Vezeaufoods
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- Sep 4, 2017
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Anyone using a microscope to do cell counts before pitching yeast?
Curious - Why the desire to do cell counts prior to yeast pitch?
What magnification is needed?
Do you count a budding yeast cell as one or two?You need one of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SCOGY56/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
A Haemocytometer gives you a grid with a known volume so that you can acutely calculate cells/ml. Take an average of 3-5 grids.
does this count as yeast porn?Do you count a budding yeast cell as one or two?
So, vitality is simply a measure of dead or alive? i.e. If a yeast cell is "tired" but not dead, then it is labelled with the same vitality as a fresh cell that's healthy and ready to work? [I know, this is silly anthropomorphism, but I lack the proper vocabulary. Feel free to correct me with the proper nomenclature].
10 minutes doesn't sound bad at all. It's motivating me to try this. How much prep time?
This all definitely sounds like thee gold standard we should all aspire to. Thank you all for the informative posts!
Anyone here doing their counting on a computer screen via camera, or is everyone squinting through an eyepiece?
I don't do it, but you can download (free) Image J and use it to automatically count cells if you can get them onto a digital image. See the following vid. My son uses the same to count cells in his grad program at school (getting published ).
Cool! That sounds like the bee's knees to me. Why are you using it?
I'm not using it. I thought about it at one time, but it was just as easy to count manually. My son uses it to measure the width of mutant cells in rat's eyes in order to assess something that I don't understand.
BTW, I call en passant on your passed pawn.
Has anyone here recently been in the market for a microscope? I'm wondering what would be a good one to get for this application, so any recommendations appreciated.
Do you folks do much oil immersion, or pretty much not? I'm guessing not, in which case I'd rather have a 60x objective lens, which doesn't require oil immersion rather than a 100x that does(e.g. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AEJ9FJ4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20). I went looking for a microscope that came with a 60x objective as standard. However, they all seem to include the 100x lens, as far as I can tell.
In addition to counting yeast cells, I would like to know if a particular ferment has has a serious bacteria problem though. Occasionally I get a bad ferment that smells funny (maybe like bluecheese or something odd like that), and I'd like to be able to confirm whether or not it's a bacteria problem rather than an unhappy yeast problem if perhaps far more bacteria appear than usual. So, would I need the 100x objective after all in order to check that, or would I be able to tell just using a 60x, which doesn't require oil immersion?
I'm close to fooling with this stuff; I have a 400x microscope, and bought this kit:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076ZT949V/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
It contains the hemocytometer, some stains, a few other items that are needed. I have not baptized it yet, though I do have a starter in the refrigerator that I did not pitch into a fermenter; it's there awaiting my first attempt with this.
Reporting back: I received the microscope today, and I prepared a yeast slide from a mead that I'm brewing. I can see the yeast. It's fairly boring to look at, though, because there is no action or even any visible movement.
Um, I'm pretty sure the yeast's job is not to entertain you. You might want to think about puppies as a hobby.
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