Are Wyeast propagator packs discontinued?

If so when did they stop making them? Have I been brewing under a rock for some time now?

Just in the past few months. I went to my LHBS, which almost only stocked Propagators, and they told me that they had been discontinued.

They sold them for $6.25 and Activators for $9.00. Like bosses, they lowered the price of the Activators by a buck. Four times the yeast for a buck and three-quarters more. Done.

Cool. I dug around a little and didn't hear anything about it, thanks!

Forgive me if this has already been posted, but it's rather important, and I was unable to find any similar, previous posting using the search function.

Today I got the regular newsletter from Brouwland (Belgium) stating that the WYeast "propagator" smack packs were going to be discontinued. Since this is exactly what I use in almost all of my brews, I contacted WYeast to confirm that this is the case. A representative stated that indeed, their entire line of yeasts will henceforth be sold only in the larger, "Activator" smack packs.

For me, this was very bad news. First of all, I've had better luck with the Propagator than I have with the Activator, which has failed to take off on at least one occasion, such that I had to re-pitch. The Propagator-initiated starter, on the other hand, has always given great results and has never failed. Second, I tend to make small, 10- or 12-liter batches. Now, I have no idea how much Propagator packets cost in the US, but here in Europe, they're more than 9 euro apiece, and it's not cost-effective to pitch what amounts to thirteen or fourteen dollars' worth of yeast into a mere 10 liters (2.5 gallons) of beer. For me, the only viable alternative will be to switch to cheap, semi-generic dry yeast.

If there are others here who are dedicated users of the WYeast Activator packets, please send a message to WYeast, asking them to reconsider their decision to discontinue this product.

I've honestly never even seen a propagator in person. Granted, I've only been to 3-4 homebrew shops but all the ones I've been to that have Wyeast is Activator only.

I missed seeing this thread when I searched for this topic a moment ago. As a result, I just posted a separate thread to the effect that the Activators were going to be discontinued. I emailed a representative at WYeast to confirm that that these packets will not longer be produced. As on the other thread, I'd urge those who make regular use of the Activator packs to email WYeast urging them to reconsider their decision.

It sucks for you that they discontinued the packs, but really, was there a real market for them ? MY LHBS sold the Propagators for a buck less than the Activators and everyone and their mothers are making starters with Activators nowadays anyway.

You say you make small batches ? Just do a big ole starter starting with the Activator (like two-three times more than you need) and only use what you need. Then wash the leftover yeast and keep it for later. You can go up to three generations easy if you are careful about sanitation.

I do small batches (10 liters). When I want some liquid yeast I'll get a white labs tube, pitch the whole thing then wash it and get a few generations out of it easily.

Mr malty often says 1 tube is the right amount as well.

Yeah I have never seen one in person either.

I haven't seen one in years. I thought they were already discontinued!

Good Lord, my LHBS sells the Activator smack packs for 4.50.

I'm surprised to learn that Propagator packs are relatively rare. At Brouwland, which is virtually the only supplier of homebrew supplies in Belgium (and they act like it, too), they carry, or did carry, more varieties of the Propagators and these were generally fresher than the Activator packs. Because of this limited experience, I had had the mistaken impression that the Propagator was actually the more popular of the two. Well, good advice about splitting Activator-generated starters and setting some aside for later. Guess I need to learn to do this.

If you make slants of your yeast (it's not hard to do once you have the equipment and go thru the process 1 time), you really should never have to buy yeast again.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/slanting-yeast-133103/

I've never seen them either.

But the thing is, to mitigate the cost you should be harvesting the yeast and re-using it anyway, either washing it and storing it in jars, or like bigljd said slants, or even freezing with glycol (all things described in detail here,) you get a lot of uses from the yeast which slims the cost down.

Also for 2.5 gallon batches, if a pitching calculator said you still need to make a starter, than it doesn't matter how big the pack is, BUT if it doesn't, you can still pitch the entire amount in and harvest (it takes a lot to over pitch) or pitch half and save.

I make 10L batches as well and when I need a new strain of yeast I'll buy an Activator pack (since I've never seen a Propigator pack) and pitch the entire pack. This way I don't have to make a starter. Also, I stick a blow-off tube in for the first few days and top crop the yeast into a 1L container. Then I dilute it with colled, boiled water and store it in small canning jars (once the yeast have eaten any wort that has gotten transferred over with the yeast). These are the healthiest yeast anyway.

Bierenliefhebber said:

I missed seeing this thread when I searched for this topic a moment ago. As a result, I just posted a separate thread to the effect that the Activators were going to be discontinued. I emailed a representative at WYeast to confirm that that these packets will not longer be produced. As on the other thread, I'd urge those who make regular use of the Activator packs to email WYeast urging them to reconsider their decision.

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Do you mean Propagator packs?

