Does anyone out there use a microscope and counting chamber for yeast counting? I am wondering what the basic equipment and procedures are, what common dilution levels are, and whether it is worth it. I have a decent microscope, and could very likely be yeast counting tomorrow with cookbook type instructions, but am uncertain whether you collect a sample from the yeast cake and dilute or shake up a starter and sample the liquid slurry. If you were to do the latter, would you then pitch the entire volume? Is anyone doing any yeast counting?
I’m getting one and a counting chamer for christmas. I’m looking forward to that and playing around with it. But at this point I only have a vague idea about what to do exactly.
I believe you want to get a hemacytometer and methylene blue stain. The stain is not necessary for counting but can give you a rough idea which cells are dead and which are alive.
Kai
That’s a very nice find. Thanks.
Kai
Their whole website is a great source. Too bad they don’t sell yeast to homebrewers.
Thanks, good info on the proceedure. I have a 1000x scope, so where is the best place to get a hemacytometer and methylene blue stain?
Philsner The Great
I purchased this one – SAWER138 ☯ Slot Gacor Hari Ini Gampang Jackpot Ratusan Juta. Kai recommended cynmar at one point, and I was happy with their service.
It’s definitely interesting, although I can’t see myself doing it on every batch. I’m actually more interested in using the microscope for wild Belgians.
I love shopping and browsing at Cynmar. At this point I’m ordering more there than I do at home brew stores. I have their catalog as bathroom reading material.
I got the methylene blue as dry power and plan to make small batches of it for staining. I figure that I won’t need much.
I’m with Narvin in that the excitement over being able to count cells will wear off at some point. But it’s still nice to be able to check one more intermediate point in the process.
And my daughter (5) seems to be very interested in looking at stuff under the microscope. So getting a good one wasn’t a hard sell to the wife if it helps with the education of the kids.
Kai
When I was a kid, my parents bought us chemistry sets, microscopes, electronics construction kits, all kinds of science stuff. I think that’s one of the main reasons I turned into a geek!
I believe one would be really enlightened and suprised at the behavior and viability of yeast under a microscope. I have never examined yeast under a scope but sure would like to give it a try sometime. My wish list is pretty long and getting longer. ;D
I have a microscope and counting chamber, and started the thread to get an idea if and how folks are using these. What I can say from my very limited experience is that the quality of the microscope is important. New student and lab microscopes are very expensive, costing hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Toy microscopes will not give you a quality approaching that of a 100 year old lab microscope. They have plastic optics, and really don’t work well. I found a high quality (Leitz) microscope from around 1950 on craigslist for $100, and have been very pleased with it. If you can find a decent quality lab microscope it will be of a far greater value than a new, inexpensive, microscope.
I have followed the procedures Kai linked to, which are similar to those on the Brewing Techniques site and elsewhere, and the cells are easy to see and count. I have not worked on the staining yet, but will note that you can also find Meth blue in the pet supplies for aquarium use, its inexpensive, and would work well. The yeast does not really “behave”… it just sits there, and using a 40-50x objective they just look like little spheres in the counting squares. The math is tougher than the microscope.
This is pretty hard core 
Kai
What kind of microscope did you buy?
By the way this is pretty interesting subject.
I think it was this: SAWER138 ☯ Slot Gacor Hari Ini Gampang Jackpot Ratusan Juta
Kai
Thank you
I just checked and they don’t have the one that I bough (753 SRS) anymore. It was about the same price and has very similar specs. I don’t think it matters much and I didn’t really do a lot of research either. I went for the monocular version which will be a pain but I didn’t feel like spending an additional $100. I’ll just buy and eye patch 
Kai
So I finally got to play around with the microscope and the hemacytometer.
So cool to see the yeast and with methylene blue stain it is easy to tell the difference between viable and non-viable cells. 400x seems to work best for counting for me. But counting cells is a lot of prep work and some clean-up.
Kai
I was messing around with mine, and one of the kids must have been turning knobs. I tried to focus the microscope and “crack”… there went my counting chamber. I focused right through the slide (and they aren’t cheap slides). I thought that I might mention that (at least if you have kids around) you should start at the lowest magnification, find the area you are looking for, and then increase the magnification one objective at a time until you are up at 400X.
I work with microscopes every day, and never thought I would make this mistake at home, but I’m back shopping for a new counting chamber.
Karl,
That sucks. But can’t you just use a normal cover slide? The grid is on the bottom of the chamber which is hard to break. Or get a replacement for the slides. I think that this must happen quite often and mine came with a spare cover slide.
Kai
Crack? 
I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you. Hope 2010 is a little better for ya!
Reminds me of a guy who once tried to get a “running go” with his malt crusher and flipped it across the floor.
It sucks to be human.