My attempt at catching/isolating wild yeast

[Grod1]

Fortunately i have experience in microbiology so im not flying blind.
this is the basic idea of what im doing if you want to have a good read.
but basically right now i am making a few starters and the one that smells the best/ferments the best will be streaked onto petri dishes prepared/stored in conditions suited for the yeast/ bacteria i want.When i can can identify the culture/s i want i will isolate away into either a clean dish or a small 100ML DME starter.
I have everything i need to get started so ill post a few pics of the beginning.
( I should have them on a stir plate but i forgot to put stir bars in before prepping the sterile starters.)
I'm interested in saccharomyces, lactobacillus and possibly Acetobacter aceti so i can make some vinegar.
If i get a wild mixed culture that smells/taste good i would be glad to keep that riding also. The last pic is my laminar flood hood that i will use to keep the plates clean wile i open them to isolate cultures.
I have access to dissecting and compound microscopes if i cant visibly see what im looking for. Please feel free to ask questions, offer advice and or critique any methods.

 

[wmcc75]

Subbed this seems interesting. What do you have floating in the jars (second to last pic)?

 

[Grod1]

Purple figs from my yard. I read ripe is better but didn't want over ripe so I looked for ones that had a slight white sheen.

 

[hottpeper13]

Sweeeet, can you advise me on this? Got some cider at farmers market,started drinking and then forgot about it. About a month went by and the jug was bulged and foamy, and DELICIOUS. It turned vinegary about a month later. This was last year. I want to do that again but was thinking of going to the farm and setting out plates. I have all the gear to do this. Was thinking of just swabbing some apples or should I let the plate sit out overnite, or just plate the sludge on the bottom of the jug. Really looking forward to your results,as this for the obsessed brewer.

 

[Grod1]

I think swabbing the fruit and streaking the plates would be best.

 

[hottpeper13]

Thank you, I hope to see them at the market today and ask if I can do that.

 

[Grod1]

So far i have dumped 7 starters that smell bad i have one that smell great and one that smells like vinegar. I am making another 6 right now. I will make plates this weekend and i'll post more pics then.

 

[phug]

Define bad. I have one that just smells of hot alcohol

 

[passedpawn]

It's been a while since I had a starter that smelled good. I think 3711 smells good (saisson yeast).

I'm not saying you're nose is not a good indicator. Just suggesting that starters don't always smell like something you'd drink. You probably knew that, but it's still worth saying.

When you streak, how will you pick out the "good" colony? New starters with smell tests?

I'm intrigued and hope you post your results to completion of your goals.

 

[Grod1]

When i get to streaking I hope to be able to see/ identify the colonies i want.I'm ready to start the plates but i feel so lazy after work.This weekend i will make plates. The biggest problem usually on petridishes is trichoderma a type of green mold that is abundant on almost all surfaces.
The bad smells that i had smelt reminded me like puke/rancid fats.

 

[Grod1]

Growth media for yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) down the road i might purchase some things to make official plates but for now im just going to make a 1.040 gravity wort and add yeast nutrient to 20 grams of agar-agar. If i can find the anti-bacterial powder i have ill use it if not some say use hops.I am currently pressure cooking my agar mix i will do 15 mins at 15 psi.
The flask was very filled and i didnt have a whisky bottle so i just went with it.If the agar boils over i will have to re do this step.
It turns out that i have antibacterial agar so i used that mixed into regular agar at 1/4 the ratio.When it cools to the point that i can touch it i will pour plates.I will let my laminar flowhood run to scrub the air a bit in the area im going to be pouring.I will also take a shower to remove any dead skin cells.
the Erlenmeyer flask is the only one with the agar in it. the other are just more sterile starters with the same 1.040 wort.
when pressure cooking NEVER tighten the lids.The lids in these pics are just resting over the jars.They will be tighten when the pressure cooker is cool enough to touch.

so i thought i could pull this off this morning but i ran out of time and i need to go to a wedding. im getting yelled at by my wifey to get ready.
I will need to re liquefy that agar tonight if im not to drunk or 2m morning if i am.More pics when i get a chance.

 

[Grod1]

okay, so much longer of a day yesterday then i was expecting I am just getting back to this now.The agar boiled over a bit. I knew it would as soon as i got to pressure but i didn't care much. so today i just brought the pressure cooker up to 15 psi for 5 mins. I hope this is enough time to dissolve the agar into liquid again.My flow hood is running and im ready to go so i will take a quick shower to scrub up then i will pour plates.
A flowhood is not needed to do this but i have the resource so i might as well limit the amount of wasted plates i will get. A simple glove box works very well, you can make one out of a tote & kitchen gloves.If you don't mind wasting money/time you could pour plates open air and hope you get a hand full that aren't infected.

 

[Grod1]

well I have been lazy but i'm still working on this. At least since .I waited a week i know all of the plates I used were clean since anything would have started to grow by now if it was there.
I used two starters to make 8 plates and 1 fig to make 8 plates. One of the starters that i dubbed H( since it was closest to my house) was a much lighter color then a dozen or so other starters that i made.I used that one and one that smells a bit more like a traditional cider.I also selected a nice fig that had a visible white sheen on it. I will update in a few days.Feel free to ask any questions.The last picture is a plate contaminated with some sort of mold.

 

[DefinitelyJon]

I would like to start doin this. I made a couple starters with apples and some sunflower pedals around my place. The only one that looks somewhat promising is the sunflower. Where are you getting plates and the agar? Here's the starter with the sunflower View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1476545155.080795.jpg
It took about three weeks to show any real signs of fermentation

 

[Grod1]

the plates are from ebay and the agar i traded for on a different forum but i have bought agar from sporeworks and fungi.com many times in the past. im sure ebay/ amazon will have the best prices.

 

[Grod1]

lots going on by now. Lots that i wasnt expecting... this stuff looks like mushroom mycelium to me i wasnt expecting them to look like this

i have a tun of pictures but i dont know how to make these pics small and its annoying so i will just post pics that are important from now on.