How to Grow Large Mung Bean Sprouts

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Sprouting container
soaking container
Something to set weight on
weight

Step 1

Choosing Items For Your Sprouter

Note: Your sprouter does not need to look like this at all. I rounded up the parts for this sprouter at a second hand store, in fact that is the first place I look for project parts. There are four functional parts that make up this sprouter, if you have them you can grow large mung beans.
The parts you need are:

Sprouting container
I am using an Ice Bucket.
soaking container
I am using a plastic strainer that fits inside the Ice Bucked.
Something to set weight on
Because the plastic container is tapered I use two plastic saucers.
weight (The secret of large mung bean sprouting.)
I am using a one pound 3 ounces river rock.
Step 2

Soaking Container

This picture just shows that I added more drain holes to the container.
Step 3

Sprouting and Soaking Container

This just shows how the soaking container fits inside the sprouting container.
Step 4

Finding a Weight

I found this statement on the internet,"For thicker, yet tender sprouts, which are preferred, apply a weight of about 0.5 ounce per square inch of surface area across the seed (a 2-lb weight would be needed over the seed for an 18-inch diameter pail)". My soaking container is a little less than six inches across, so my one pound 3 ounce weight is a little over sized, but it worked out just fine.
Step 5

Find Out How Much Seed Is Needed

Pour seed into the bottom of you soaking container until it just covers the bottom of the container. Pour the seed into a measuring container, or just weigh it to get a ball park figure. The seeds in this container I measured to be three tablespoons, and they weighed...
Step 6

Weighing the Seeds

As you can see I am using one and one half ounce per grow cycle. Since I buy my organic mung bean seeds at $ 1.49 a pound, that means it costs me forteen cents to grow one container of large mung bean sprouts.
Step 7

Prepare the Seeds for Sprouting

Use only untreated seed. The best way to prevent this is to buy organic seeds from your local health food store. Make sure you wash seed thoroughly, pick out any foreign material, and all blemished seeds. Soak the mung bean seeds in lukewarm water (90-95 F) for 2 to 4 hours, or at room temperature (68-72 F) overnight. This is to bring all of the mung bean seeds have a uniform moisture content, and to begin the germination processes in the seeds. Drain and rinse.
Step 8

Start to Sprout

Place the soaking container inside the sprouting container. Place the mung bean seeds inside the sprouting container. I place the white saucer on top of the seeds, then I place the rock on top of the saucer. I rinse and drain the seeds three times a day once in the morning before I go to work, once when I come home from work, and once before I go to bed.

Note: When I rinse the sprouts, I don't disturb anything in the soaking container (the blue strainer). While the soaking container is inside the sprouting container, I fill them full of water then I just raise and lower the soaking container three or four times, then I remove the soaking container from the sprouting container and dump the water out of the sprouting container, (the Ice Bucket). I then place the soaking container back into the sprouting container and place the lid back on the sprouting container.
Step 9

The Change to a Larger Saucer

This picture just show where I changed from the white saucer to the blue one. There is only one half inch difference in their size.

Note: The only reason why I use two different saucer is because the soaking container is tapered. I hope you can find a straight cylinder type container when you create your large mung bean sprouter. Any way in my case I leave the white saucer in until I start to see sprouts all the way a round the white saucer, you don't want the sprouts to start sprouting passed the saucer. The blue saucer stays on until I am through sprouting, usually I come home from work and find that the sprouts have popped the lid open, so the sprouts are done.
Step 10

The Completed Sprouts

Here are the complete sprouts. I fact the sprouts popped the lid of the sprouting container. The sprout at this stage are about five inches long. These are four day old sprouts.
Step 11

Sprouts Being Weighed

As you can see, from one and one half ounce of mung bean seed there one pound and one ounce of large mung bean sprouts, that is over a ten times increase
Step 12

My Large Mung Bean Sprouts

Here are my large mung bean sprouts. In the store I would have had to pay 99 cents for them and it only cost me 14 cents for the mung bean seeds, that is an 85 cents per batch savings, and it only cost me a little over three dollars to come up with the sprouter. I have been told that this method works great with Adzukis and soy, but I bet it would work with peas and many other beans. Maybe someday I will try them. If you decide to let me know.

Comments

dwing said

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on 8/15/2009 I don't understand why the sprouts turned red, and I sure don't know if they're still good to edible.

simpledream88 said

on 8/14/2009 After 4th day, the mung beans became red, are they still edible?

mgprod said

on 7/18/2009 Do you have a trick to get rid of those green envelopes???
I do it almost 1 by 1, that take forever!!!

Thanks,

Mario

on 7/17/2009 I didn't know they used a chemical in growing commercial mung beans. The mung beans I grow are as big or bigger than the ones I see in the store and I use no chemicals.

I buy my mung beans in the health food store.