Wanna know the best way to crack a bean?...fill a shot glass with water, put the bean in the water, it will float but don't touch it, if you do it will sink after a few hours and you don't want that contrary to what ur told.Now put it in a warm dark place for 48 hours....then you will see the bean on top of the water with the root
if you think you want a longer root then just leave it one more day. No paper towel or bags an tricks and so on... now poor the bean in a root cube of your choice. I have almost 100% with this method and only if I had a bad bean like white or green does this not work,can't fix a bad bean.... hope this helps, sure will save you a little time.