Shop name for the small vials of growth medium used in serial dilution testing for SRB, acid-producing bacteria and other microbes. A tech injects 1 mL of sample into the first bottle, moves 1 mL on to the next, and so on, then incubates them for up to 28 days. The number of bottles that turn, black for SRB, gives an order-of-magnitude count, so growth through the third bottle means roughly 100 to 1,000 cells per mL.
Heard on the job
Shot the bug bottles at the wellhead, check them at a week and again at 28 days.
Insider tip
Inoculate at the sample point, not back at the office. Bacteria counts in a water sample change within hours of collection.
Also heard as
- serial dilution vials
- culture bottles
- bug vials