r/unclebens • u/Vivid_Match6423 • 21h ago
Advice to Others To all yall who hate on UB tek
10 tubs are pinning all from uncle Ben’s rice , oh and for all who was saying oh most of them will get contam haha only lost 5 out of 108…
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u/greedymadi 20h ago
108 ? Jesus Christ . Thats 250 in just rice lol at that point just spend the cash on better technology
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u/Nolyism 17h ago
That's what everyone was telling him when he showed the pictures of the cases of UB he bought.
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u/greedymadi 16h ago edited 16h ago
They make like big ass grain bags with pre-installed micropore filters ...that are sterile and huge.
I've got 10 uncle bens bags going "its my first try" Only 1 got dry rot.
Its a great first time introduction. ..but at that point...if you're gonna keep going try more efficient ways.2
u/Charming_Sheepherder 12h ago
Imagine how long that took too. Sheesh.
Never said I hated it but it's not great, it's expensive, lacks control, tedious, and slow to name a few.
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u/ioverated 21h ago
The first time I grew I used pf tek from shroomery and the results were great. I think I did that twice. Since then it's been all Ben's all the way. Rarely have any contamination (and my process is not that clean). I don't know how people are saying you get so much contamination. Maybe certain regions tend to have more contaminants in the air naturally. Seems like climate could play a part in something like that.
I do want to move on to a more streamlined process with agar and grain jars and a laminar flow hood so I can produce enough to give away to people, but for now Ben's works pretty well.
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u/Money-Look4227 20h ago
Popcorn tek and a single LC jar had me giving them away for months on a single monotub. And it's not the area people grow in, near so much as it's a poor man's tek that seems easier, and because of that, it promotes poor sterilization technique. I honestly believe a large percentage of failures are due to this being the first process people try. But regardless, it's ultimately no better or worse than the users'cleaning/sterile techniques. However, it certainly isn't the best technique for any of the important factors, i.e. cost/yield/effort. It's kind of the middle ground.
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u/Euphoric_Hawk_6232 19h ago
You are spot on there. I took six bags and used a still air box and sanitized everything to the hilt. No problems except I didn’t fully cover a corner on one and that experience contam
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u/toomuchPTO 21h ago
Almost all of my UB were successful. If people are hating because of contam issues I'd argue that there is a problem with their technique.
I think the big draws for many away from the bags is that you can buy a 50 lb bag of oats for the price of a half dozen rice bags. You can also play around with other grains, gypsum, whatever. The cost means it feels (to me at least) like less of a hit if you try something that doesn't work out. The visibility of jars is awesome - if there does happen to be contam, you'll know before you even open it and often without having to wait the whole innoculation period.
That said, there's a ton of convenience with UB - less time/effort/money on the front end - so I get why that is the move for many! In the end, yea, haters gonna hate. I say if you're happy with what you got going on, f what they say and keep on truckin 🤙
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u/transcendingvoid 21h ago
It was a perfect start into the hobby. After my first run with UB I bought an 8qt instant pot. Seeing the mycelium grow is just so amazing...
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u/EnergyTurtle23 19h ago
It’s not that UB is bad, it’s a great way to get new people into the hobby, but once you get to this point you’re throwing money away when you could save a lot more by taking on the sterilization step yourself.
It probably took $20-$30 worth of ready-made rice to spawn these I would guess. I have an Instant Pot that cost I think about $30-$40 at Walmart, a dozen wide mouth jars for another $10 or so, and I bought a 20lb bag of wild bird seed a year and a half ago at Walmart for $10. I also bought some molded plastic mycology lids for about $20 for eight of them, but most people just get the supplies to convert the standard lids which come with the jars, which costs MAYE an additional $5 for the SHIP plugs and filter discs.
The Instant Pot, jars, and lids will work for years, if not decades, and that $10 investment in WBS can get me dozens used dozens of tubs worth of grain spawn. That’s about $70 total that I’ve spent, and honestly I bought the Instant Pot a few years beforehand when I was still doing PF Tek runs. If we assume you spent $20-$30 on UB bags for these tubs, you will hit that same cost figure after two and a half runs of these tubs, and I’ll have only used about a quarter of my 20lb WBS bag (or honestly probably less).
That doesn’t even account for the other applications that you’ll need a pressure cooker or Instant Pot for if you get deep into this hobby. If you want to move past multi-spore and start getting the kind of yields that you can only get from cloning then you’ll need to sterilize agar plates. If you want to use cloned plates to make liquid culture to massively speed up your colonization time then you’ll need to sterilize liquid culture medium. The pressure cooker/Instant Pot investment is basically a requirement if you want to move past multi-spore syringes and relatively expensive rice bags. Not to mention that rye, WBS, and other grains are more nutrient dense than brown rice which results in more yield in the long run. If you’re happy with UB Tek then that’s awesome, I’m happy to see anyone who enjoys growing mushrooms regardless of how they do it, but once it becomes a long-term commitment it doesn’t make sense to continue spending $2 each on rice bags.
