking soda in case I had to adjust PH.
Step 3: In a medium sized pot get 400ml of the distilled water on to boil. While you wait for that to boil, FINELY grate your potato (clean it first but grate with skins still on)
This is what 300g of grated potatoes looks like.
Step 4: Add grated potatoes to the 400ml of boiling distilled water for 2-3 min stirring constantly. For me, I got this thick potato mix with strands of grated potatoes still. So I used a hand blender to smooth it out.
Step 5: I added the rest of the ingredients. Sugar, crushed Centrum pill, fertilizer, coconut water and 600ml of distilled water. Do NOT add the agar yet. I let that boil for about 5 min and then let it cool down for 10.
Step 6: While I waited for the media to cool down a got my pressure cooker on to boil, filled with about 3 inches of water. After the 10 min cool down I tested the PH level of the media. First strip was around 5.8-6 PH from what I could see. It was close to the 5.5-5.8 level so I added 5 drops of the lemon juice which then gave me a reading of between 5.5-5.8 PH.
Step 7: Put the media back on to boil and added the agar. I let it come to a rolling boil and then poured a little bit into the jars. I placed the lids on the jars (do not tighten) and then wrapped them with squares of tin foil.
Step 8: I place the bottles into the boiling pressure cooker and of course only 9 of the 10 bottles would fit. Damn Murphy's law, so I did it twice with 5 bottles at a time.
Do NOT place the bottles on the bottom of the pot. The spacer I used was a veggie steamer part of a rice cooker that I had, but had to remove the plastic handles.
Step 9: Closed the pressure cooker and waited for it to start to steam inside. You will know when it is ready cause the little weight on top will spin and let steam out. At that point I let it pressure cook away for 23 min.
Step 10: After the 23 min I took it off the heat and let it sit for about 15 min before I opened the pressure cooker. I heated up a plate under hot water so when I transferred the bottles from the pressure cooker the temperature difference wouldn't crack the bottles. I used the tongs and oven mitts for this. CAUTION: These bottles are super HOT even after the 15 min cool down.
Step 11: After about an hour of cooling I tightened the lids on the jars and the agar had set by this time.
The media that got on the side of the jar happened in the pressure cooker, so I don't know how to stop this from happening.
Step 12: I placed the flasks in the spot where they will stay even after I sow the seeds into the flasks. They are at a window that faces North East and they will not get any direct sunlight.
Step 13: Crossing my fingers that I don't get any contamination
Newbie Guide To Flasking
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