LC Contam Test?

[Azuloso83]

Is there any way to tell if a liquid culture is contaminated without actually noccing up a jar? I know it can be hard to tell from just looking, but my friend has some LC he made using Hip's honey/microwave tek and it looks fine (white, cloudy, swirly) but he is loathe to waste seeds and time. Could he extract some and exam it somehow, or maybe give it some kind of test? Just curious.

[Irishlion]

Originally Posted by Azuloso83

Is there any way to tell if a liquid culture is contaminated without actually noccing up a jar? I know it can be hard to tell from just looking, but my friend has some LC he made using Hip's honey/microwave tek and it looks fine (white, cloudy, swirly) but he is loathe to waste seeds and time. Could he extract some and exam it somehow, or maybe give it some kind of test? Just curious.

only real way is pulling some and knocking up a half pint of brf or pop corn or wbs or something, then you will know, just gotta make sure the syringe and the needle, is sterlie and its done in a sterlie enviroment so its for sure.

[Azuloso83]

Thanks Irish
I suppose if one were to just noc up a half pint jar it wouldn't be much of a waste, especailly considering that if you find out it's all good then you've got a whole 300ml of LC. Something quicker and easier would be nice, but that would be too good to be true. The vaults teach how to sterilize the neddle/syringe in the PC, but when one purchases single syringes/needles don't they come pre-sterilized?

[Irishlion]

Originally Posted by Azuloso83

Thanks Irish
I suppose if one were to just noc up a half pint jar it wouldn't be much of a waste, especailly considering that if you find out it's all good then you've got a whole 300ml of LC. Something quicker and easier would be nice, but that would be too good to be true. The vaults teach how to sterilize the neddle/syringe in the PC, but when one purchases single syringes/needles don't they come pre-sterilized?

any new out of the package syringe SHOULD be sterlie inside but, its always wise to take the extra measure to make sure. And Always flame your needle no matter what.

[GadgetGuy]

Another good thing to keep around is 1/4 pint jars for just such occasions. That way you aren't wasting much at all. Ive had LCs that looked GREAT and were pure contam, and some that looked questionable that turned out fine. I've never figured out how to tell by eye.

[p2k1]

Originally Posted by Azuloso83

but he is loathe to waste seeds and time.

Better to use 1 cc of liquid culture and 1 jar than multiple whole cases and find out a week layer you had a big LC of trich (has happened before)

I suppose if you had petri dishes you could do a test on them that would be faster, tho im assuming you dont have a flowhood

[Azuloso83]

yeah no hood or even petri dishes...haven't gotten that far yet. Thanks for the input though...seems like I will just have to give a half-pint of rye the ol' guinea pig treatment. Will prolly check out those quarter-pint jars as well, as they seem to come in handy for making LC as well.