Biohackers

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38 discussions

Re: [Biohackers] Counter Culture Labs in Oakland now accepting members!

by Patrik D'haeseleer

Also come join us this Friday at 7 for our monthly General Meeting. Free pizza & beer, awesome building, cool science & great people to chat with! CCL General Meeting: Beer, Pizza, Science, Building Tours & Painting! <http://www.meetup.com/Counter-Culture-Labs/events/193172002/> Just let us know if there will be a large contingent of you showing up, so we can order some more nosh & brews (or just bring some more beer!) Patrik On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 1:33 PM, Patrik D'haeseleer <patrikd(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Fermentin' Folks! > > Counter Culture Labs is now *accepting memberships* > <https://counterculturelabs.org/join/>! And we even set up a special > offer for folks interested in food science and instrumentation... > > Our basic introductory *"Founding Membership" is $75/mo* while we are > setting up our new lab space. But we would also like to offer the use of > our space for food science projects and other work such as electronics that > do not require use of a BioSafety Level 1 lab or hazardous materials, for a > temporary low membership rate (including full voting rights) of *$20 a > month*. > > This rate will be available on a month-to month basis at least through > September, and we will give a month’s notice when the rate is about to > change. Once the lab is up and running, we will still have a lower non-lab > rate at no more than half the full membership rate. In addition, we also > plan to set up a system where people can apply for sponsorship. > > *> > https://counterculturelabs.org/join/ > <https://counterculturelabs.org/join/> < <* > We are also scheduling new science meetups for the coming month. Would any > of you like to run a joint meetup with us on Kombucha and/or other brewing > projects (vinegar, beer, kefir,...)? You could do a practical hands-on demo > and/or taste testing, talk about sensors, etc. - and we could complement > that with some of the hard-core microbiology and biohacking ideas! > > Thanks! > > Patrik >

