# Bulk media recipies



## defaced (May 23, 2005)

For those out there who make media using boxes of potato flakes, bags of powdered sugar, and pounds of brewer's yeast, what's your recipe? It's about time to make some media mix up and last time I just used left overs, so there was no rhyme or reason, just toss in what I had and mix. Any and all suggestions welcome.


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

1 13oz box of potato flakes, 1 cup yeast, 1 cup powdered sugar. I put mine through a food processor to mix it up well plus somebody once posted that grinding it up to a powder form increased their production.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

I am planning a write up on this topic, and have just been too busy. I will try to get to it soon. I have a slightly modified recipe I am using now, with good success.


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## Tripod (Jun 5, 2006)

I do about the same as Gary...8 cups potatoe flakes, 1 cup yeast, 1 cup powdered sugar.

I run it through the blender until it is nicely mixed and pulverized. The batched is stored in a Tupperware container. The amount is enough for about 20-24 cultures.

When making cultures I only use 1/4 cup of mix (since it's finer it has less volume) to 1/2+ cup of liquid.

The only change I am considering making is adding powedered mold inhibitor. I am tired of the smell of vinegar based cultures, and the inhibitor is about the same price (maybe slightly less) than apple vinegar. Also, combining it into the blending step allows the culture making process to be a bit more efficient (one less ingredient to worry about).


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## ccc (Nov 22, 2006)

Looking forward to your write up, Kyle.

What type of powdered mold inhibitor are you using, Tripod?

ccc


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## thekidgecko (Oct 30, 2006)

I use 5 parts potato flakes, 2 part instant oats, 1 part flax seeds, 1 part instant oatmeal, and one part sugar/yeast. Sometimes I add some vitamin supplement. Mix these as they are and use just like that. The key here is to mix the dry stuff with WARM orange juice or other fruit juice. I use organic not-from-concentrate OJ. I drink it so why shouldn't the frogs/flies get what I get eh? lol. Add WARM oj orother juice until all but the bottom of the mix is wet (depending on your climate you may need more or less. It fluctuates seasonally here, and with what culture container you use.) Let that sit in a warm place overnight. Blow any CO2 from the yeast out the next day and add flies/excelsior/coffee filter. I like to use coffee filters personally.


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

> What type of powdered mold inhibitor are you using, Tripod?


Most people use methlyparaben

Just add 4 teaspoons to the above recipe

Do a search on google, it is easy to get and cheap.


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## thekidgecko (Oct 30, 2006)

Oh yeah the OJ inhibits mold growth. Forgot to add that.


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## Tripod (Jun 5, 2006)

Yep, methylparaben is the mold inhibitor.

You can find it on Ebay and elsewhere. I think Josh (JoshFrogs) sells it as well.

I've used vinegar, orange juice, and concentrated lemon juice (not lemonade) as a mold inhibitor; however, the citric juices don't seem to do as well as the vinegar. I have been having a bluish mold grow before the FF larvae get the media churned up. I think my production is down as well. I just made some yesterday with vinegar again to compare yields. I am not looking forward to the smell.

I have decided to go ahead and get the methylp. in order to keep the process simple and consistent (and smelling better). It's cheap. I am going to order some today or tomorrow.

By the way, when I make my cultures I bring the liquid to a boil and add 1/2 cup of it to the 1/4 cup finely powdered mix. After stirring the media well to make sure everything is incorporated, I let it sit and cool for about 20 minutes before adding bread yeast, exhelsior, and FFs.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

Nothing measured in boxes and bags?


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## thekidgecko (Oct 30, 2006)

Boxes and bags vary in volume, Mike. lol.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

But they have a weight  

Ex:
"I use 10 16oz boxes of potato flakes, 3 bags of 12oz powdered sugar, 2.5 lbs of brewer's yeast and 500 grams of methylparaben."


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## Tripod (Jun 5, 2006)

defaced said:


> But they have a weight
> 
> Ex:
> "I use 10 16oz boxes of potato flakes, 3 bags of 12oz powdered sugar, 2.5 lbs of brewer's yeast and 500 grams of methylparaben."


