I'm trying to conduct a Microbial Limit Test (MLT) on a material which is highly viscous in aqueous solutions (similar to CMC and xanthan gum), and when diluting the sample in a 1:10 dilution (In peptone water) I'm practically ending up with just a lump in the bottle. Is there any way that I can still make a 1:10 dilution without this happening?
In my opinion , you can make further 2 fold serial dilutions starting from1:10 till you get a viscous solution from which you can take 1mL portions to inoculate petri-dishes then add the TSA and distribute your sample by the aid of a sterile loop or glass rode till you homogenize the sample in TSA. for more reliable results you can make several plates and sum the CFUs from these plates to get the total number per 1gm of the sample.
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