Isolating strains from mixed cultures

[OnePlate]

Right now I have some agar plates inoculated with the same mixed culture of yeast. I'm going to try to build up some of the single colonies into their own pure cultures. Since this is a pretty large mixed culture with at least eight strains (probably 10+) I'm wondering what is the best protocol for colony selection. I'm going to put single colonies into 8 vials of wort. The single colonies are of all different sizes so I'm wondering if colony size is any indication of strain variation. Should I only pick the biggest colonies to isolate or would going for the smaller but still well-formed ones increase my odds of getting unique isolated strains?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Colony size is not a great indication of strain.

Pick isolated round colonies for the best chance of getting a single strain.

 

[OnePlate]

Bummer, I was hoping there was something I could do to increase my odds of not getting duplicate strains as this point. Oh well! That's what detailed fermentation measurements and sensory analysis notes are for. This will be a fun adventure, for sure. I know some of the strains are genetically related and probably so close in characteristics as to be indistinguishable. If I get maybe four different strains I'll be happy.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Would you care to provide any more details? Just curious; I like the biological side of brewing.