11 years, 12 months

New kombucha batches started at Noisebridge

by Rikke Rasmussen

As of today, we've rebooted kombucha production at Noisebridge: two 15L batches of oolong tea kombucha (of Three Stone Hearth origin) have been started by Alex, Frank and myself, and are now sitting in white buckets on top of the lockers by the East Wall. We hope they'll be ready to serve up in time for the big opening on the 15th - fingers crossed! I'll post this to the Noisebridge kombucha wiki sometime tomorrow. /Rikke On Aug 12, 2014 10:52 AM, "Francisco Jimenez" <francisco(a)tucanvinegars.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > For me it was a very interesting experience making cambucha. It is my > first time doing that, and the tecnic that I use doing banana o apple cider > vinegar is totally different that we are doing with cambucha. > > In the next soon feature, I would like to explore the cambucha tecnic > making, making vinegars and the idea is making a banana or any kind of > fruit started for making vinegars. > > Thank your very much all you guys for this tremendous exchange of > knowledge and sense of collective fermentation at Sudo. > > Sincerely, > > Francisco > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Fermentation Station Aug 11th 2014 meeting notes > From: Rikke Rasmussen <rikke.c.rasmussen(a)gmail.com> > Date: Mon, August 11, 2014 9:17 pm > To: Francisco Jimenez <francisco(a)tucanvinegars.com> > Cc: Francesco Capodieci <fgcapo(a)gmail.com>, stan(a)ana.com, Alex > Alekseyenko <alex.alekseyenko(a)gmail.com>, biohackers(a)lists.sudoroom.org > > > Hi all, > > A quick type-up of my notes for the evening - Stan, Alex, will you take > responsibility for making sure they end up online somewhere (other than on > the list archive)? > > 1) Our technical setup is good to go - temperature monitoring, logging and > graphing all work, all components have been integrated, and Frank is > assembling a deployable setup for next week. > > 2) We have two established cultures: one from Francisco's vinegar > production, and one from Rikke's Three Stone Hearth strain. A batch of each > was made on Aug 4th - 1.5L and 3L, respectively - both batches seemed very > under-fermented (almost no yeasty flavor, little acidity, almost no sugar) > upon tasting today, and had developed exceptionally thick pellicles for the > relatively short duration of the fermentation. There was some discussion as > to the possible explanations for this, and generally agreement that the > most likely is the primary sugar source used (corn rather than cane), and > the differing chemical composition of different sugars. > > 3) Alex purchased 8lbs of sugar for the project - thank you, Alex! =) We > added 60g and 120g of pure white cane sugar to the 1.5L and 3L batches of > kombucha from last week to boost the fermentation process - the immediate > CO2 development and evolution of a distinct yeasty aroma indicates healthy > cultures. > > 4) A potential line of inquiry that could be pursued with minimal analytic > equipment would be the comparison across cultures of the influence of > different sugar sources on the pellicle development, measured as the wet > weight of the pellicle at time of sampling. Influence of sugar source > (again across cultures) on pH would also be simple, as would the > relationship of both characteristics to temperature profile. > > 5) Last, but not least, Alex will not be commuting through the East Bay on > a weekly basis anymore, and wants to set up a Fermentation Station at > Noisebridge. There is strong historical basis and social support for this > project, and we anticipate that it will be well receive. As an initial test > of this theory, we will prepare a 15L batch for the NB fundraiser on Aug > 15th. For this purpose, we have taken 4lbs of sugar, the jar of oolong tea, > and two buckets from our supplies at CCL. In addition, we will need to > acquire (or bring from home for now): kombucha starter, a 2gal soup pot, > something to stir with, a kitchen scale, filter cloth (muslin or similar), > a bunch of bottles, caps and a capper, and possibly a dedicated mini fridge. > > That's everything on my notepad - anything to add, anyone? > > /Rikke > > > > On Fri, Aug 1, 2014 at 1:57 PM, Francisco Jimenez < > francisco(a)tucanvinegars.com> wrote: > >> Thank you Rikke and friends of cross-pollination. >> >> I first apologize all of you guys for no to be involved in all events and >> mettings of the group but I need to say that I have a lot of things dealing >> with at the same time, specially I am looking for a part time job plus >> re-colated my vinegar workplace and some other thing consuming time and >> energy. >> >> I need to let you know guys that I brought a some glasses, a big mouth 1 >> gallon container and a scoby made out of a vinegration process and I think >> it is interesting for us to work with it. I put it inside the refrigerato, >> that one that it is alone at the Sudo kitchen. It is in a small glass >> container at the refrigerator's door. I leveled it. >> >> I going to be around the SR those days in the afternoon available if some >> of you guys want to contact me for just talking about anything relate to >> the colective. >> >> Thank you very much all of you and I hope to see you on Monday, >> >> Francisco >> >> -------- Original Message -------- >> Subject: Re: Monday 7/21 activity & followup >> From: Rikke Rasmussen <rikke.c.rasmussen(a)gmail.com> >> Date: Thu, July 31, 2014 3:34 pm >> To: Francesco Capodieci <fgcapo(a)gmail.com> >> Cc: stan(a)ana.com, Francisco Jimenez <francisco(a)tucanvinegars.com>, Alex >> Alekseyenko <alex.alekseyenko(a)gmail.com>, biohackers(a)lists.sudoroom.org >> >> Awesome, Frank, thank you so much for the cross-pollination effort, and >> my sincerest apologies for not being there in person to support said effort! >> >> Speaking of cross-pollination, I went to the Counter Culture Labs meeting >> last week - they are still very focused on building out their space and >> attracting new members/projects to fill it, so they were very eager to >> accommodate the Fermentation Station. That said, they do also have rent to >> cover, so I made the agreement on our collective behalf that we would pony >> up the cash for 2 reduced-rate memberships ($25, I believe...possibly only >> $20, my notes are unclear) in return for a dedicated portion of the outer >> space for our set-up. >> >> As for SF Biohackers, Matt Harbowy (founding member and primary financial >> baclker for CCL) also proposed that we could trek out to the Sunset to >> check out his home lab - it could probably fit 10-12 folks in a meeting >> situation, maybe 6-8 working in clusters...I've only seen it once about 6 >> months ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but it sounds like a sweet >> setup, and may be worth checking out? >> >> Last, but not least - I think we have the clear makings of 3 separate >> sub-projects/groups that all tie together, focusing on 1) the gastronomical >> aspects of kombucha/vinegar/beer/yogurt/kefir/etc. production (that would >> looking at the correlations between environmental conditions and >> chemical/flavor profiles), 2) the molecular aspects of same (such as >> species identification and characterization, manipulating species >> composition, looking at cellulose production, and engineering individual >> species for specific chemical/nutritional/etc. profiles, and 3) the >> technical development of bioreactors/cultivators for all of these awesome >> microbes. >> >> Anyhow. Sorry for being a total flake this week, will endeavor to do >> better next week. See you on Monday! >> >> >> /Rikke >> >> >> On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 9:44 PM, Francesco Capodieci <fgcapo(a)gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> I met with a couple of people from the following group who are >>> interested coming to our meeting next Monday: >>> http://www.meetup.com/SF-Biohackers-Meetup/ >>> <http://www.meetup.com/SF-Biohackers-Meetup/> >>> They are interested not only in bioreactors but in genetically >>> modifying kombucha yeast. We agreed to put ideas and research into a wiki. >>> Stan, is Sudo Room's wiki a good place for this? >>> I will have some progress on the (sensor -> arduino -> raspi -> web >>> browser) setup to show next week. >>> Frank >>> >> >> >

