When I opened the vial....

...More thab half shot out!

I was making a 1 litre starter, and as I was pitching the yeast, it all but exploded. I admit I did agitate/shake the vial. I also let it sit after for nearly 15 mins. The strain is White Labs British Ale Yeast and the best before date was 3 JULY 2012.

So I pitched what I had, and now I am curious if there will be any concerns. Or should I just give an extra day or so before I do my boil? Which I had planned for Sunday evening or monday morning/late afternoon.

This is new to me so any advice or calming words!?!?

Thank You!

Look at the bright side it was going in a starter, so your good. Next time just remember to bleed the pressure like a shaken soda bottle.

Yep, happens a lot if you aren't careful (voice of experience).

Yep. After you warm them up, treat them like a shaken soda bottle. Crack it, it'll start foaming, close it, let the foam die down, repeat until safe. (another voice of experience)

Very cool!

So my starter should work ok in the long run?

Absolutely it'll work out. I just made a huge, successful starter using old havested yeast that's probably only half-viable. Even if you have a tiny amount of viable yeast, like just enough yeast that they can reproduce fast enough to out-compete (and keep out) other microorganisms, you'll be fine. It'll take them longer to reproduce to ideal concentrations but they'll definitely get there.

Just be sure to intermittently swirl it if you don't have a stirplate. That will help oxygen be available to the yeast as well as keep them in suspension.

I've learned that there is no need to shake the Whitelab vials at all. Just simply let the big "slug" of yeast plop out into the starter vessel, followed by the remaining liquid.

johnsma22 said:

I've learned that there is no need to shake the Whitelab vials at all. Just simply let the big "slug" of yeast plop out into the starter vessel, followed by the remaining liquid.

Click to expand...

I prefer to shake it cause the "slug" always knocks my stirbar, so I end up breaking the it up in my starter vessel anyways

I usually store the vial vertically in the frige until its time to do a starter. I open the tube cool and decant off the startert beer. That provides some head space. Then I recap but I don't tighten down completely. No pressure as its warming and no volcano loss.

I don't even worry about making headspace. Just crack the cap and leave it loose, the pressure will bleed off and you're good to go.

Hopefully you got a good deal on yeast that is 4 days expired?

Well bleme, I am stationed in Germany and order online. Plus I was deployed when I ordered. And my wife just left the yeast in the box. It's an uphill battle, but the batch I did two weeks ago worked out just fine, and they were ordered at the same time.