Is My Yeast Still Good?

Hi all,

I bought a couple of kits from ABS last September. I brewed one on Teach a Friend to Brew Day. Since I am new and had little equipment, I only had 1 fermentor. Needless to say, I had to wait to brew my second batch until I kegged the first. Next thing you know it's Christmas and I really didn't have time to brew until now.

Being a total newbie I didn't think about refrigerating my yeast.....until now. It has been at room temperature since the kit came in. It's a liquid White Labs California Ale yeast.

Is it still good?
Do I need to make a starter for it?
What's the quickest way to get it going?

Tomorrow is our first day in many weeks that it's going to be near 50˚*outside and I would really like to brew it up before life happens again. Thanks.

Only way to know for sure is make a starter & see...

If you'd like to brew tomorrow, you can visit your LHBS and purchase a comparable dry yeast(us-05). If you plan to wait, you can either make a starter for the yeast in your possession or purchase a different yeast. I wouldn't go through the time, effort, and trouble of brewing a batch of beer for a "maybe my yeast will be viable to ferment my batch with good results".
US-05 would be the cali ale dry replacement.
Cheers!

I don't have a LHBS unfortunately. I may just make the starter and see what happens.

TRainH2o said:

I don't have a LHBS unfortunately. I may just make the starter and see what happens.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan. Making a starter will tell you whether or not the yeast are good prior to brew day. If they're not, then unfortunately it sounds like you'll be waiting even longer before you get to brew.