Author Topic: Mother Cultures - Development Of Single vs Multiple Strain  (Read 2528 times)

Offline Boofer

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Mother Cultures - Development Of Single vs Multiple Strain
« on: January 31, 2012, 06:14:02 PM »
I want to finally get into mother cultures to extend and preserve my supplies and to increase the pitch rate for my makes.

It occurred to me that there might just be a significant difference in mother culture development when trying to grow TA-61 versus KAZU.

Should I be worried about this? It would seem that the development of the differing strains in a multicultural mix might be somehow lopsided as opposed to a single strain growth.

I recently bought Choozit ALP D and it, like KAZU, has quite a few distinct cultures contained within.

Sailor and/or linuxboy, can you give me some guidance?

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linuxboy

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Re: Mother Cultures - Development Of Single vs Multiple Strain
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2012, 08:00:43 PM »
Quote
difference in mother culture development
Trying to understand you Boof, have no clue what you mean here. Are you saying their acidity curve differs at different temp levels?

Quote
development of the differing strains in a multicultural mix might be somehow lopsided as opposed to a single strain growth.
Do you mean strain dominance and percentage mix in a first gen culture?

Trying to gauge what you're getting at here. Doing a mother/primer culture using the method Sailor described always works because you're always using first gen, fairly stable blends. Regardless of mix or strain dominance or single vs multi strain. Different in real bulk systems, but this isn't a bulk system exactly.

Offline Boofer

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Re: Mother Cultures - Development Of Single vs Multiple Strain
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2012, 08:14:18 PM »
Doing a mother/primer culture using the method Sailor described always works because you're always using first gen, fairly stable blends. Regardless of mix or strain dominance or single vs multi strain. Different in real bulk systems, but this isn't a bulk system exactly.
I think this answers my concerns.

I am once again reassured. Thanks for that. I can now proceed to mother my cultures.  :)

-Boofer-
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linuxboy

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Re: Mother Cultures - Development Of Single vs Multiple Strain
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2012, 09:34:38 PM »
to be sure, temp makes a difference. Try to keep it close for the cheese style, because that will change dominance, even for a first gen culture. More apparent for DL type culture or complex engineered cultures. But if you're stuck, culture it at the temps you would use for the recipe, and if it calls for cooking, do it in the low to middle range. For some complex, engineered blends, temps make a larger difference than for typical O type or DL type. For custom blends like Kazu, I would try to imitate a temp that would result in an even balance, such as 95F.

So your concerns are valid, you have to think about what the culture is trying to do, and cater to it to incubate a representative sample. You don't culture Kazu at 78F, for example.

Offline Boofer

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Re: Mother Cultures - Development Of Single vs Multiple Strain
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2012, 07:10:32 AM »
I don't understand what "O" and "DL" types are.

Thanks for underscoring the "middle of the road" culture temp (between meso & thermo). That's the direction I was heading.

-Boofer-
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linuxboy

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Re: Mother Cultures - Development Of Single vs Multiple Strain
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2012, 12:32:08 AM »
There's a thread Gurkan posted with a summary, and I've talked about the definitions 3-4 times. O type, basic common cheddar style, lactococcus. DL type, has leuconostoc sp and var diacetylactis, is 4-strain with heterofermentives.