Growing Yeast from a Plate
From German brewing and more
Growing yeast from a plate (petri dish) allows the brewer to select only a few single cell growth colonies. By doing so a pure culture can be obtained even if the starting culture was questionable. But because the number of yeast cells is very small during the first few steps, a sterile environment is necessary.
What is needed?
- petri dish with yeast colonies (Yeast Cultures on Petri Dishes)
- inoculation loop
- flame source. Bunsen burner, alcohol lamp, blow torch or gas stove
- vial with sterile starter wort
Before you start
Picking Colonies
In order to ensure that you are only using yeast colonies that have grown from a single yeast cell only consider single round colonies of yeast. Yeas colonies are off-white with dull looking surface. Some of your streaks on the plate should have produced such colonies.