11 years, 12 months

Fermentation Station Aug 11th 2014 meeting notes

by Rikke Rasmussen

Hi all, A quick type-up of my notes for the evening - Stan, Alex, will you take responsibility for making sure they end up online somewhere (other than on the list archive)? 1) Our technical setup is good to go - temperature monitoring, logging and graphing all work, all components have been integrated, and Frank is assembling a deployable setup for next week. 2) We have two established cultures: one from Francisco's vinegar production, and one from Rikke's Three Stone Hearth strain. A batch of each was made on Aug 4th - 1.5L and 3L, respectively - both batches seemed very under-fermented (almost no yeasty flavor, little acidity, almost no sugar) upon tasting today, and had developed exceptionally thick pellicles for the relatively short duration of the fermentation. There was some discussion as to the possible explanations for this, and generally agreement that the most likely is the primary sugar source used (corn rather than cane), and the differing chemical composition of different sugars. 3) Alex purchased 8lbs of sugar for the project - thank you, Alex! =) We added 60g and 120g of pure white cane sugar to the 1.5L and 3L batches of kombucha from last week to boost the fermentation process - the immediate CO2 development and evolution of a distinct yeasty aroma indicates healthy cultures. 4) A potential line of inquiry that could be pursued with minimal analytic equipment would be the comparison across cultures of the influence of different sugar sources on the pellicle development, measured as the wet weight of the pellicle at time of sampling. Influence of sugar source (again across cultures) on pH would also be simple, as would the relationship of both characteristics to temperature profile. 5) Last, but not least, Alex will not be commuting through the East Bay on a weekly basis anymore, and wants to set up a Fermentation Station at Noisebridge. There is strong historical basis and social support for this project, and we anticipate that it will be well receive. As an initial test of this theory, we will prepare a 15L batch for the NB fundraiser on Aug 15th. For this purpose, we have taken 4lbs of sugar, the jar of oolong tea, and two buckets from our supplies at CCL. In addition, we will need to acquire (or bring from home for now): kombucha starter, a 2gal soup pot, something to stir with, a kitchen scale, filter cloth (muslin or similar), a bunch of bottles, caps and a capper, and possibly a dedicated mini fridge. That's everything on my notepad - anything to add, anyone? /Rikke On Fri, Aug 1, 2014 at 1:57 PM, Francisco Jimenez < francisco(a)tucanvinegars.com> wrote: > Thank you Rikke and friends of cross-pollination. > > I first apologize all of you guys for no to be involved in all events and > mettings of the group but I need to say that I have a lot of things dealing > with at the same time, specially I am looking for a part time job plus > re-colated my vinegar workplace and some other thing consuming time and > energy. > > I need to let you know guys that I brought a some glasses, a big mouth 1 > gallon container and a scoby made out of a vinegration process and I think > it is interesting for us to work with it. I put it inside the refrigerato, > that one that it is alone at the Sudo kitchen. It is in a small glass > container at the refrigerator's door. I leveled it. > > I going to be around the SR those days in the afternoon available if some > of you guys want to contact me for just talking about anything relate to > the colective. > > Thank you very much all of you and I hope to see you on Monday, > > Francisco > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: Monday 7/21 activity & followup > From: Rikke Rasmussen <rikke.c.rasmussen(a)gmail.com> > Date: Thu, July 31, 2014 3:34 pm > To: Francesco Capodieci <fgcapo(a)gmail.com> > Cc: stan(a)ana.com, Francisco Jimenez <francisco(a)tucanvinegars.com>, Alex > Alekseyenko <alex.alekseyenko(a)gmail.com>, biohackers(a)lists.sudoroom.org > > Awesome, Frank, thank you so much for the cross-pollination effort, and my > sincerest apologies for not being there in person to support said effort! > > Speaking of cross-pollination, I went to the Counter Culture Labs meeting > last week - they are still very focused on building out their space and > attracting new members/projects to fill it, so they were very eager to > accommodate the Fermentation Station. That said, they do also have rent to > cover, so I made the agreement on our collective behalf that we would pony > up the cash for 2 reduced-rate memberships ($25, I believe...possibly only > $20, my notes are unclear) in return for a dedicated portion of the outer > space for our set-up. > > As for SF Biohackers, Matt Harbowy (founding member and primary financial > baclker for CCL) also proposed that we could trek out to the Sunset to > check out his home lab - it could probably fit 10-12 folks in a meeting > situation, maybe 6-8 working in clusters...I've only seen it once about 6 > months ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but it sounds like a sweet > setup, and may be worth checking out? > > Last, but not least - I think we have the clear makings of 3 separate > sub-projects/groups that all tie together, focusing on 1) the gastronomical > aspects of kombucha/vinegar/beer/yogurt/kefir/etc. production (that would > looking at the correlations between environmental conditions and > chemical/flavor profiles), 2) the molecular aspects of same (such as > species identification and characterization, manipulating species > composition, looking at cellulose production, and engineering individual > species for specific chemical/nutritional/etc. profiles, and 3) the > technical development of bioreactors/cultivators for all of these awesome > microbes. > > Anyhow. Sorry for being a total flake this week, will endeavor to do > better next week. See you on Monday! > > > /Rikke > > > On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 9:44 PM, Francesco Capodieci <fgcapo(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > >> I met with a couple of people from the following group who are interested >> coming to our meeting next Monday: >> http://www.meetup.com/SF-Biohackers-Meetup/ >> <http://www.meetup.com/SF-Biohackers-Meetup/> >> They are interested not only in bioreactors but in genetically >> modifying kombucha yeast. We agreed to put ideas and research into a wiki. >> Stan, is Sudo Room's wiki a good place for this? >> I will have some progress on the (sensor -> arduino -> raspi -> web >> browser) setup to show next week. >> Frank >> > >

