95 F Kome-Koji

[greyhair]

Well, I'm about to take my first stab at making Kome-koji from spores.
I set up a cooler with heating pad and some container of water to provide some thermal inertia to the system.
It looks like the heating pad at the lowest setting establishes a temperature of about 95F, a higher than the recommended temp of 86 F.
Now its my understanding that the koji is OK until about 104 F.

So, given I don't have the $$ to buy a controller, would it be better to let the temp ride at 95, or would it be better to manually manage the temp. Basically start at about 95 and let it drift down to around 84 and then turn the heater backon to boost it back up.

TNX!

Greyhair.

[reddart67]

That is baisically my set-up, except I use a variac to be able to manually control the heating pad.

Starting out at 95 might be pushing it, because the koji will start producing it's own heat. I usually start out 85-90F, monitor the temp, and when I notice the temp rise, I shut off the heat, turning it back on when the temp begins to fall. The last time I was able to keep it ~ 95-96 during the exothermic period.

[greyhair]

You just gave me the answer.
I have a incandescent light dimmer that I can use to solve this problem
I should be able to dial this down to any setting I need.
TNX!

[Harlan]

If that doesn't work you could try leaving the lid of the incubator cracked a bit. As long as you keep the water pan full there should be plenty of humidity.

Oh yeah, and if you have a new electric blanket or heat pad, check the tags and warnings. Mine has an automatic 10hour shut off so I had to remember to unplug it and plug it back in twice a day.

[dray]

At the higher temperatures, the later part of the growth will be much more rapid, so be sure to check it well.

I have a link somewhere in these forums, but the higher temp grown koji should produce more amylases. A lower end ferment (near 85-88) produce more proteases. I think I will try a couple of small batches with a low temp grown koji and another with a high temp koji and see what sort of differences I may get.