Masters Mix is a highly nutritious substrate comprising of 50% hardwood sawdust and 50% soy hulls, which results in high yields. It’s suitable for most gourmet strains, including oyster mushrooms and Lions Mane, with the notable exception of Shiitake, which prefers lower levels of supplementation.
The most common wood to use is fuel pellets or briquettes, once hydrated these will turn into sawdust. It’s important to choose a hardwood product, as it provides more energy for the mushrooms and ensures that they will not include pine, which has fungicidal properties.
The recipes below are for common bag sizes, the ratio for dry ingredients to water is 1:1.5
4.5kg bag (SAC O2 G filter 39x49 or Unicorn XLS-A)
900g hard wood
900g soy
2.7l water
3kg bag (SAC O2 G-filter 32x42 or Unicorn 14A)
600g hard wood
600g soy
1.8l water
- Add all the ingredients to the bag, mix, then wait a few minutes until the contents are fully hydrated and fluffy
- Fold the bag over and push down firmly to remove any excess air
- Sterilise - due to it’s nutritional content masters mix must be sterilised at 121ºc (15psi) for at least 90mins. The length of time required varies with how large the bags are and how many are in the steriliser; for a run of multiple large bags (4kg+) it’s best to keep them at 121ºc for 3hours
- Allow the bags to cool to room temperature then add grain spawn (in a sterile environment, such as a still air box or in front of a laminar flow hood)
- Seal the bag
- Shake and massage the bag well, to remove any lumps from the substrate and evenly distribute the grain spawn throughout