Putting the mushroom spore into the jar.
Here you will need spores to inoculate your jars
After the cooker is cold to the touch take the jars out and place them on a clean surface, have an alcohol lamp or a lighter and the spore syringe ready. Shake the spore syringe to break up the spore clumps. To be able to shake it it's necessary that there is a small bubble of air in the syringe. If this is not the case, then you can suck approximately 1cc of sterile air into the syringe by placing the tip of the needle into the flame and slowly pulling the plunger back.
Loosen the foil from all of the jars so it can be lifted easily when you inoculate.Take the cover from the needle and heat it over the flame until glowing red. Let cool for a few secondsTake the upper foil layer off and put aside upside down.Pierce the foil at the edge of the jar with the needle app. 1in(2.5cm) deep and inject the spore suspension towards the inner jar surface. You should see a small drop running down the inner surface of the jar towards the bottom. Each jar is inoculated on 4 equally spaced points. You should use 1 - 1.5 ml of the spore suspension per jar so one 10ml syringe is sufficient for 6 -10 jars.
Put the foil on again. Flame sterilize the needle again after inoculating 3 jars to prevent cross contamination just in case a jar wasn't properly sterilized. When all of the jars are inoculated fold the foil edges up and press them firmly together so you get a nice aluminium foil lid. Write the inoculation date and the species/strain information on the foil with an all surface felt tip pen. If you touch something other with the needle during the inoculation procedure except the foil surface of the bottom foil layer immediately flame sterilize the tip again.
Incubation
To learn how to make a cheap incubator go to How to Build a IncubatorThe jars should be stored at 21-27°C (70-81°F), the warmer the better, but not exceeding 27°C. If you don't have these temperatures at home you can build an incubator to accommodate the jars.Providing the jars are kept warm you should see the first sign of germination after 3-5 days as bright white specks. This is mycelium. If anything grows that is not white, for instance green, black or pink, then the jars are contaminated and their content must be discarded and your clean procedures need some improvement. After the jars are emptied and the jar is washed with detergent and hot water it can be used again.Depending on the temperature and the viability of the spore syringe it takes 14-28 days for the mycelium to colonize the whole jar. Once colonized store the jars at normal room temperature, about 21°C (70°F) to initiate pinning.Don't expose the jars to direct sunlight. Indirect sunlight (= the natural light that lights up a room because at day time out) or a low wattage lamp (cool white fluorescent lamp is ideal, incandescent lamp is less suitable) for 4-12 hours a day is sufficient.
The Fruiting Chamber (Terrarium)
Many different things can be used for a fruiting chamber, including camping coolers, aquariums, and large plastic containers (Rubbermaid brand or similar containers work great). The fruiting chamber must be at least 6-8" (15-20cm) tall, and have enough floor space for the cakes to be arranged with at least 1" (2.5cm) of free space on all sides. Spread the cakes out as much as possible so that the mushrooms have room to grow. If the chamber is much too tall or too large, it may be difficult to keep the humidity high enough. The bottom of the chamber must be able to contain water, and the lid must be somewhat airtight in order to keep the humidity inside high. Light must be able to shine into the terrarium. If you are using a cooler or non-transparent plastic container, you will need to cut a window into the top of it and seal it with some sort of transparent material so that light can get in but humidity can't get out. For this reason, glass aquariums make very nice fruiting chambers if they are kept at the right temperature range.
Pinning, Fruiting, and Harvesting
For the first week or two, the cakes will generally not do anything. Then, very small bumps, called "pins," "pinheads," or "primordia" will begin to grow out of the surface of the cake. These are the beginnings of mushrooms. Many will never grow any larger. However, some will grow until they are full-grown mushrooms. A mushroom is ready to be picked when the edge of the cap tears away from the "stem" (the stem of a mushroom is called the stipe). Often, there will be a thin veil between the cap and stipe. If this is present, you can wait until the veil tears before picking the mushroom. To pick a mushroom, grasp it near the base where it is joined to the cake, and gently twist it until it comes off. Immediately begin the process of preserving it, either by refrigerating it or by drying it, mushrooms will begin to rot immediately. Each cake will produce about 1-3 waves or "flushes" of mushrooms, normally with 2-5 days of dormancy between flushes. After about a month or so of fruiting, most cakes will be spent, and will not produce any more mushrooms unless rehydrated by dunking underwater for 24 hours, see dunk tek.