12 years

Re: [Biohackers] Monday 7/21 activity & followup

by Rikke Rasmussen

Awesome, Frank, thank you so much for the cross-pollination effort, and my sincerest apologies for not being there in person to support said effort! Speaking of cross-pollination, I went to the Counter Culture Labs meeting last week - they are still very focused on building out their space and attracting new members/projects to fill it, so they were very eager to accommodate the Fermentation Station. That said, they do also have rent to cover, so I made the agreement on our collective behalf that we would pony up the cash for 2 reduced-rate memberships ($25, I believe...possibly only $20, my notes are unclear) in return for a dedicated portion of the outer space for our set-up. As for SF Biohackers, Matt Harbowy (founding member and primary financial baclker for CCL) also proposed that we could trek out to the Sunset to check out his home lab - it could probably fit 10-12 folks in a meeting situation, maybe 6-8 working in clusters...I've only seen it once about 6 months ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but it sounds like a sweet setup, and may be worth checking out? Last, but not least - I think we have the clear makings of 3 separate sub-projects/groups that all tie together, focusing on 1) the gastronomical aspects of kombucha/vinegar/beer/yogurt/kefir/etc. production (that would looking at the correlations between environmental conditions and chemical/flavor profiles), 2) the molecular aspects of same (such as species identification and characterization, manipulating species composition, looking at cellulose production, and engineering individual species for specific chemical/nutritional/etc. profiles, and 3) the technical development of bioreactors/cultivators for all of these awesome microbes. Anyhow. Sorry for being a total flake this week, will endeavor to do better next week. See you on Monday! /Rikke On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 9:44 PM, Francesco Capodieci <fgcapo(a)gmail.com> wrote: > I met with a couple of people from the following group who are interested > coming to our meeting next Monday: > > http://www.meetup.com/SF-Biohackers-Meetup/ > <http://www.meetup.com/SF-Biohackers-Meetup/> > > They are interested not only in bioreactors but in genetically modifying > kombucha yeast. We agreed to put ideas and research into a wiki. Stan, is > Sudo Room's wiki a good place for this? > > I will have some progress on the (sensor -> arduino -> raspi -> web > browser) setup to show next week. > > Frank >

