AObiome

[drcraig]

I'm not a scientist, but a lowly physician untrained in the lab skills needed to maintain a bacterial culture. I do home-brew beer and maintain yeast cultures... but I'm not sure how the two might relate.

 

The reason I'm posting is because I recently purchased some AObiome "cosmaceutical" mist, and I'd like to see if I can maintain the culture so s month's supply lasts a full year or more. It's very expensive at $99/bottle, so if the stuff works as intended, maintaing a culture will be cost effective.

 

If this were a yeast culture for brewing, I would just use some and then top up the bottle with nutrient mix (wort), and wait.

 

Would it be this simple for a bottle of AO bacteria? Would I need to supply ammonia as food? What sort of environmental conditions would be required for such a culture. Since I actually plan to use what I grow continuously, I'm not interested in inoculating a slant and freezing it.

 

If this entire post leaves you puzzled, read: "My No-Soap, No-Shampoo, Bacteria-Rich Hygiene Experiment,"

Edited July 29, 2014 by drcraig

[fiveworlds]

I do home-brew beer and maintain yeast cultures... but I'm not sure how the two might relate.

 

Legend grandaddy used to do that. Yeast makes alcohol by the way in anaerobic conditions(without oxygen). What exactly do you grow?

Since I actually plan to use what I grow continuously

 

 

there is various whiskeys and wines that keep for years. Though that's not beer really. But supposedly there is a market for wine at the moment. If it is any good.

 

Would it be this simple for a bottle of AO bacteria?

 

If you aren't making alcohol then I guess so.

 

if I can maintain the culture so s month's supply lasts a full year or more. It's very expensive at $99/bottle, so if the stuff works as intended, maintaing a culture will be cost effective.

 

 

There are many cost-effective trade-secret ways of maintaining a yeast culture, I suggest you learn one.

 

It's very expensive at $99/bottle

 

 

You are incredibly small-scale so. It gets cheaper.

Edited July 29, 2014 by fiveworlds

[drcraig]

ha ha.. I think I just found a cheaper source of Nitrosomonas bacteria!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fritz-Zyme-7-Freshwater-Nitrifying-Bacteria-32oz-/281390968208?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4184356d90

[fiveworlds]

ha ha.. I think I just found a cheaper source of Nitrosomonas bacteria!

 

Shit ... well sewage actually, wastewater. Lots of ammonia makes its way into river etc. Its actually a big problem but you could probably use that ammonia to culture nitrosomonas bacteria. You need to use aerobic respiration as the culture will grow faster. Which means you need to pump oxygen through the shit. Ammonia in rivers also comes from fertilisers spread on fields too close to water sources and unfortunately it is extremely toxic to fish and other aquatic life.It is a very common pollutant and can often make its way into the human food supply. When we eat lots of polluted fish we can become sick.

Edited July 30, 2014 by fiveworlds

[CharonY]

Maintaining a pure culture can be tricky and there is always the chance that you cultivate something undesirable and spray it on yourself...

Typically the medium is spent after a while unless you have system that drains old and replenishes new under sterile conditions

 

To minimize that one could use a minimal medium that at least partially inhibits growth of other bacteria, but I do not any off the top of my head. You would need the means to sterilize the medium, though.

 

In short, unless you do invest somewhat in creating a bacterial cultivation system and media it is likely not going to work well. It is trickier than cultivating yeast.

[fiveworlds]

You would need the means to sterilize the medium, though.

 

You could kill off the bacteria by boiling then add the nitrosomonas bacteria when you are sure the medium is sterile. Preety much everything has something undesirable to start off with.

Edited July 30, 2014 by fiveworlds

[CharonY]

Typically that is not enough for quantitative sterilization. I.e. you kill almost everything but what is left may start growing again. Typically an autoclave or something similar is needed to sterilize liquids. Filter sterilization (0.2 um) can also work, provided you do not have spores or some of the more exotic but tiny buggers.

Edited July 30, 2014 by CharonY

[fiveworlds]

Well yeah but an autoclave is really just using really hot boiled water 121 °C for around 15–20 minutes so basically boiled under pressure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclave

Realistically speaking an autoclave is a pressure cooker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_cooking

A really good steel pressure cooker would probably do a better job than the more modern autoclave.

Edited July 30, 2014 by fiveworlds

[CharonY]

Yes, a pressure cooker comes close, though it tend not to maintain the pressure as stable or as high. I.e. the claim that a pressure cooker would work equally or even better is simply wrong. Some commercial heavy duty, regulated pressure cookers may come close, though I would still be uncertain.

 

The exception would be very very old, leaky and crappy manual autoclaves a few decades old and a shiny new heavy duty pressure cooker with excellent pressure control. But I would not call that a proper comparison.

Edited July 30, 2014 by CharonY