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u/TooSp00kd 20h ago
Do what works best for you! UB works. Other methods work.
Also don’t try to flex before you’re done with your grow lol. Good luck on your grow though!
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u/geezeeduzit 20h ago
Yeah, but why? Just cook your own grain, it’s cheaper and less prone to contamination. You’re doing a lot of tubs, just seems an inefficient way of doing it
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u/Somushl0v3 7h ago
But that requires..... cooking. I barely want to cook for myself.
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u/geezeeduzit 6h ago
Haha, well, that much I do understand. That being said, UB is more prone to contamination if you’re not super diligent about things. Much easier to avoid contam cooking your own
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u/witchy-chick 21h ago
Hell yeah that’s nice! I’d love to have that, but I have 4 cats that wouldn’t leave it alone. They’ve broke into a cabinet with child prevention locks and destroyed 4 inoculated grain bags. They love the smell of mushies and the smell makes me nauseous. 🤣
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u/Sweaty_Emu3104 21h ago
I think people hate on it as an attempt to make people realize there are more cost effective and variable controlled methods. UBTEK is the ultimate move for beginners in my opinion, with the next step in learning process being brokeboi tek
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u/Electronic_Truck_190 20h ago
Iblike to put a piece of tin foil over the top surface after I do s2g. It's creates a micro climate. Remove once colonized and you will be happy you tried it .
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u/CommercialSignal2846 21h ago
I’ve never had any issues with UB tek. I love it and have successfully grown a few hundred grams dried no problem. The other ppl are just being snobby and gatekeeping… rock on!
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u/Vivid_Match6423 21h ago
Yessirrr I appreciate the fedback brother fr yeah mfs gonna hate just to hate !!
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u/evilhasheroes 20h ago
I had such wild success with UB tek in the past.
Those who hate are doing so because they want newcomers to the hobby to experience the same shitty barriers to entry they did, because they’re elitist losers who have nothing else going for them.
Keep up the good work, OP. 🍄
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u/EthanDC15 15h ago
lol, I love when people say you’re “throwing money away doing UB”
Bros, I’ve grown no less than $2K in product from $150 startup. I don’t know what more margin you need to be satisfied, but we all sound like a billionaire for no reason here lol
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u/Vivid_Match6423 4h ago
Yeah I know it brother , they don’t understand I’m quadrupling my money maybe even 5 times how much it costed me to start up !
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u/EthanDC15 4h ago
Yup! Most successful businesses just need 30-40% upscale/margin to remain profitable. If you’re doubling your money you’re doing great, if you’re quadrupling you’re doing swell.
I do it to long term my kid can go to college. I make good money, but this shit prints. I only work with friends and family but they support the fuck out of the vision.
Edit; would love for it to go legal. If it did I’d be the first to have an LLC.
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u/East_Bay_Raider 21h ago
I’ve only had a couple grows so I’ve bought all my grain and substrate from a vendor. Using the pc method sounds like a lot of work and it seems like a lot of people end up with contamination
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u/Johhnynumber5ht2a 20h ago
UB Tek got alot of us started. I moved on to making my own corn jars mostly for cost and less waste. I think the majority of people hating on it are just the people trying to push everyone to buy their grow bags.
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u/msully89 20h ago
I've still got shrooms left from a grow I did nearly 3 years ago. Only take them rarely. So for someone like me, uncle bens is the way. Also I've had a 100% success rate so far.
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8h ago
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u/Top_Hat2229 18h ago
People dunking on UB just have flawed sterile tek. I haven't lost a single bag all the years I've been growing.
If you're losing bags to contam, it's not Uncle Ben's fault.
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u/mrcheyl 7h ago
Out of curiosity, what temp is the space you inoculated your grain?
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u/Vivid_Match6423 4h ago
70 in the room itself
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u/mrcheyl 4h ago
Thanks for replying.
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u/Vivid_Match6423 4h ago
Yessir I gotchu fam really depends on the day never get hotter than 72 no colder than 70 !
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u/Practical_Delivery49 2h ago
dude spent all his money on UB bags that he couldn’t afford actual curtains 😭
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u/AdditionalPiccolo527 21h ago
Yeah I was told it was a waste of time by a few different, very reputable shroom people. I loved it and it went really well for me, my first attempt made a happy 3 tubs that are onto their 3rd flush now