12 years

Monday 7/14 activity

by Stan Osborne

Were notes taken last Monday? Are there plans to email the notes or post them to the SuDo Wiki? Are we going to switch to using the mailman list 'biohacers(a)lists.sudoroom.org'? My understanding is two small batches of kombucha were started. We also moved i table and various tools for fermentation projects into the project room that now has a sign on its door. We were not able to start a 5 gallon batch due to the lack of appropriate tools. 10 days ago I requested an account on the SoDo Wiki. My request has yet to be approved so I am holding off on making updates to this wiki. The mailing list sudo-discuss is quite active, so I will use it to post my concerns, questions, etc. Stan

12 years, 1 month

anyone interested in some interesting brain technology?

by eleemosynary＠mac.hush.com

Hello, Some local thugs installed some brain technology into my head against my will and use it to remotely torture me on a 24/7 basis. Not 100% sure about the details of the underlying technology. Need removal. austin b.

12 years, 9 months

Open source centrifuge!

by Jenny Ryan

Via @BiologiGaragen: New open source centrifuge http://t.co/otDqV44UER http://t.co/54l7f5DNOt Shared via TweetCaster

12 years, 11 months

Last Night: LInks Please?

by Alaric Moore

Hello, I had a hard time following along last night because I was too busy trying to install biopython on my computer, which I did finally do. I was wondering if you any of y'all could provide me the links to the slides etc (for some reason my computer didn't bookmark them correctly or I can't find them)? Thanks in advance. Alaric

13 years

intro

by Hol Gaskill

Hi folks, Just joined the list, primarily as a lurker. I am perpetually spread thin on project bandwidth but want to be in touch with the bio community in order to collaborate where there are areas of overlap. My background is in engineering - civil and environmental engineering in school, now doing alot of pavement, geotechnical, and drainage/dewatering design. In my own time I've taken a big technical interest in process control, mainly in hydroponics, environmental control (like HVAC), and beer brewing. All the electronic and mechanical stuff is self-taught so there's been alot of trial and error on my path, but maybe not an order of magnitude more than if I had learned it in school. I am interested in adding biological elements into designs, and so far have just been shooting from the hip with mixed results. Some applications of interest to me are algae biofuel processors, automatic plant/animal/fungus environmental homeostasis systems, compact grey/blackwater treatment units, closed-loop irrigation with specialized bacterial bioreactor elements, and anything having to do with microbial action to beneficiate rock/sand/spacedust. I could be of assistance on the DIY PCR project as there is some technical overlap on temperature control and driving peltier elements. Also would be interested in developing hardware and control systems for economical mass production of select organisms. Looking forward to hacking with y'all! Hol

13 years

kombucha meetup?

by Patrik D'haeseleer

Hi Sudoroomies! We've been planning some cool bio meetups for Counter Culture Labs, and lots of people were excited about doing one on brewing kombucha<http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Big-Batch-of-Kombucha/>. I figured it would be great to do this at sudoroom, and make a joint sudo/CCL party/workshop out of it! Do any of you have a nice healthy kombucha "mother" at the moment? We want to do some microbiology experiments on the culture in the future, so it should be a natural one that has been propagated for a long time, not something started from a store-bought bottle (those typically use a single strain, rather than the complex mixture of bacteria and yeasts you find in a real kombucha mother). We have a slot in our meetup calendar penciled in for a kombucha meeting for the week after next (next week is bioinformatics<http://www.meetup.com/Counter-Culture-Labs/events/129899352/>!) I figure that may leave us just enough time to brew a big batch in advance of the meetup, so we'd have enough kombucha for tasting, and enough mother to hand out to anyone who wants to participate and brew their own batch! So... let me know if (a) you have a kombucha mother we can use, (b) would be interested in brewing up a big batch in advance of the meetup, and/or (c) would be interested in helping to lead the meetup the week after next (exact date to be decided)! I can definitely help out with (b) and (c). Heck, we could even try brewing some mate kombucha... Patrik

13 years, 1 month

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