That’s whats up.

  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    2 months ago

    If you’re growing those oysters in the open air like that, it’d be worthwhile to get a 5 tier metal shelf and a zip cover for it. The spores of Pleurotus species are pretty toxic and will cause an allergic reaction to them.

  • StillNoLeftLeft [none/use name, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    Amazing. Thanks for the reminder.

    Thanks to this post I just spent an hour looking at grow kits, because growing shrooms at home is one project I’ve been meaning to get into for years. Thinking I’ll try growing some on the balcony this year.

    Brewing also still waiting in the special interest pipeline. I’ve made kombucha, kefir, kvass, simple home beer and mead, but the real brewing process seems complicated and hard to do in an apartment building. But I would love to make some apple cider or something one day.

    • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      28 days ago

      For cider you could take a swing at Edwort’s Apfelwein, which is a walk in the park. You just need to sweeten it and carbonate it, maybe back off the amount of sugar in it at the start so it’s not too alcoholic. Super easy, can be done in bottles that are a quart or two in size, or a gallon.

      Also doing oyster mushrooms in straw in a bucket as above is incredibly easy (please use a food safe bucket - mushrooms are incredible remediators and I don’t think it’s entirely safe to use plastic laundry baskets that have been manufactured with who knows what that the mushrooms might absorb.

      Both can be done with minimal space, minimal kit, and minimal cost. If you’re interested in more info about either, let me know and I can share details.

        • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
          2·
          26 days ago

          You can make it even more simply if you are willing to accept a certain margin of error too.

          Shelf-stable apple juice is already pasteurized, so you can get a big bottle (maybe half a gallon or a gallon), crack it open and dissolve some table sugar with some juice in a clean jug (replace the lid on the juice immediately after pouring it out), add the yeast (use a champagne yeast if it’s for cider - I’ve used EC-1118 but you are probably gonna find Red Star Champagne yeast in your region more easily than EC-1118), then pour that back into your bottle.

          Airlocks are as simple or as complicated as you want to make them. The ol’ balloon trick works just fine, especially if it’s your first attempt but you can also use a proper airlock.

          As a very rough guide, 1g of sugar per liter produces about 0.5% ABV so do some napkin math (don’t forget to include the sugar already existing in the apple juice!) and make a target for your ideal ABV for a cider. Champagne yeasts can usually be pushed to near 20% ABV but that’s overkill and it will end up tasting bad. Also 20% ABV cider is gonna be a bit over the top. Aim for around 4 to 8% depending on what you’re looking for.

          Do not rely on this ABV calculation as being anything more than a rough guide, do not drive if you’re gonna drink this cider unless you’ve actually measured the ABV!!

          After priming, your cider will be very dry but it’s easy to make a simple sugar syrup or sweetener syrup to back-sweeten a cider directly before serving, and you can customize your sweetness to taste individually this way too. It’s just a little frowned upon for some reason because I guess it feels a little too close to being a cocktail or something? Idk, don’t ask me - sweetening in a bottle or sweetening in a serving glass doesn’t seem all that different to me.

          Last tip is that malic acid can really elevate even the most basic cider, especially if you like depth and sour notes. Be very sparing with it - it’s extremely concentrated.

          Honestly you could make the Apfelwein, put some aside to prime into a strong cider when bottling, and play around with it to see what you like. (Just make sure you do your research before you try priming since bottles become bombs very easily if you are careless and the cleanup is fucking dreadful, aside from the obvious dangers of glass fragments exploding around you.) The yeast will cost a few dollars and so will malic acid, if you opt for that, but as a project you can probably make half a gallon or a gallon for less than $10 all up.

    • DickFuckarelli [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      I think you’d be surprised how many all in one brewing units are small enough to fit in a closet and take up little space when not in use. Vevor makes a cheap but serviceable 120v system that I believe is around 200USD and is the size of a pony keg or so when not in use. Then you would need stackable buckets for fermentation.

      For serving I prefer kegging over bottling. Admittedly both take up space but there are ways to dual purpose the space used for a kegerator.

      I’m helping a younger coworker figure out his apartment space and budget needs so I’ll keep you (or any one interested) in the loop, if you like.