From: joseph@joebloe.maple-shade.nj.us (Joseph Nathan Hall)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Subject: Assorted Culturing Equipment
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 92 21:58:01 EDT
Organization: 5 Sigma Software
Reply-To: joseph@joebloe.maple-shade.nj.us
Distribution: us
X-Mailer: uAccess - Macintosh Release: 1.5v5


Well, I've finally broken down and "officially" taken the plunge into
culturing.

On the off chance that there are any homebrewers in NJ, northern Delaware
and/or Eastern Pennsylvania who haven't been to Edmund Scientific
in Barrington (NJ), I should mention that the surplus labware
there is something to behold.  There are some great bargains--
"A" class volumetric flasks for 10-30% of normal cost, loads of
glass joint glassware at roughly 25% normal cost, etc.  I've also
picked up Pyrex culture tubes and Petri dishes there.  The stuff
seems to have pretty quick turnaround, so it pays to drop by every
month or two.  It is *NOT* in the catalog.  Neither is the stuff in
the other surplus room.

(My favorite find was a fullsize Friedrichs condenser, brand new, for $25.
Yow!  They had matching extraction chambers for about the same amount.
But then again, the $1 micro-style "A" class 3 ml graduate wasn't
such a bad buy, either.)

Today I picked up a couple of packages of micro pipettes ... a tube
of 250 10 microliter Corning pipettes for $1.99 ... can't go too wrong with
that!  They also had some nice stubby 1-quart bottles that take standard
small stoppers ... picked up 4 of them.  Looked for an innoculating
loop, but didn't find one this time, alas.

I figure I will either make my own loop when and if I need one, or
maybe instead I will go for one of those nice platinum-rhodium
dudes from a scientific equipment supply co. (about $50).

I've also found serological and transfer pipettes useful for drawing
samples of beer.  If you find some of those ultra-long (nearly 2 foot)
test tubes the pipettes can be sterilized easily by rinsing and then soaking
in a test tube full of bleach solution.  These are of course frequently
found (pipettes and weird test tubes) at Edmund.

Edmund also sells a decent (non-surplus) 5000g x 1g electronic scale for 
about  $100 that I've been thinking might make a nice addition to my apparatus.
It probably can be found cheaper elsewhere, though ... your wallet's
better off if you stick to

I keep trying to find a way to make this an expensive hobby, but so far 
haven't found a way to spend over $1000 except by 1) buying a microscope 
(but my mother has already offered me hers), or 2) flying to Europe to
taste and collect beers.  But the latter hardly seems like a real
"brewing expense."  I guess I could always emulate the rich dudes
and build a cold room into a house some day.

Just some random info and thoughts for you on a lazy Saturday evening.
We now return you to your regular discussion of watered down
Canadian beers.

uunet!joebloe!joseph   (609) 273-8200 day   joseph%joebloe@uunet.uu.net
v   v  sssss | Certified Guru: all-grain brewing,| 2102 Ryan's Run East
 v v  s   s  | C, synthesizer comp & arranging,  | Rt 38 & 41
  v    sss   | photography. Also not a bad cook. | Maple Shade NJ 08052
-----My employer isn't paying for this, and my opinions are my own-----