2 1/2 year old yeast

I put this suspension of WLP004 up on April 12, 2010.

Anyone want to take bets on viability?

If it's not frozen or cooked, I'll guess you could get it a live but could take a long time. Just give it a try and post results with pics

Yeasties are beasties, you'll get some going.

Just looks like water to me:cross:

I'm finally getting around to starting on this yeast.
I've got some pints & quarts of wort canned & ready to go, but no small volumes.
So, tonight, I'm making my plates & step ups. Here's how I make plates.

I hate mixing & pouring media. There's always a bunch left over (wasted) and I can't seem to do it without making a mess. So, I've taken to just measuring the ingredients into each plate & vial.

My plates are 55mm, so I use 20ml water, 2gm DME, 0.8gm Agar.
My 10ml vials get 7.5ml water & 0.79gm DME.
My 30ml vials get 15ml water & 1.51gm DME.
Finally, the 4oz jars get 40ml of water & 4gm of DME.

The volumes may seem too small for the containers. That's because I dump the entire contents of the smaller vial into the next largest one as I go.

I'll run this at 15 pounds for 1/2 hour, which is probably overkill for the mass involved, but it's a nice round number.

Done. I bag them, flip them over, and leave them sit for several days to ensure that I'm starting with a clean plate, and to allow some excess water evaporate.



You can tell our water here is hard as a rock. There's an impressive layer of powder on all of these. I've tried a little vinegar in the canner to try to avoid it, unsuccessfully. I haven't used distilled water for the canner yet. But, that seems like the logical next step.
Does anybody else have any suggestion that I have not yet thought of?

Chuck,

First, are you in CASK?

Second, Walter White would be proud of your lab.

You can get a counter top distiller to make your own distilled water 1 gallon at a time and 'ahem' use it distill other useful spirits. I'd suggest a water softener, don't know how you can live in Jax without one. They are easy to plumb in and there are a few new ones out there that don't require brine to regenerate. I'm not talking about the "magnetic" ones which don't do squat.

Newmanwell said:

Chuck,

First, are you in CASK?

Second, Walter White would be proud of your lab.

Click to expand...

I joined when Walter (not White.. OUR Walter) suggested it right when Ken opened up. I joined, maintained membership for a couple years, but never made it to a meeting. I "always keep meaning to" go, but...


Regarding the more famous Walter.... I SWEAR that I was thinking to myself that I was letting my inner Walter White out as I was weighing components. I've been debating on whether or not I should get the hat!

CS223 said:

You can get a counter top distiller to make your own distilled water 1 gallon at a time and 'ahem' use it distill other useful spirits. I'd suggest a water softener, don't know how you can live in Jax without one. They are easy to plumb in and there are a few new ones out there that don't require brine to regenerate. I'm not talking about the "magnetic" ones which don't do squat.

Click to expand...

I rent. And I'm not installing a softener one for the owner!

I have been considering the countertop distiller, though. For yeast, and to make long-lasting Star-San.

How was it stored?

I can't believe you weigh for each slant and plate. Just make 200ml. 15 vials, 5 plates worth. Oh, also, add a couple drops of your favorite food coloring for drama. I like red.

Viability would much quicker with microscope, hemocytometer, and stain. Send me some!

passedpawn said:

How was it stored?

I can't believe you weigh for each slant and plate. Just make 200ml. 15 vials, 5 plates worth. Oh, also, add a couple drops of your favorite food coloring for drama. I like red.

Viability would much quicker with microscope, hemocytometer, and stain. Send me some!

Click to expand...

In the otherwise-useless tray on the fridge door. I've done the food coloring thing. The yeast took the coloring up with the water, I had purple yeast. That weirded me out, never did it again!

I want to get a scope & hemocytometer, I've read the tutorials & it seems easy enough. I just haven't gotten to that point yet. I've been on a hardware/micro controller/ automation kick recently, so I haven't been focusing on ingredients & recipe development & such.

You see any here you're curious about? I'll send you a vial if you want to try to revive some.

chuckjaxfl said:

You see any here you're curious about? I'll send you a vial if you want to try to revive some.

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No, I've got more yeast than I can keep alive right now

I was talking about adding food coloring to the slants and plates. The yeast pulled it out of that, too?

I am curious about the screwdriver though.

passedpawn said:

The yeast pulled it out of that, too?

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Yup. Purple plate with purple dots on it. I should have taken pics! The dye was some I found in the kitchen. I think it was in a frosting kit for cupcakes.

passedpawn said:

I am curious about the screwdriver though.

Click to expand...

For CO2 regulator adjustment.

chuckjaxfl said:

I rent. And I'm not installing a softener one for the owner!

Click to expand...

Well then, I had this idea........ and someone else did too, here ya go!

Water Sticks

CS223 said:

Well then, I had this idea........ and someone else did too, here ya go!

Water Sticks

Click to expand...

They certainly are interesting!


I streaked four plates tonight after everyone went to bed and the dog settled down. 2 of the WLP004, and 2 of the PACMAN I actually intend to use.

I couldn't take pics while I was streaking plates. That part is a little tedious & goes very quickly. I think if i had tried to get pictures, I would have really reduced my chances at getting a decent plate out of the bunch.

It usually take 2-3 days to see the beginnings of growth for me, may a week before the really isolated colonies start forming.

More to come.

chuckjaxfl said:

You can tell our water here is hard as a rock.
Does anybody else have any suggestion that I have not yet thought of?

Click to expand...

Water softener is the only real answer. I'll bet the glasses and silverware coming out of your dishwasher are cloudy. Been through that.

Any updates?

The WLP004 has yeast, it is unfortunately outnumbered by and covered with some translucent/clear nastiness.
The Pacman looks clean & ready to start building up!

The water-suspension technique is valid, no doubt. My sterile technique is a little wanting (or, at least was on April 12, 2010).

The plates are here. I'll open the bad ones and get pics for you guys. The good ones, I don't want to open until I get a vial of wort going. I'll try to get pics through the glass, but that's tough for me.

Here you go, the good and the bad alike:

I'm guessing the top is the infected one, and the bottom the clean one?

Correct.

Is there a link to an article on the sterile water concept you refer to?