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Proofman

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Here’s the story. I like my LHS. A bunch of nice guys and they are very helpful. But sometimes they don’t have s#!@ in stock. I went in last Tues to get some White labs Irish Ale yeast for a Guinness clone. I open their fridge and all they had was several vials of Cali Ale and one or two of one other. They told me they might get some Fri, or maybe the following Fri, or maybe after that. I decide to wait. But it has been over a month since I last brewed because my parents were in town. I decide to order it from one of the several reputable homebrew suppliers over the net. I have always been wary of this because I presumed it risky shipping yeast when most of the country is 80-100F. I ordered and had it shipped with ice packs. It got here in two days (shipped late Thurs., arrived Sat morning). I made the starter last night. I checked it twice through the night. NOTHING! This morning: NOTHING!

Do you all think the yeast were DOA form the trip? How have been other HBT members experience been with yeast in the mail?

It may be weeks before my LHS gets more yeast. Ordering was my last option, other than maybe driving to Tennessee.
 
RDWHAHB,

Give them time.

The first stage of fermentation is reproduction, during which time the yeasts do not produce CO2. Also, of you make a starter with a high O.G. (above about 1.04), it will take a little while longer for it to start.

-a.
 
Are you sure there was no activity? Starters don't have the big krausen and bubbling activity of your beer. I find watching the accumulated amount of flocculated yeast on the bottom of my vessel is more usefull.
 
I agree RDWHHAHB,

I bought some yeast, it shipped on last Friday sat in a truck or whatever Sat. and Sun somewhere between Austin and Atlanta made it here on Tues. Made a starter...took it 12-24 for it to be visibly active. Fermenting very strong as we speak.

The last post made a good point too. This yeast I am talking about is very active....hefeweizen yeast.

My previous was a Kolsch yeast. I saw nothing in the starter...I was a bit worried (sat in a truck over the weekend too), pitched and fermentation took off in less than 6 hours.
 
There was not a bubble on the surface and there was no flocculated yeast on the bottom. Usually I set it up and check it in 24 hours to see if any yeast have floccualted. I will give it more time. I also sanitized my bottling wand and used it to gently resuspend some of the yeast.
 
You can also just pick it up and swirl it to get the yeast back into suspension.

Don't worry about your yeast, it will be fine.

I brewed a stout on Friday night with WL Irish ale yeast that was shipped UPS. I made a late starter (Friday am) and had no visible signs of activity. My brewing schedule is pretty tight and I wasn't going to postpone the batch, so I just brewed and pitched as scheduled.

My lag time was just over 24 hours, but fermentation is active and no worries.
 
Starter is chugging along very well. Thanks for the comments. Now I can feel more comfortable with ordering yeast in the summer.
 
Proofman,

What yeast was it and how long did it take for your starter activity to fire up?

Just curious as I had what appeared to be a bad tube of WLP830 from my LHBS a few weeks ago. I had made up my normal starter and got zero activity after 2 days at 70ish. The yeast was a few weeks past shelf life. I got a replacement and it fired up in a matter of hours.
 
Here are some numbers. 12 of the last 14 batches I brewed used wack-packs I mail ordered. They all worked well. The other two batches used Whitelabs vials I purchased from the LHBS, and one didn't work. Just the facts.
 
the yeast I'm using is whitelabs Irish Ale. It was slow to get started, but it is chugging along still (w/ a 1 inch krausen). I will be pitching it tomorrow evening.
 
Proofman said:
Here’s the story. I like my LHS. A bunch of nice guys and they are very helpful. But sometimes they don’t have s#!@ in stock. I went in last Tues to get some White labs Irish Ale yeast for a Guinness clone. I open their fridge and all they had was several vials of Cali Ale and one or two of one other. They told me they might get some Fri, or maybe the following Fri, or maybe after that.

OK, I am saying this with a big smile :) on my face (so please don't take offense), but man are you spoiled! The best LHBS in Alberta (Southside Brew Crew in Edmonton) doesn't carry a stock like that. Most don't carry any liquid yeast at all! Here, if you want a particular yeast, you have to special order and wait up to a couple months to get it. And its not like I live in the hicks -- Calgary and Edmonton are both over 1 million in population. (I think it is just bizarre that Canada has such bad LHBS compared to the US, but that's a rant for another thread...).

Anyhooo, up here in the winter, it is impossible to get liquid yeast shipped because Canada Post will let it freeze (regardless of what it says on the package). Sort of the opposite problem you have, with the same net result. I have learned that having a good supply of dry yeast in the fridge is a necessity. Danstar and Fermentis make some outstanding dry yeasts, and unless you want to brew a hefewiezen or something, dry yeast will do very well for most brews. They also ship well and last for a really long time if stored at a constant temperature in the fridge.

Sorry to hear about your yeast misfortune. Hopefully the brew pulls through! I'll have my fingers crossed for you. :mug:
 
FlyGuy said:
OK, I am saying this with a big smile :) on my face (so please don't take offense), but man are you spoiled!

I hear ya! I am spoiled. But I have been on the other side. I know what it is like to live in an area with out much of anything. I didn't homebrew when I lived in Alaska, but my Buddy did and he used Williams a lot (early days of Web homebrew supplies).

I think part of my problem is I really like the guys there and want to give them all of my homebrew dollars if I'm going to spend them.
 
So i have the same issue. My yeast sat in a truck for the weekend and gel packs melted. So i open the plastic bag they packed them in and there's brown liquid in the bottom. Pull it out and less than a pin hole is pissing my yeast in the sink out of the corner of the smack pack. Is the yeast...
A: still useable
B: still useable but may be infected due to air invasion
C: still useable but I should not accept less than perfect condition on delivery and the homebrew shop should replace especially when spending 6.99 on 4 packs
D: Not useable, and the homebrew shop WILL replace
 
turfguy1969 said:
So i have the same issue. My yeast sat in a truck for the weekend and gel packs melted. So i open the plastic bag they packed them in and there's brown liquid in the bottom. Pull it out and less than a pin hole is pissing my yeast in the sink out of the corner of the smack pack. Is the yeast...
A: still useable
B: still useable but may be infected due to air invasion
C: still useable but I should not accept less than perfect condition on delivery and the homebrew shop should replace especially when spending 6.99 on 4 packs
D: Not useable, and the homebrew shop WILL replace

I would go with C or D.

If you have something else to replace it (dry yeast) or can wait to brew, get a new pack. If you need to use it, make a starter, if it seems OK then use it.

If the heat caused it, they should replace it, they shouldn't have shipped it. If shipping caused it, they can make a claim to the shipper (UPS includes insurance up to $100). I think it was probably the later.
 
my previous 3 batches I used the Wyeast smack pac and got fermentation after 8 to 12 hours. This current batch I tried White Labs... will be 48 as of tonight and still nothing.
 
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