Brewfinger

Thanks for the information about other Sacharomyces strains, although I've never heard about a Saccharomyces cerevisiae (crevasse was an unfortunate auto-check error) that digests gelatin.. But I'm sure I haven't encountered them all.. Most home brewing literature suggests that gelatin is acceptable to preserve brewing yeast strains, so I've been working with the assumption that I'd be safe using it, so long as I wasn't dealing with an infected source. I suppose that I'd be better off with straight agar for media perpetration, even though in hindsight I suppose that agar and gelatin would probably mix just fine, as both are soluble in water.. *slaps forehead* I love the extra information that I'm getting on this thread. If I do try a mixture, I'll be sure to share my results..

That is a good observation.. However, I have a clean strain of S. cervasae that I'm working with, so I'm not overly concerned with any proteases that might liquefy the gelatin. I just haven't seen any information anywhere concerning the mixing of solidifying agents when preparing media, and this thread (as old as it is) seems to have a knowledgeable group discussing media preparation. I'm just wondering if I could actually acheive a homogenous product if I combined geletin and agar. Although now that I'm really bringing the thinker into play, I might try to layer some plates- gelatin on the bottom, thin agar layer on the top.. My chief concern with the use of gelatin is the softness of the material, and how it will hold up to autoclaving (okay.. A trip through a pressure cooker). I want to keep my pure strains pure, you know..

On the subject of agar.. Have any of you heard of anybody combining agar and gelatin in one media? Does anybody know if one is soluble in the other? I ask because I'm putting together some plates and slants to work with yeast, and I am horrified to find out just how expensive agar is. I'd like to try out a mixture to help reduce costs, but I'm wondering if that's going to be practical..