AviatorTroy said:

Good Lord, my LHBS sells the Activator smack packs for 4.50.

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There must be some kind of import charges up here in Canada on those, guess the LHBS has to pay the bills too.

Nugent said:

Do you mean Propagator packs?

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Duh! Yeah, sorry. Slip of the keyboard! Of course, it's the Propagator packs that are being discontinued.

Wow, Activators are only $4.50 where AviatorTroy lives? At Brouwland (Belgium), the Propagator packs are €6.50 and the Activators are a whopping €9.15. That's almost $14! Well, that's the European Socialist Utopia for you.

Sithdad said:

...Then I dilute it with colled, boiled water and store it in small canning jars ...

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Thanks for bringing that up; this reminds me of a question that popped into my mind when I looked at the yeast-washing instruction. Having had a bit of laboratory experience with cell culture, I was very surprised indeed to see the yeast being washed, and even stored, in plain water. Why water? Why not an isotonic Ringer's solution with some kind of buffer system to maintain the pH? My experience with other cell systems is that plain water is deadly to cells. Even though yeast cells are apparently tough enough to withstand being put away in plain water, wouldn't a kinder environment increase their viability? A buffered salt solution would be cheap and easy enough to make.

Bierenliefhebber said:

Thanks for bringing that up; this reminds me of a question that popped into my mind when I looked at the yeast-washing instruction. Having had a bit of laboratory experience with cell culture, I was very surprised indeed to see the yeast being washed, and even stored, in plain water. Why water? Why not an isotonic Ringer's solution with some kind of buffer system to maintain the pH? My experience with other cell systems is that plain water is deadly to cells. Even though yeast cells are apparently tough enough to withstand being put away in plain water, wouldn't a kinder environment increase their viability? A buffered salt solution would be cheap and easy enough to make.

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If plain water were deadly I doubt the dry yeast companies would recommend rehydrating in tap water.

afr0byte said:

If plain water were deadly I doubt the dry yeast companies would recommend rehydrating in tap water.

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+1.

Plus the tap water in harvesting is boiled first, so it should at least be sterile, or at least free of anything that could do damage.

Now, the cells I was culturing were kidney cells and osteoblasts which, unlike yeast cells, don't have a cell wall to protect them from the environment. If the ion concentration isn't just so, these cells willl either shrivel up and die or they'll swell up and explode. Obviously yeast cells are much hardier, and if they have to, can live in pure water which would cause mammalian cells to explode. Nonetheless, as a biologist, it still seems to me that they'd be happier and live longer if they were stored in a less hostile environment. Ringer's solution is nothing more than a buffered solution containing salts of sodium, potassium and calcium in about the same concentrations as are found inside a living organism. This could easily be sterilized by boiling, just like water, and should be a better storage medium. But, hey, I'm just thinking out loud here, I have zero actual experience with washing and storing yeast.

Bierenliefhebber said:

Now, the cells I was culturing were kidney cells and osteoblasts which, unlike yeast cells, don't have a cell wall to protect them from the environment. If the ion concentration isn't just so, these cells willl either shrivel up and die or they'll swell up and explode. Obviously yeast cells are much hardier, and if they have to, can live in pure water which would cause mammalian cells to explode. Nonetheless, as a biologist, it still seems to me that they'd be happier and live longer if they were stored in a less hostile environment. Ringer's solution is nothing more than a buffered solution containing salts of sodium, potassium and calcium in about the same concentrations as are found inside a living organism. This could easily be sterilized by boiling, just like water, and should be a better storage medium. But, hey, I'm just thinking out loud here, I have zero actual experience with washing and storing yeast.

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You are probably correct. However, I believe wyeast only recommends 2 weeks of storage. Plus, most water has ca, na, and k.

Did Wyeast change the size of the inner packet? I use wyeast maybe once ever 2-3 years. Today my lhbs was out of white labs abbey, so I ended up going with the smack pack. It seems to me that the inner pack is much bigger than I remember.

I also forgot how much I hate those things. Even with what seems like a larger inner pack I can't tell if I broke it. Glad it doesn't really matter since I'm making a starter in an hour.

Bierenliefhebber said:

I'm surprised to learn that Propagator packs are relatively rare. At Brouwland, which is virtually the only supplier of homebrew supplies in Belgium (and they act like it, too), they carry, or did carry, more varieties of the Propagators and these were generally fresher than the Activator packs. Because of this limited experience, I had had the mistaken impression that the Propagator was actually the more popular of the two. Well, good advice about splitting Activator-generated starters and setting some aside for later. Guess I need to learn to do this.

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Same thing in Italy, lots of people buy Propagator instad of Activator beacouse the common way to think here is that you want to do a starter in any case... so it's better to save some money.

I've always bought activator just beacuse I like to "test" if my yeast is in the better conditions before I make a starter....