Michele writes,
<Hi, Oxoid produce a suitable medium, Charcoal yeast extract agar with
BCYE and
GVPC or MWY supplements. It is a difficult medium to make up, because the
charcoal makes the agar boil over as you heat it.>
You can say that again! That stuff is a nightmare! Not only does the
problem you mentioned exist, you also have to filter-sterilize the heat
labile ingredients: L-cysteine and I forget what the other one
was...ferric something I think (I haven't prepared it since 1992-93 thank
goodness), and add them *after* you autoclave the main body of the media!
And it gets worse: when you pour the plates, not only do you have to keep
swirling the flask so the charcoal doesn't all settle to the bottom, then
you have to flame the plates to get rid of the air bubbles! Scary!
Infectionately,
Yersinia.
