which yeast to use?

Hi I ordered some urquell lager yeast and there were some shipping problems. I had it sent in a foam box and it arrived today. I have had a few problems with the place I ordered the yeast from. I called on satuday and the yeast was shipped on saturday morning even though I asked that it be shipped during the week so it didnt sit. so now i have the yeast that sat all weekend and it was not horribly warm when I received it. I know that I will be getting the fresh replacement packs today. I know that I need to make a starter-the question is should I even try to use the yeast that might be bad-or if the pac swells use it? any help appreciated. i will be pitching 4 packs into a 3000ml starter. thanks

I would say if the packs are not swollen, you smack them, and they do swell you are good to go.

If they are are already swollen you are probably still OK. One way to be sure is to make a step starter and if the first step does not work at least you can save the ingredients and time of the rest of the process.

I would say if the packs are not swollen, you smack them, and they do swell you are good to go.

If they are are already swollen you are probably still OK. One way to be sure is to make a step starter and if the first step does not work at least you can save the ingredients and time of the rest of the process.

after 5 hours they have extremely minimal swelling-not what im used to. Should I toss em?

make a smaller starter and step it up to 3L. Probably sounds like you should have done this to start with....4 packs into a starter? That's almost 30 bucks just for yeast!!!!!

Can you explain?

reinstone said:

after 5 hours they have extremely minimal swelling-not what im used to. Should I toss em?

Click to expand...

Make a starter, which you should always do with liquid yeast, especially lager yeast. If the starter works properly, you're good to go.

ahhhhhhhhhhh unsure gonna pitch the 4 good pack i received today....the others didnt swell at all at room temp in 2 days.......again with an inactive swelll and heat I still worry about cell count......there is no doubt the starter will start the yeast but will it be enough to ferment a lager right.....a pils at that......just not sure.....better safe than sorry-i will looking into building though.....in the future.....takin it one step at a time. Wanna know I got pitch rate right so I can tell what else is wrong.....if anything------lol

making that 4 pack starter as we speak....thanks for all the help

reinstone said:

making that 4 pack starter as we speak

Click to expand...

Why? A pack, two at most, will usually be plenty of yeast for a 3L starter. Not sure why you'd spend the money on all that yeast if you're planning on making a starter.

No harm in pitching the unswollen ones. The viability may not be top notch, but you'll still have some active cells in there. The living ones will cannibalize the dead ones.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

Why? A pack, two at most, will usually be plenty of yeast for a 3L starter. Not sure why you'd spend the money on all that yeast if you're planning on making a starter.

Click to expand...

cause i have a 3000ml flask- stir plate-3 days and thats what mr. malty says

wanna clean flavor for sure.....and this is for 12 gallons

reinstone said:

this is for 12 gallons

Click to expand...

Ahhh, that makes sense. I was thinking 5 gal. You'll definitely want a lot of yeast for 12 gal of pilsner.