Laboratory Techniques

This page will focus on home lab and small brewery lab techniques.

Equipment

(To do)

• Microscope
• pH Meter

Growth Media

• MTF tips on autoclaving wort extract based media in such a way that prevents precipitation and darkening.

Propogators

• MTF thread on DIY and carboy-sizzed propogators for small breweries.

Techniques

Asceptic Technique

Yeast/Bacteria Isolation

Yeast Banking

Cell Counting

Gram Staining

Shipping Cultures

Example of DeWayne Schaaf's packaging for shipping cultures.

DeWayne Schaaf recommends the following procedures for shipping cultures with the USA states and territories :

1. Use 15ml centrifuge tubes from Cynmar LLC - Wine & Brew. They are great quality and have a very low rate of leakage, especially when combined with electrical tape.

1. Place each liquid filled tube into its own snack sized baggie to minimize cross contamination if they do happen to leak.

1. Each of these smaller bags will be placed into a quart Ziplock.

1. My main shipping container are Uline Poly bubble mailers. I don't tend to use ice packs as I've found them unnecessary when shipping in favorable temps (use ice packs during the summer).

1. USPS is my preferred shipping method. Using first class shipping, my packages typically take no more than 3 days to reach somewhere in the USA and cost right around $3, and that includes a tracking number. Shipping rates are roughly the same for any USA state or territory. The 48 continental states, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam all cost roughly the same.

See also:

• Bryan of Sui Generis Blog guide to shipping yeast (recommended for larger quantities).

See Also

Additional Articles on MTF Wiki

• Microscope
• PH Meter
• Wild Yeast Isolation
• Titratable Acidity
• Saccharomyces
• Brettanomyces
• Pediococcus
• Lactobacillus

External Resources

• "Brewers' Laboratory Handbook: Brewing Without the Blindfold™", by Brewing Science Institute.