Perfect Oats Grain Bags

Here is how I make my grain bags, I have used a similar method for jars, however the water content will be significantly different.

Why Oats?

After experimenting with many different grains and ended up using oats as there are multiple advantages of using oats over other grains in my opinion.

Pros:

• Very nutritious
• Least labour intensive
• Easy to work with
• Cheap
• Predictable outcome

Cons

• Requires longer sterilization cycle

What you will need:

Ingredients:

1. Whole Oats Grains (must be whole, not crushed or rolled)
2. Water

Equipment Required:

1. Unicorn 3T Grow Bags or similar (Must have a 0.2 micron filter patch designed for spawn production)
2. Scale
3. Laminar Flow Hood
4. Impulse sealer
5. Pressure Canner/Cooker/Autoclave

Method:

I like to make 2.5KG spawn per bag, if you want to make smaller bags just do some math.

Ok, start off by by weighing out 1.333kg of grains

Gently add the dry grains to the bag, no need to prep or rinse it in anyway, Make sure to keep the insides of the bag as clean as possible, if you get some dust from the oats on the insides of the bag wipe it off with a damp paper towel, this is necessary to ensure a nice vacuum seal in the PC.

I have a 40L Pressure Canner that can fit 6 of these bags so I make 6 at a time.

Next add 1.2L of boiling water into the bag, try to pour the water in without making contact with the sides if the bags and fold the bag along the creses, if the hot water comes in contact with the sides it will make it more difficult to fold the bag.

Now let the bag soak for around 15 to 20 minutes, then flip it on its side and let it soak for another 15 to 20 minutes, then flip it over to the other side and wait another 15 to 20 minutes. The reason for this is 2 fold, firstly so the grains can expand a bit before putting it into the PC and thus decrease the chance of burst bags due to expanding in the PC, and secondly for moisture distribution.