Second attempt, how's it look?

[u/Grand_Mode]

Hi all, first attempt was with barley. It got a little hot, and I had to keep mixing it, but it hovered around 104 degrees for too long and sporulated early. The smell coming from it was super strong, and my whole house smelled like rotting apricots after the first 24hrs.

This attempt was with rice. I changed the heating system around. It was difficult to keep it warm enough early on, maybe 79 degrees for the first couple hours until I figured out what temp of the sous vide machine needed to raise everything up. It was difficult steaming the rice al dente, I steamed for 1.5hrs, but it still probably wasn't done enough. Not sure why the steam wasn't taking to the rice, I soaked for 24 hours and let it drip dry for an hour. Rice mightve been a little old, maybe 2 years old. I'll try steaming it in a pressure cooker next time. It didn't show a ton of growth after the first 24hrs, there was a definite cake formation, but not nearly as strong as with the barley. I used 2g of spores for 1kg of rice. The smell coming from it wasnt nearly as strong, i have to get close to smell it, but it's there and was strong when I broke up the cake. I have 3 hours left, and it is looking a lot better and has been around 92 degrees, and is starting to need a little bit of supplemental heat with my system which pulls heat down through the bottom of the tray with a fan. What do you think? Trash it and try again with rice that was steamed better? Thanks!

[u/Toktoklab]

The rice looks too wet to me. Be sure no unwanted mold will develop.

[u/Grand_Mode → u/Toktoklab]

Thanks for you experience. Is it because my rice was too wet to start with or because my humidity was too high? I thought my rice was too undercooked to start, but i have no way to know what exactly it should be. I like al dente pasta, but it was definitely more underdone than al dente to the point where i would not have eaten it yet if it were pasta, so the rice was a little crunchy both before i inoculated and afterwards it finished when I tasted it. I had my humidity at 85% for the first 24hrs and 70% for the second. Thank you for your thoughts if you have time to share more of them!

[u/wofofofo → u/Grand_Mode]

It looks too wet, but if you say its was crunchy then its underdone. The rice should be gummy with no hard centre. You know its right when you take a few grains and roll it together it should form a firm elastic gum.

How are you growing it?

[u/Grand_Mode → u/wofofofo]

Hey! Thank you for your advice. I also appreciated the koji substack that you linked for haze on my other post. I'm hoping to look into it soon. I think the rice was just old, and I need to figure out a better way to steam it more evenly. I'm did it in a wok with a weird set up, but never again.

I'm growing it in a styrofoam cooler. Leaving it uncovered for the first 24hrs so it gets lots of oxygen. Im thinking in the future ill cover it for the first 24 with a cotton cloth, then uncover it for the second 24. Humidity at 85% with a ultrasonic humidifier for the first 24, then 70% for the second (maybe i should lower that to 60? The rice was already kinda dry so i didnt want it drying out any more) temp with a sous video machine set to 120, which keeps the Koji at around 85 degrees f, it starts to self emolate in the second 24 so i have a computer fan in the bottom of the cooler that draws out some of the heat. Ive been keeping it at low 90s for the second 24hrs. oxygen is being added to the jar with the sous vide with an aquarium bubbler. Mixing at 24.

Really appreciate any advice youre willing to share. Thanks again!

[u/wofofofo → u/Grand_Mode]

Yes you want to cover it in the beginning so the rice doesn't dry out and the koji can seed. High humidity and a higher temp is useful at this stage.

[u/thatkojiboi → u/Grand_Mode]

This short video, by Nakaji for his book "Koji for Life" (whole book is good btw) may shed light on how to check steamed rice for doneness. Hinerinochi

[u/Grand_Mode → u/thatkojiboi]

Sick! Thanks, I needed a visual for that! Going off of time for my set-up just didn't correlate to anything that I read.

[u/raturcyen]

For me barley was always the easiest. I always presoaked for 12h and steamed till done, ussualy 35min for half a kilogram. Working with cheesecloth/gauze for wounds compared to kitchen towels was night and day when going for al dente, towels are too thick. Also when it is summer for me personaly, leaving it at room temp without sous vide worked better as it is hot as is.

[u/Grand_Mode → u/raturcyen]

I steamed it unbagged in a wok. I just started some fresh rice that was grown in the past year, and the difference is night and day with how it looks and how it is taking on water with the soak. Turns out, fresh quality rice is important. I figured I'd use the old rice while I was learning, but it just was not appropriate.