White Labs Yeast Problem

Hey all. I had a White Labs warming up today to room temperature for a few hours today. When I was ready to use it I shook it a bit and dumped it into the carboy. Then I noticed none of the yeast came out. It was in "cake" form still in the tube. I got a shishkabob skewer and tried to get it out and it was not easy. It was definitely in a "solidish" type form. I scraped out what I could and then decided to add a little warm water to the tube, cover ans shook it for a few seconds and dumped it in. Most of it came out but not all of it. Anyone ever hear of this before? Is the yeast ok? Will it work? If it doesn't start should I go get another one and dump that in?

When yeast floc's out, it settles into a goopy solid at the bottom of the container (just like at the bottom of your fermentor after a batch). You need to shake the tubes to suspend them in the liquid again.

What you're describing is obviously a bit more handling than you'd typically want, but if you were at least moderately mindful of sanitation I'm sure you'll be fine.

I agree. It usually takes me nearly 3-5 mins of gentle shaking to get it all in suspension before I pitch. Very normal and if you kept things sanitized, you should be fine.

Toy4Rick

just remember to open the vial slowly after all that shaking.........