Wow, Mike...

Just how big are your frogs ??? :shock:


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## thekidgecko (Oct 30, 2006)

lol...are you trying to feed those African goliath bullfrogs on FF's again?


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

:lol: I'm just lazy and if I can premix my media for a year and it work, then cool. I've seen people with much larger collections do this (Brian's Tropicals is who I took this idea from) and having done it myself I really like it even if I'm only making 1/6 the cultures per week he is.


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## rmelancon (Apr 5, 2004)

10 gallons + 6 cups Potato Flake (10.5 gallons is fine) 
6 pounds of powdered sugar (24 cups/1.5 gallons) 
5 pounds of brewers yeast 
2.5 cups of Methyl Paraben


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

Just a word of caution...Brewers Yeast is a magnet to many bugs. When you make up a years worth of media, make sure you can seal it very well or when you open the lid, you find that your media is moving...Also, Brewers Yeast is meant to be used up in one years time, so don't make 10 years worth of media.


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## Tripod (Jun 5, 2006)

rmelancon said:


> 10 gallons + 6 cups Potato Flake (10.5 gallons is fine)
> 6 pounds of powdered sugar (24 cups/1.5 gallons)
> 5 pounds of brewers yeast
> 2.5 cups of Methyl Paraben


That's a serious volume of mix, Rob.

Any idea how many cultures you can make with that?

I also assume you are just stirring the ingredients together and not running it through a blender are such...?


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

I was figuring the brewer's yeast could be an issue. I do think that the big dog food containers that have seals on them would work for keeping bugs out.


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## Tripod (Jun 5, 2006)

Wally World, Lowes, and Home Depot also sell 5-gallon bucket lids that seal very well. Probably cheaper than the dog food containers.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

I will have to check those out since food buckets run above 15 bucks a pop.


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

> By the way, when I make my cultures I bring the liquid to a boil and *add 1/2 cup of it* to the 1/4 cup finely powdered mix. After stirring the media well to make sure everything is incorporated, I let it sit and cool for about 20 minutes before adding bread yeast, exhelsior, and FFs.


Tripod,
are you sure about this mix? In this post you were talking about the mythelparaben. Do you add 1/2 cup? That is an awful lot if I read that right.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

I make about 2-3 months worth at a time, with say 6-8 large containers of potato flakes.


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## rmelancon (Apr 5, 2004)

Tripod said:


> That's a serious volume of mix, Rob.
> 
> Any idea how many cultures you can make with that?
> 
> I also assume you are just stirring the ingredients together and not running it through a blender are such...?


No idea on the number of cultures. I stir it all together in a 32 gallon garbage can, no blender-ing.

Never had a problem with bugs, containers have lids but are by no means air tight.


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## Tripod (Jun 5, 2006)

dragonfrog said:


> > By the way, when I make my cultures I bring the *liquid to a boil and add 1/2 cup of it* to the 1/4 cup finely powdered mix. After stirring the media well to make sure everything is incorporated, I let it sit and cool for about 20 minutes before adding bread yeast, exhelsior, and FFs.
> 
> 
> Tripod,
> are you sure about this mix? In this post you were talking about the mythelparaben. Do you add 1/2 cup? That is an awful lot if I read that right.


1/2 cup boiling liquid + 1/4 cup dry mix (finely powdered with blender)


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

One comment with respect to using a mold inhibitor other than vinegar; vinegar creates an acidic enough environment to prevent bacterial overgrowth of the culture. There is a rod shaped bacteria that can form a pinkish manila colored film over the surface of the medium. Once this happens production goes down to nothing. All new cultures that are started from an infected culture become infected. This is not guaranteed to happen but it is a pain when it does. If you start to notice this problem go back to using vinegar.

My recipe is far from bulk, but I find it exceedingly easy and I get great yields. 

