Drug info - Psilocybin Mushrooms: Dry or Fresh Megathread

[DaFuZzMaStA]

I saw that you need to take 20-60 mushrooms of this certain type, then it only sais 1 gram if they are dry. So they are more potent when dry? (sorry im a noob at this)


How would I go about drying them?

[Insane Asian]

there are drying kits its usually set on a wire type net then dried with a heating lamp or a really bright light. they are more potent dry and they can be stored longer

[OneDiaDem]

Drying removes water content, which lessons the bulk you must eat. They usually dry to 10% their weight. Dry muchrooms with a dehydrator with heat element disconnected, or with a fan, then use dessicant chamber to remove any leftover moisture. If they are not stored in a vaccum sealed bag, with a dessicant pak and kept in fridge, shelf life is short.

[mycoguy]

if anything....dry mushrooms LOSE potency. They surely dont gain potency.


Where'd you read that from? And what mushroom???


Was it one of Allen's books?

[hacnslash]

OneDiaDem is right. They're not more potent but they lose water and so they're smaller yet the potency remains the same. So instead of 10 fresh grams you only eat 1 dry gram. If you dry them yourself you'll see you still eat about 20-60 mushrooms only they're much much much smaller.

[ThirdEyeFloond]

Actually dried mushrooms are less potent than when fresh, as the psilocin is broken down in the drying process.

[jamesluig]

I've read drying looses potency.But ime there's no noticable differents between wet and dry.I have noticed dry store longer than wet.So imo the benifit of drying far outweigh the slight potency loss.

[OneDiaDem]

I agree, fresh are always the best. Its just so much bulk to eat, and The potency loss is very little if dried and stored properly. They do start loosing potency when dried if they are left outside of an airtight vaccumed enviroment, and not frozen.

[Bodhisattva500]

most mushrooms are 92 percent water and their is no reason why they would be more potent wet

[limpet chicken]

Wet mushrooms are more potent wet, but less concentrated.


Psilocin is unstable, and breaks down easily, it will be utterly destroyed upon drying.

[OneDiaDem]

There are no known studies on this subject. I have dried mushrooms to cracker dry, ground them up, and stored them in a vaccum sealed bag, placed inside a glass jar with no noticable loss of potency then when eaten fresh. As long as they are semi-dried by fan with no heat, and placed into a dessicant chamber in a dark place until cracker dry and immediately put into an airtight container there is very little loss.


From Erowid:
Psilocybin and psilocin are sensitive to oxidation, with psilocin being particularly sensitive. This process is accelerated at higher temperatures. There is no specific temperature at which this breakdown occurs, however, the longer you expose the psiloc(yb)in to a raised temperature (in the presence of oxygen or an oxidizer), the more will be degraded.

[manda]

My contribution: However I was sold them, that's how I took them, right after I got them, and they never failed to work...
This wet/dry issue, someone should do a test from the same bag... dry some, leave some. Trip on dry one week, and wet the next, using equal amounts.
My opinion is they'll get you fucked up regardless. Straight from the Ziplock to the belly.

[OneDiaDem]

Already did that test many times, at different time intervals with the dry. No noticable loss of potency. It has to do with properly drying and storing. Heat and long exposure to air break down potency. If dried immediately after harvesting and stored correctly, dry mushrooms are more potent than a mushroom that has been stored fresh for more than a week because they are not exposed to the elements as long.

[OccularFantasm]

Swim wonders if there would be any potency loss at all so long as the mushrooms are not extensively bruised. (if swim recalls correctly the blue is the enzyme resposible for breaking down psilocin, enzyme l-phosphatase swim thinks its called) Swim would see how bruising would leave the psilocin readily available for oxidation, but if the chemical is inside the fruit body itself, it seems rather unlikely that a loss of potency would be noted.
Swim would also woder if it makes a difference if the mushroom's veil has been broken or not. Swims gues would be perhaps an intact veil would work as a protagonist to save the psilocin. Also, it should be noted that swim bases this, with the exception of the enzyme part, on absolutley nothing; just novel thinking.

Also, this is just swims opinion, but the shrooms are almost slimey when wet. This makes them not very appatizing to swim. That in and of itself is enough reason for swim to not eat them wet and not worry about drying.

Also, 20-60 mushrooms? Mushrooms are 10 to 15 fold over their dry weight when fresh, but that seems like rediculous amount of shrooms. Even if the mushrooms were smaller, they are more potent by weight then. For instance pins can be up to three times the potency by weight of a full grown shroom, but swim has never heard of anyone just eating a bunch of pins and aborts, though if possible it seems as though it would be fun. That is the only ting swim could think of that could encompass 20-60 shrooms, leave such a range open, and have a weight of 1.5 to 3 times less than the average half-eighth dose.

[Shampoo]

Originally Posted by OccularFantasm

Swim would also woder if it makes a difference if the mushroom's veil has been broken or not. Swims gues would be perhaps an intact veil would work as a protagonist to save the psilocin. Also, it should be noted that swim bases this, with the exception of the enzyme part, on absolutley nothing; just novel thinking.

This seems to be one of the oldest myths involving mushrooms (some dealers keep all the closed caps for themselves), probably predicated on the lack of psilocybin production following a torn veil, at which point any added weight is purely water without psychoactive properties. However, unlike spores, psilocybin has no way of leaving the fruit-body through the exposed gills, and thus, is greatly unaffected by the opening of the cap.

Originally Posted by OccularFantasm

Even if the mushrooms were smaller, they are more potent by weight then. For instance pins can be up to three times the potency by weight of a full grown shroom, but swim has never heard of anyone just eating a bunch of pins and aborts, though if possible it seems as though it would be fun.

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44015

[whirlybird]

SWIM thinks that the shrooms being more potent dry or wet will depend on the strain. SWIM picks wild cyanescens, and always had a stronger crazier trip when they just ate the fresh shrooms. SWIM only let theirs air dry on a paper towel for about an hour. This left the shrooms still soft. When SWIM would eat the same amount of dry shrooms (measured by the number and size of the shrooms, not the weight) they never tripped as hard (as the fresh ones). This was a while ago, so SWIM is not sure if this was because when they ate the dry shrooms, they had built a tolerance from the fresh ones. However, SWIM thinks that every occasion was at least a week apart and has noticed they prefer shrooms fresh over dry either way. Other swimmers prefer the local shrooms fresh over dry. Has anybody noticed anything similar? Has anybody noticed a variation in potency between wet and dry for different strains? Obviously a shroom will be more potent by weight when dry than wet since the weight is basically 90% water....

[pepsigood]

SWIM is to be cultivating his own shrooms soon and has never tryed them before. He would like to try them fresh first to compare the effects. He would like to know how much fresh shrooms would be needed to be similar to taking 2g dry?

[Dole654]

Water comprises about 90% of the weight of a mushroom, however, wet PCs are more potent than dry PCs. So, 10g wet is probably about equal to 1.4g dry. Being somewhat hard to just straight convert a dose like that, SWIM would probably go for somewhere between 25g to 35g.

[Shampoo]

Originally Posted by Dole654

Water comprises about 10% of the weight of a mushroom, however, wet PCs are more potent than dry PCs. So, 10g wet is probably about equal to 1.4g dry. Being somewhat hard to just straight convert a dose like that, SWIM would probably go for somewhere between 25g to 35g.

Two of the above comments seem to contradict eachother. If 10g wet is equal to 1.4g dry (an estimation swim finds reasonably accurate, moreso than the usually purported direct 10/1 ratio) than why would swiy suggest 25g to reach what is normally considered a 2g dose? By the original reasoning 10/1.4, shouldn't a 15g dose more accurately elicit a 2g dry dose?

Also, do you have a reference for the claim that "wet PCs are more potent than dry PCs", many of my friend's test-llamas would agree with that inclination, but are hesitant as they have seen little or no literature supporting this claim.

[ThirdEyeFloond]

Originally Posted by Shampoo

Also, do you have a reference for the claim that "wet PCs are more potent than dry PCs", many of my friend's test-llamas would agree with that inclination, but are hesitant as they have seen little or no literature supporting this claim.

SWIM is of to bed so a reference will have to wait, he does agree to that inclination though and is pretty sure it is due to the fact that psilocin is quite unstable and breaks down when the mushrooms are dried.

Edit: Supposedly determined in this study: Pedersen-Bjergaard, Stig. et al. Strategies for capillary electrophoretic separation of indole alkaloids in Psilocybe semilanceata. Electrophoresis 19. 27-30 (1998).
Unfortunately I don't have access to the full article. I will request it in the medline-access thread.

Edit2: staples has kindly uploaded the article, it's still waiting for acceptation though...

Edit3: Soo it's been approved now, thanks to Alfa, it doesn't quite contain the rock solid conclusion I was hoping for though as it only suggests it's unstable in methanol, here is what it had to say on the stability of psilocin:

While solutions of psilocybin were highly stable, psilocin was found to be unstable in methanolic solutions. Consequently, both standard solutions of the latter and mushroom extracts were protected from light and stored at -20°C prior to analysis.

The article is available here: http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...=4607&catid=65

[dzc18l]

SWIM has always heard that mushrooms are 90% water. Hence, 2g dry would equal 20g wet.

[The Secret Farmer]

Originally Posted by dzc18l

SWIM has always heard that mushrooms are 90% water. Hence, 2g dry would equal 20g wet.

SWIM has a tendency to agree with you. When SWIM used to buy fresh shrooms from t'internet, SWIM would take 20-30g. SWIM felt that this was a medium dose at best.

[AllDay420Blaze]

Do wet compared to dry mushrooms have any difference?
Are the effects raised when wet?
and do the mushrooms stay in your system longer when wet as well?

[ReAlitY-HoLds-NonE]

Originally Posted by AllDay420Blaze

Do wet compared to dry mushrooms have any difference?
Are the effects raised when wet?
and do the mushrooms stay in your system longer when wet as well?

SWIM has always found that the length of the trip is around the same length, doesnt matter whether it is dry or wet.. but, he did find that when he ate wet shrooms he did feel more like he was going to get sick through the trip. And in addition to this, he also says that one can eat more dry shrooms than wet shrooms, as the iundividual doing so wouldnt be consuming as much... which results in the fact that dry mushrooms have a tendancy to not be as sickening as the wet ones (they are simply preferable as they are easier to consume)

[Herbal Healer 019]

Is there any difference potency-wise in fresh shrooms opposed to dry ones?

I read somewhere that fresh ones were way more potent, I find this hard to beleive unless psilocybe breaks down in the drying process.