I have tweaked the incubator several times, last updates being:

- smaller heating mat placed inside
- insulation/padding below the jars
- AE holes lining top and bottom part of walls of the tub (bottom for CO2 release)

There was a condensation inside jars from temperature being too high, followed by drying of the substrate. Now that I made AE holes and used smaller heating mat, the temperature is just okay for colonization and there is no condensation.

So far I made 4 grain jars and two batches of BRF jars in the incubator, so it seems to work.

I am thinking about an Exo Terra Incubator as a future upgrade for growing during winter. This incubator is cheaper than lab ones and seem to have enough space for 4 jars.

My opinion..

I think you are overthinking and overdoing things with regards to temperature..

Cubensis Mycelium is quite forgiving, It will colonize jars from above freezing, to 30C.

I would stay away from heat pads/mats and rather use a space heater to heat the entire room that your jars are in. You will get less condensation this way.

I have a small room with a space heater with my jars/bags hanging around 24c-27c. If the temp stays in this range its ideal, but not mandatory for success..

I am a bit concerned about energy costs so I used the small heat pad I already have and not needing to buy an expensive direct heater, which also consumes lot of electricity (kilowatts instead of 10s of watts).

I also use the room for storing various (mostly volatile) chemicals in racks, that's another reason why I am concerned about heating that room... mushrooms occupy just a small part of that storage space.

I recently found this "LightHouse ECOHEAT" heater which is used to to prevent plants from freezing in small spaces like greenhouses - it radiates heat in all directions and seems to be energy efficient:



Anyway, the mycelium seems to do just fine. The only issue is that some jars are hot to touch and some are cold. It's hard to heat them evenly - I know the myc. will withstand wide range of temperatures, but the huge temp. gradient might be a problem (e.g. 15-20 degrees difference from side to side of the same jar) as well as huge day/night temperature differences. So any kind of local space heater will probably be an improvement.

Of course, I don't need to heat it at all, though this will extend colonization time and invite more contamination.

that ecoheat moddual looks nice let me know if you get one and it works well i would love to switch from the space heater i am using currently

Ya, condensation will be an issue with such a temperature gradient over such a small distance. Lots of condensation hanging around inside jars= bacterial issues. Day night temperature swings wont cause this because there will be no temp differential/gradient.

Try out that small heater you got there and see how you go at getting the room temp stabilised to acceptable levels, although it looks a bit underpowered..

You could always also look at insulating the room.

Okay. I will see whether to invest in it as it's not very cheap and I already spent a lot for the thermostat and heating pads.

Furthermore, spring will come in 3 months or so anyway.

I have a grow going right now and it's quite cold where I live, there have been stretches of several days where the temp inside the house is 50-55. Growth becomes slow AF, but it still moves... i have 1 bag of grain that's been colonizing for the last 7 weeks...

there's really no need to be in a hurry with them, they will grow...