Bottle Contamination? No, but cool Yeast Pics!

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

FreddieK

Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2008
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
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
 
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 :)
 
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.
 
Back
Top