Yeast Slants

[monkeybrewer]

I was wondering if anyone has ever made there one yeast slants for a yeast library at home. If so where did you get the agar or how did you make it? Some of the yeast that I want is hard to find in my area and would like to be able to prop it up as needed.

[dancinwillie]

I'd be interested in this as well. I've been wanting to culture some yeast, but haven't quite got it figured out yet.

[danno]

I keep thinking that'd be a really cool thing to do, then I remember that I'm basically lazy... :D

anyways, I found agar, plates and slants at morebeer...

[BitterRat]

I keep slants, however, I do not fill test tubes with agar and use those. i buy pre-poured slants and then just maintain from there. You can buy pre-poured blanks from Grape & Granary and slants of various strains from Brewsters. Both, from what I have found so far, are pretty reasonably priced. Right now I have about 20+ different strains, but frankly, that is to many, I don't need that many. I am going to narrow it down to maybe 5-8 different strains, which I think, will cover my needs.

[I'mRocketMan]

Excellent thread!

I have Squeeky's DIY stir plate; a set (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 litre) of Erlenmeyer flasks; 50 test tubes with screw-on caps; and several beers I want to culture yeasts from (as well as propagating the WL yeasts as I use them...

Now what? Where can you find agar agar for reasonable $$$?? I just noticed today that Central Market here is SA has agar for $69.99/lb!!! There HAS to be a source MUCH cheaper than that, surely? After all it is made from seaweed, right?? What is more abundant than seaweed?

Then of course, the Q is what procedures do you use?

Cheers!! Rocket

[danno]

this from morebeer (http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=19901)...

"For lab use 12 grams per 1 liter to make 1 liter of solid agar, which is way more than even a big labratory uses. You need a very accurate scale to measure that out. You want to disolve the agar slowly in the water for a few minutes. Then heat gently till you get to a boil. Be very careful of not boiling over, if you do it's best to throw that boil out as your water to agar ratio is off and you will not get a good medium. Boil for a few minutes and then divide out to sterilize"

so, 2oz ($8.50) will make 2L of solution, which should fill up a LOT of test tubes. that pound would seem to last a lifetime, if not longer...

[mookow]

Originally posted by danno
this from morebeer (http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=19901)...

"For lab use 12 grams per 1 liter to make 1 liter of solid agar, which is way more than even a big labratory uses. You need a very accurate scale to measure that out. You want to disolve the agar slowly in the water for a few minutes. Then heat gently till you get to a boil. Be very careful of not boiling over, if you do it's best to throw that boil out as your water to agar ratio is off and you will not get a good medium. Boil for a few minutes and then divide out to sterilize"

so, 2oz ($8.50) will make 2L of solution, which should fill up a LOT of test tubes. that pound would seem to last a lifetime, if not longer...

2oz, if I remember my conversions correctly, about 56g. So 2oz would make ~4.5L of solution.

[danno]

lol... see what I get for taking morebeer's word for it? here's the paragraph I didn't copy, from the linky above...

"Pharmaceutical grade dry agar for making plates and slants. 2 oz will make up to 2000 ml of liquid agar. BK580, First Steps In Yeast Culturing, is a great reference if you do not have prior experience working with agar."