If You Look Closely You Can See ...

[sosman]

Well after several months (the slanting dates vary up to 3 months ago) you can see that my slants are crawling with unwanted, microscopic, evil spores.

 

[sosman]

Now when you are plating, I just thought I would like to share what can happen if your technique is not too crash hot:

However, as with all things brewing (and life in general) it is possible to move on from your mistakes and try again (trivia question, how many different materials did thomas edison try before hitting on tungsten for the filament in the electric light bulb?).

Mind you, I have not even had one infected slant, even from my first fumbling, clueless attempts.

I am sure some folk will disagree with me - that is quite ok. In fact I suppose I leave myself open to it by putting photos of mouldy petri dishes on my web site.

 

[sosman]

Anyway, make up your own mind about my techniques and results, the full story is at:

http://brewiki.org/Yeast/Culturing

And yes, if someone wants to swap some yeasts, then offer me something worth swapping for these "hard to get" brewtek yeasts, funky as they may be.

 

[big d]

might look good in blue vein cheese sos.
mmmmm :blink:

 

[pint of lager]

I have some slants here that are at least 18 months old, and they also show no signs of incorrect growth. Very few of my slants show infection, I guess there is less chance of dropins as compared to plating.

Plates, I find a bit more troublesome. They often grow beautiful splodges of mould. The plates are pressure cooked, stored for a few weeks before use and then streaked. Usually, the offending mould grows from the edges, from contamination from handling them, and moisture carrying this contamination onto the media.

The last few batches, I have taken even greater care with cleanliness, by rinsing my hands with iodine in between handling each plate. Also, have wrapping each plate in gladwrap after streaking. Contamination has definitely been less than before.

 

[sosman]

might look good in blue vein cheese sos.
mmmmm :blink:

[post="73277"][/post]​

Big D - always the idea man. Have you got a recipe?

 

[big d]

no but there is an interesting article in the jan/feb issue of zymurgy on cheese making.

 

[Darren]

I have some slants here that are at least 18 months old, and they also show no signs of incorrect growth. Very few of my slants show infection, I guess there is less chance of dropins as compared to plating.

Plates, I find a bit more troublesome. They often grow beautiful splodges of mould. The plates are pressure cooked, stored for a few weeks before use and then streaked. Usually, the offending mould grows from the edges, from contamination from handling them, and moisture carrying this contamination onto the media.

[post="73278"][/post]​

Ah, Is good to see an honest plater.
It would be very interesting to see how many people actually had pure strains on their slants.
For the price of a smack pack is it really worth it?
I guess some people find it fun. Go for it guys and girls enjoy yourselves.
cheers
Darren

 

[sintax69]

Was just wondering how long slants last before they are useless

 

[sosman]

Was just wondering how long slants last before they are useless

[post="73315"][/post]​

People often quote 1-2 years depending on what you mean by useless. The vendor of the brewtek yeasts I have recommends re-slanting every 6 months.

 

[sosman]

Plates, I find a bit more troublesome. They often grow beautiful splodges of mould. The plates are pressure cooked, stored for a few weeks before use and then streaked. Usually, the offending mould grows from the edges, from contamination from handling them, and moisture carrying this contamination onto the media.

[post="73278"][/post]​

The ones I tried with parafilm had absolutely no visible contamination.

 

[Borret]

(trivia question, how many different materials did thomas edison try before hitting on tungsten for the filament in the electric light bulb?).

Answer= None. Edison created a successful element from carbonised sewing thread. It was only later that his engineers in the lighting company developed the tungsten element

Keep up the good work Sosman, your inspirational.


Borret :blink: