[Kaiser]

What kind of microscope did you buy?

I think it was this: http://cynmar.com/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=CSH08017

Kai

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

[Kaiser]

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

[karlh]

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. 

[Kaiser]

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

[tubercle]

 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.
 

[Kaiser]

looks like someone is making a Cynmar order: http://www.cynmar.com/productdetails/01200122.aspx

Kai

[Thirsty_Monk]

And you get 10 cover glass with it

[roffenburger]

I'm pretty spoiled and get to use a $5-6K Ziess scope at work. I've also used an inverted scope for a few months while doing research on cardiac myocytes that ran around 80K Cool stuff!

I want to get one for home use, but don't really see the need at this point. I would LOVE to have one though!

[Kaiser]

Having a microscope certainly lengthened my brewday . At some point the frequent use is likely to wear off though.

To make determining cell densities and cell counts easier I wrote a simple spread sheet that I keep on my ipod and together with a tally counter app it’s pretty simple to use. I thought I may share it here: http://braukaiser.com/documents/cell_count.xls

Instead of giving dilutions you specify how many additional volumes of the sample volume you added for methylene blue dye and/or additional water. This seems to work better for me.

The current setting of depth and width (0.1 mm x 0.05 mm) is for one of the small squares in an improved Neubauer counting chamber.

Kai

[roffenburger]

Its definitely a nice tools to have around--even if the usage reduces.

[karlh]

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. 

I ordered a replacement counting chamber, through amazon of all places, as that was the best deal I could find with same day shipping (about $37 vs $50 on cynmar).  Hopefully I will be back in the cell counting business soon.  I have been looking at yeast on plain glass slides with Methylene blue, and Kai is right about the dramatic difference between the viable and dead cells.  If I can get pictures I will try to put some online (I might have to bring some yeast to work for this).

[Kaiser]

Wow, you actually broke through the whole thing.

Kai

[dbeechum]

I'm noticing cynmar's having a sale on some simple stereo micros.. may have to break down and get one.

[Thirsty_Monk]

I'm noticing cynmar's having a sale on some simple stereo micros.. may have to break down and get one.

Do you have a link?

[dbeechum]

http://www.cynmar.com/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=CSS08409