11 year old Wyeast

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PT Ray

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Mainly for giggles, last night I smacked a Wyeast packet that had been sitting in my fridge since 1995. Not banking on getting any activity but figured it's worth a shot.
 
Are you planning on brewing with it if it swells? I think it'd be cool. What yeast strain is it?
 
It is 1338 European Ale, if it swells no doubt I will use it. It has been sitting next to a can of Mackeson Stout that I brought back from England in 1995. For the past year I have been using some roasted barley and chocolate malt I have had since 95, no ill effects. Last year I used some spruce essence that was also ten years old, bad idea, that did turn the brew musty. I quit brewing back in 96 or so and held on to everything, started back up over a year ago.
 
I'd be willing to bet that it actually works. You'll almost certainly need to make a starter out of whatever contents pour forth from the old pack. Unless it's been subjected to harsh conditions, there are probably a few viable cells in there. Give it a shot, and good luck! Keep us posted.
 
:drunk: 11 year old yeast?!! Wow, I mean I have milk and eggs in my fridge about that vintage but not yeast. Usually when something is over a year old in my fridge I take it out and mark "bad" on it with a sharpee before I put it back in. That way no one mistakingly uses it...you know....for safety.
 
I believe it's alive. I put it ontop of the dsl modem to keep it warm and appears to have swelled. I expected some swelling with expansion from the increase in the temp but their seems to be some additional increase from fermentation. Just for the record, mfg date is 1-18-95. I'll be sure to update in the next day or two.
 
PT Ray said:
...Just for the record, mfg date is 1-18-95.../
11 years old? In LESS than 2 months it's 12 years old! HAHAHA!!! I love it! Best of luck friend!!! I really hope it works!!! :rockin: I've got an old one gallon bleach bottle that's over 30 years old... Course, it's kinda non-perishable. *shrug* That rocks! Keep us posted!
 
I really want to know how that works out. I've got a couple of vials of White Labs that have been sitting in my refrigerator for probably 5-6 years (got them for free from White Labs at the GABF)... I was wondering if I should pitch them, or... well, pitch them.
 
Recently some 50 year old cans of Coors were recovered from a train wreck site in California. They opened one of the cans. It wasn't pretty. Those were old steel cans ant the beer was dark with the rust among other things.

Not too many things can be said to improve with age, other than wine and distilled liquors. I would chuch that yeast rather than risk ruining an otherwise good brew with it.
 
If you read the FAQ section on the Wyeast web page, they state that the oldest wyeast package used for beer was 8 years old. You have that beaten by almost 4 years!!!

I would definately let them know if it works. :)
 
Genghis77 said:
Recently some 50 year old cans of Coors were recovered from a train wreck site in California. They opened one of the cans. It wasn't pretty. Those were old steel cans ant the beer was dark with the rust among other things.

My cousin saved a case of aluminum 'original' coke before they 'changed' the recipe, he opened one several years later and it was horrid. It tasted just like aluminum. The effects of aging can be beneficial or disasterous. In the case of the yeast though, I am guessing that if he made a starter and rebuilt the population it would be ok, as long as anything dead doesn't go into the brew (as I am sure only a small fraction of the original population is still dormant rather than dead). What's that term ? Washing right? Starter and then wash it. Get rid of the dead stuff.
 
zoebisch01 said:
What's that term ? Washing right? Starter and then wash it. Get rid of the dead stuff.
Typically, washing won't eliminate dead yeast cells. It just eliminates trub and proteins. If you do an acid wash, you also kill any bacteria present. The dead yeast cells will likely remain.
 
Wow, this makes buying the discounted white labs vials at my lhbs (that are maybe 3 - 9 month old) seem very, very mild.

I have never bought these before, but definitely will consider now! :)
 
Yuri_Rage said:
Typically, washing won't eliminate dead yeast cells. It just eliminates trub and proteins. If you do an acid wash, you also kill any bacteria present. The dead yeast cells will likely remain.


So is there a way to get rid of the dead cells? Or no? It would seem to me that if anything bad were to come of it, it would be flavor contributed from the dead yeast.
 
zoebisch01 said:
So is there a way to get rid of the dead cells? Or no? It would seem to me that if anything bad were to come of it, it would be flavor contributed from the dead yeast.
I don't know of a reliable homebrewer friendly process to remove them, but dead yeast cells are not a problem unless there's not a single viable cell in the whole mess. With the amount of yeast in a smack pack, as long as you wind up with a healthy starter after smacking it, I don't think you'll have autolyzed flavors in the end product.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
I don't know of a reliable homebrewer friendly process to remove them, but dead yeast cells are not a problem unless there's not a single viable cell in the whole mess. With the amount of yeast in a smack pack, as long as you wind up with a healthy starter after smacking it, I don't think you'll have autolyzed flavors in the end product.

Makes sense. If you think about it, you start out with, like, a billion cells and the first thing you do is set them off reproducing. So a billion dead cells isn't really all that much compared to the number of dead cells that you'll have after they've reproduced a bunch of times.

That's my thinking, anyway.
 
you might try a 2 stage starter and try to leave behind most of the dead cells in the first flask. (i.e. harvest only the suspended, live yeast from the first flask) The biggest problem I can see with that is that you may reduce the flocculation ability of the yeast.
 
It swelled up pretty good after about three days and then made a starter. The starter did not miss a beat so today was brew day. I took pictures of the pack, would post a pic but that does not seem like an option on a free membership. If someone would like to post the pics I'll see about e-mailing them. Not sure how well the mfg date showed up on the pics but I dusted some blue chalk over the numbers to make it more visible. Should be pitching in the next hour or so, best I go and finish up.
 
Some pics should be coming, nothing more to really report. Fermentation started up within 24 hours after pitching so now I am just waiting and planning on my next brew. I will use some the yeast from primary to kick my new batch, just don't know what to throw together recipe wise.
 
Here you go Ray.... I can't really read the date but....

5878-oldyeastpkg2.jpg


5878-oldyeastferm.jpg
 
ok, so the yeast you used is 11 years old. Wouldn't that stand to reason that the yeast reproduced by that yeast would be viable ALOT longer than most smack pack yeasts? I mean all the yeast that wouldn't survive long is long gone, hehe, 11 years long gone, and the yeast that re-produced is the strongest of the strongest. It would make sense to me that the yeast you harvest from a batch of beer would have an uber crazy shelf life. Is that a logical line of thought or am I way out in right field? :drunk: Oh, and that is pretty sweet BTW!!!:rockin:
 
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