Bottle Contamination? No, but cool Yeast Pics!

[FreddieK]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here and I have to say that this site has really helped me get my homebrewing off the ground. I bottled what is now my 6th brew about 2 weeks ago, a belgian wit and i noticed a good amount of white pricipitate in the bottom that easily floats up when the bottle is disturbed. I was worried about contamination as none of my previous brews had this problem. I'm a PhD student in a cell biology lab so I decided to take the stuff to work to see what it was. Turns out its mostly protein and sugar, probably precipiated late after I introduced the finings (does this happen to anyone else when they use finings to clear?). Long story short I looked at the stuff under the microscope for bacteria and saw none, but I did get some rockin' pictures of our little yeast friends S. cerevisiae. Enjoy!

Picasa Web Albums - Fred - Lab Pics

 

[Bokonon]

Cool pics. Wish I had access to gear like that

 

[alohanole]

what power did you have to use on the scope to get those pictures?

 

[FreddieK]

Thanks. It was at 100X and you use an oil immersion to get a good crisp view. Had one of the beers last night too and it tasted fantastic, so I guess my science isn't half bad

 

[Archaeal]

Nice pics! A gram stain would be useful for this kind of thing too.

Or just a nucleic acid stain. As long as it's confined to the nucleus, it ain't bacterial.