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Deofol

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I find myself always looking at ways to enjoy different aspects of brewing as a hobby. Recently I started getting into yeast ranching and harvesting my own yeast and creating banks. The cost of equipment may not be really justifiable, but as I found there is a whole new side of the hobby to enjoy!

I have always wanted a microscope, and given that most of the magic (good and bad) happens on a micro biologic scale, I finally talked myself into getting some lab equipment.

The following video's and pics were take with a basic "Student" level (4x - 100x - 400X) ($38 special off eBay) microscope and a cannon elf camera. Not bad IMO!

I recently had my first infection, and that got me interested in actually how EASY bacteria thrive in our world. Here's an example of how I got the bacteria in the first video (which I believe are Lactobacilli, aka create lactic acid and sour beer).

I took a plate (petri dish rather), sanitized it in BTF (Idofor), steamed it in a microwave sanitizer and let it cool. Did the same with a 50ml flask and brought 1g agar, 1g DME, and 30ml water to a boil. Let it cool and poured evenly on 2 plates. Sealed plates and stored in a ziplock bag. I was generally 10x more careful than my normal brewing habits, ie. flaming openings, working around a burner flame etc.

WITHOUT even streaking the plates I had a bacterial infection show up withing 48 hours. With a pin prick amount I I prepared the following slide with the growth and water. The shear numbers if Lactobacilli were astounding.



Well, enough of the scare tactices. :D Here are some other things I captured. The whole Album can be viewed here;
deofol/Home Brewery/MicroBREWology - Page 1 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Yeast from the bottom of a bottle.

 
Good beer gone wrong! Dregs of the infected Brown ale. Note bacteria to right of pointer.

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Fullers ESB yeast?

IMG_0554.jpg


SN PA yeast, or was it Fliechmans? They looked alike...

IMG_0570.jpg


So anyway, I guess the point is to "Reduce" your risks, IMO I don't think you can ever brew without bacteria (the **** is everywhere!), just do the best you can to reduce it's impact.

Next up, I've got some stains coming to do more selective viewing. Should be fun.
 
bacteria by the pointer.....you can see the endospores....f-ing cool. How do you figure lactobacillus?
 
bacteria by the pointer.....you can see the endospores....f-ing cool. How do you figure lactobacillus?

No scientific method really just a guess since it's most common in brewing, but I guess it could be anything.

I'll be able to better identify them using the Gram stain kit I ordered.
 
if i remember correctly from microbiology there are only a few species of bacillus which readily produce endospores which is the inner circle of the cell. Kinda cool you can see this on a 40 dollar microscope.

If its g- (pink) your looking at clostridium and if its g+(purple) then bacillus. What prompted you to plate your samples? i was looking into this type of work for separating proprietary yeast from bottling yeasts in certain beers...

BACILLUS
 
I just ordered a 1000x microcope 2 days ago and you beat me to the punch but it is so I can better understand what happens to yeast under different circumstances and be able to know when the yeast count is getting low. I know you have to use markers to be able to tell dead yeast from the living etc. Thanks for the photos. I spent more but do not have a good camera yet but plan on a 5 megapixel. What are you using now? The pictures are not too bad. :)
 
What prompted you to plate your samples? i was looking into this type of work for separating proprietary yeast from bottling yeasts in certain beers...

BACILLUS

Pretty much the same reason. I grew tired of spending $7 each batch for yeast. Plus the fun factor of having something else to manage in my brewing process.

Some have asked about links to good information. Here are a few I've collected.

Brewers Laboratory Handbook - Great resource on how to basic procedures.

Sterile Distilled Water Yeast Storage - This is an interesting method to use for short and long term storage of yeast samples. Some argue that its better to use spring water, tap water, or even saline eye drops (Contact cleaner) since it is sterile. Personally I plan on going with saline.

Brewery Bacterial Contaminants - Cool article on normal brewery baddies.

Universal Beer Agar (UBA Medium) - Used to create plates that selectively target brewing specific bacterias and yeasts. I've yet to find this anywhere in a size under 500g. :( You can use agar and wort instead.

Guerilla Lab Techniques - A bunch of techniques to QA your work throughout the brewing process.

Microscope Tips from White Labs

Home Science Tools - Fairly inexpensive place to get lab supplies. If anyone else has a better site I would like to know about it. I've found it hard to find lab items without buying bulk.

Lab Equipment - Discount lab supplies.

I also highly recommend Chris Whites book (well, pamplet really) - The Fungus Among Us: Yeast Culturing for HomeBrewers (Paperback) :rockin:
 
Lol a flow hood would kick ass. Have to make sure it does the annoying, incessant beeping whenever the lid is too far up or it's just not the same.