Per culture
3.5 fluid Oz Gerber fruit baby food
3.5 fluid Oz cider vinegar
Enough Gerber dry baby cereal with bananas to bring the medium to the consistency that you want (about 9 fluid Oz)
A sprinkle of bakers yeast on top.

I use index cards, tripled up and folded accordion style, as pupation sites. Each culture gets three sets of three cards. 

One new culture per week is feeding 5 frogs. Obviously this method is a little more expensive than bulk. I once figured it out to be slightly more expensive than using Ed’s Fly Meat medium. For me, the benefit is, I don’t have to breath mold inhibitor, and all the ingredients are available at the super market. No rushing around trying to find a health food store for brewers yeast. I also don’t have to blend or heat anything.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

Rob, thanks for the recipe. I will give it a spin when I mix up my stuff this week. 

Chris, thanks for mentioning that about the bacteria and vinegar. I will keep that in mind if I ever have a problem with it.


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## dopederson (Mar 26, 2006)

Defaced I think I have the recipe for you:

All of this is measured by weight or volume so you can size up or down as needed:

Dry mix:
2 parts potato flakes
1 part powdered sugar
1 part corm meal
1 part wheat germ

Wet ingredients:

Heat to a boil:
1 part water
1 part canned grapefruit juice
1 part apple cider vinegar

Mix 1/3 cup dry mix with 1/2 cup wet ingredients, once cool add a pinch of brewer's yeast. The next step is your choice as both of these ingredients are not cheap and the cultures get along fine with out them; I sprinkle either nutra rose or spirulina to the top of the culture.

From what I can tell my cultures take a little longer to produce than what some others report. My first hatch doesn't usually happen for about 10-12 days. I get about a month of production out of my cultures, from the time the first hatch comes out.


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

I have always used the following recipe for a small batch (30 cultures)

1 cup powdered sugar
4 level teaspoons Methylparaben (mold inhibitor)
8 cups potato flakes
1/2 to 1 cup brewers yeast
Store in a gallon ziplock bag

When it is culturing time put a heaping 1/3 cup on the above into each 32 oz. culturing cup. To this, add enough hot (not boiling) RO water to get the consistancy of apple sauce. Let cool to room temperature (very important) sprinkle no more than 10 grains of bakers yeast on top, put in coffee filters and add 50 or less flies.

This has always worked wonders for me until I tried to increase the recipe for a large batch. All I did was multipy all ingredients by 3. Obvious, right? For some reason, it will not work. This increase kills the FF within 12 hours after I put them in. I have not changed any of the ingredients, same brands. The only thing that I can think of is that adding a 1/4 cup of Methylparaben is too much. I have gone back to the smaller recipe and now I have no problems. Any one have any similar experiences with large batches? Also , does anyone know the shelf life of Methylparaben?


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## Guest (May 15, 2007)

For each new culture cup, how much medium, water & vinegar does everyone put in their cup?


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## dodgechic49 (Feb 1, 2006)

Grassypeak, the pinkish color stuff is mold? I have gotten that color a couple of times using powered mold inhibitor. I stopped using the vinegar just to see if I could use something else with success. The cultures didn't do as well as I wanted. I guess I will be going back to vinegar. Thank you for posting that info.


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Dodge,

In my experience a slimy pinkish manila colored overgrowth can be caused by a rod shaped bacterium. I examined this stuff at 1000X and found millions of little rods. I forget what I used for a dye, but it was not gram stain. Anytime I’ve seen this overgrowth, the culture began to go down hill rapidly. I have not seen this overgrowth, which used to be common in my cultures, since I started using vinegar.


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## trimtrig (Feb 15, 2004)

heres mine

2 parts potato flakes
1 part nutritional yeast
1 part fructose

I put it the mixture through my blender

1/2 cup mixture to 1 cup hot boiling water

I boil a large pot of water and right before i cup out the water to put into the cups I dump in a bunch of white vinager
TQ


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## dodgechic49 (Feb 1, 2006)

Grassy, thank you. I am going to go back to vinegar on my next batch. I had more success with it. 

Julie


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