Inoculate sterilized grains with liquid culture

Well, it's time to inoculate your jars of seeds with mycelium, in order to achieve mushroom spawn. First, sterilize a syringe, wrapping it in tinfoil and putting it in a pressure cooker for 15-20 minutes, as seen in this post. Once ready, we remove the syringe from the pot without unwrapping it, and get ready to work in an environment as clean as possible. It is good to spray in the air a bit of cleaning alcohol or disinfectant spray (Oust and Lysol work well) before you start.

First of all, carefully clean the silicone inoculation port with a wad of paper or cotton, soaked in hydrogen peroxide. Than, take another swab and hold it onto silicone port for 5-10 minutes. This is not necessary, but helps to kill any remaining contaminants.

At this point, you have to work as quickly and aseptic as possible: unwrap the syringe and quickly insert the needle into the injection port. Then tilt the jar enough so the needle reaches the liquid. You have to be always very careful not to wet the filter, for the reasons we know. Our goal is to be able to suck up as much liquid mycelium as possible with the syringe: during growthin the jar, mycelium tends to form a compact mass, which does not easily pass through the needle. For this reason we will have to "break" the mass of mycelium filaments, by sucking and blowing the liquid several times with the syringe. The whole operation must obviously made without removing the needle from the jar. 

Once you manage to suck a decent amount of mycelium, you can remove the needle from the jar. At this point, it is good to sterilize the syringe needle with the flame, before inoculating into the jar. If you work fast you do not need to, but it's always better to be safe. Once done, let it cool (about 10 seconds) then remove the foil from the jar of seeds, and will inject the LC.

By being careful, it is possible to inoculate several jars with a single syringe of LC, just that each gets some liquid mycelium. Obviously, the more it will be, the faster colonization you'll have. And of course, it is good to sterilize the needle after each step.
If everything went the right way, in a matter of 4-7 days you will see mycelium growing on seeds.

As you can see, mycelium begins to develop at the point where the LC was injected, just under the inoculation port. You can speed up the growth mixing the grains by shaking the jar: after a few days growth will start again from the colonized grains, speeding up the whole process. To do this, beat the bottom of the jar several times against a rubbery surface, like a tire or a sole of an athletic shoe. Once all the seeds will be invaded by the mycelium, the jar will be ready to use.
If something goes wrong, you will know: if bacterial contamination, seeds will get a slimy appearance and an unpleasant smell. In case of mold contamination, however, you will see a powdery mildew, variable in color, instead of, or along with the mycelium. Obviously, in all these cases everything is to be redone. Here's a picture to give you an idea: in this case mycelium has grown, but together with an unwanted guest, competing for its food...

Well: if your jar do NOT seems like the above one, but instead of all white mycelium, as in the photo below, then it will be ready to use :)

See you in the next guide ;)