How long do smack packs stay good?

Hi all. Haven't been here for awhile. I bought the ingredients for an IPA a month or so ago, brought everything home and never brewed it. The store crushed the grain for me. Will it still be good or has it lost much of its flavor? I bought a Wyeast smackpack and it's been sitting in the fridge now since then. Will it still be good?

Usually liquid yeast cultures--like the smackpack--have a best if used by date somewhere on the package. Should be fine, though, imagine how long some packs sit in a fridge at your LHBS before someone buys them.

BREW ON

Smack packs are good for 6-8 months, if you keep them cool. The older they get, the longer it will take for them to plump. I've only had two fail and in both cases, the LHBS owners said there were a lot of bad packs in that shipment. It was summer time and they probably just got over-heated.

One of the reasons I started keeping some dried yeasts handy.

If you kept the grain cool, it should be ok. A month after crushing is about the limit, unless you freeze the grain. I keep mine in the top of the kegger along with the hops and ginger root.

If you have them shipped, make sure they are cold when they arrive or you will need to use them sooner.

I had two smack packs shipped, put them in the fridge for a month, pulled em out, smacked em, and nothing

if even 1 yeast cell is alive the pack is viable (provided you don't kill him) It may take a while (few weeks/months), but eventually you will have the 60 billion + yeasties needed to pitch

budbo is right. I just pitched into a starter a wy2308 that was 2 years old. Still going in my starter atm but wasn't ready to pitch when I needed so I'll let it ferment out, cool, and store to use on my next brew.