Do you have any Gram staining equipment? A bunsen burner is pretty cheap (or hell, just a lighter). Inoculation loops are about 3 bucks and can be flame sterilized. I don't know how much crystal violet/safranin/gram iodine cost but they can't be too terribly expensive.

Another option is Dif-Quik which is the Wright stain. It won't differentiate G+ from G- but it does stain the bacteria a lovely purple so it's easier to see.


Also are you going to be keeping various cultures on petri dishes? That'd be most excellent. Blood agar plates are about 50 cents a pop last I checked and you should be able to culture sufficient quantities for a batch.


I applaud your efforts and am extremely jealous. Have been wanting a microscope of my own for a long time now. I keep hoping the clinical pathology lab I work in will replace the ones it has now (about 5 years old) so I can nab one of them.
 
Very nice post. Now I have a practical application for my sons mircoscope and biology lab. I never considered the brew application, as I am new to homebrewing. I am going to look more into yeast culturing.

We have used hometrainingtools.com for many years as a source for homeschool science classes. They are very good about delivery and reasonably priced.
 
It's been a lot of fun so far.

I do have a Gram stain kit coming and some more glassware and plastic ware. It should be here tomorrow. Last night I finished setting up the other half of my brew closet set up as a lab. So now I have a permanent place to work from. I still have the samples from last weekend, but I'm going to trash them I think and start over with what I learned and try to get some actual viable examples this weekend.

Anyway, these are some pictures I took last night after I got the shelving installed and everything semi organized.

IMG_0275.jpg


Work area...

IMG_0274.jpg


Top Shelve:

IMG_0276.jpg
 
i love your setup. Especially the half drank beer in the corner. Toppers is right- all you need to do now is build a fume hood. Ive never tried but you could probably rig up a vortex or squirl cage fan to a kitchen type stove hood. Gotta have some build to look foreward to right?
 
In the back, on the first picture, by the petri dishes in the racks, are those broths? Where'd you get the solutions and what not? I never could find a generic broth online. Or do you work in some kind of lab that you got them from?
 
In the back, on the first picture, by the petri dishes in the racks, are those broths? Where'd you get the solutions and what not? I never could find a generic broth online. Or do you work in some kind of lab that you got them from?

Those are just a wort (Water, DME, and a little yeast nutrient). I was using those to capture samples from bottles. Basically I added 15ml of wort to each tube, and then inoculated them with the dregs off the bottom of a bottle of craft beer using a inoculating loop.

After a couple of days if I had a yeast layer forming, then I could use that to streak a plate, or examine under the microscope to ensure I had a good yeast sample. Then store using the Sterile Distilled Water Yeast Storage method linked above.
 
This thread kind of inspired me to keep a on going blog about all of this. Instead of hogging this forum with all my little updates, I'll quietly move on to that.

So if any of this interest you, please visit me there! The link is in my signature!
 
I am gettign a yeast culturing kit from midwest for xmas and the first thing i am going to do is culture some sierra nevada yeast

That yeast is White Labs WLP001 "California Ale" I think? Correct me if I'm wrong. I use that yeast all the time and it works great for my ales.
 
does anyone know where this is still in stock, or does anyone have it in PDF form if it is out of production?

I am interested in that book but have not been able to find it.

Also, it is rumored that Jamil and Chris White are writing a book about yeast for the homebrewer. Just FYI.

Eric
 
I am gettign a yeast culturing kit from midwest for xmas and the first thing i am going to do is culture some sierra nevada yeast

That yeast is White Labs WLP001 "California Ale" I think? Correct me if I'm wrong. I use that yeast all the time and it works great for my ales.

or Wyeat 1056; or even easier US-05 dry yeast :D

Keep in mind that even though SNPA is bottle conditioned they may filter their beer and then bottle carb with another yeast; so even if you bottle harvested from SNPA, you may not get what you want...

I'd stick with US-05
 
If its g- (pink) your looking at clostridium and if its g+(purple) then bacillus.
I know this was from earlier this month, but I'm just getting around to reading this thread. This isn't right. Clostridium are Gram+ anaerobic bacteria, not negative. They typically don't hold stain very well, even in new cultures, so they can sometimes be mistaken for negative. I'd be very surprised if any clostridials could grow in beer. If they did, you'd get really sick. C. diff and tetanus are two diseases caused by clostridials.
 
or Wyeat 1056; or even easier US-05 dry yeast :D

Keep in mind that even though SNPA is bottle conditioned they may filter their beer and then bottle carb with another yeast; so even if you bottle harvested from SNPA, you may not get what you want...

I'd stick with US-05

While SNPA is filtered and yeast is added back, it is most definitely WLP001.
 
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