The injection of a small volume of liquid containing living microorganisms into a bioreactor to initiate a biochemical process such as fermentation. The microorganisms, such as yeast or bacteria, are first prepared as an inoculum by either using living cells for a previous bioreaction, or by transferring living cells from agar plates upon which they have been stored, and growing them in a shake flask. The contents of the shake flask provide the inoculum for the larger biochemical process.