Liquid yeast left at room temperature. Is it okay to use?

Hello,

I left my yeast at room temperature yesterday for about 4 hours. When I remembered I had left it I immediately put it in the refrigerator. I wanted to brew this afternoon. Is the yeast still going to be okay to use?

yes, in fact, you could've left it out all night until you pitched today and it would've been fine... It's like milk, the longer you leave it at room temps, the shorter its life, but it'll be fine for the short-term.

I try to let my yeast warm up to room temperature for a good 24 hours before I pitch it either into the wort or make a starter. You should be just fine.

I purposely leave my yeast out (for 12-24 hours) before pitching...

Yeah the yeast is happier if it is room temperature. This is more true for liquid than dry. When I used to make bread, I'd go from fridge to warm water with some bread yeast, and still get a rise in the bread.... But then I was making bread, not beer!

The point remains, that for 24 hours being out, probably not a problem - even 48 I'd bet... And that 4 -6 hours or longer for the yeast to get warm and acclaimate is a good thing. The liquid activator packs by Wyeast need to be at room temp before you slap them, and at that point, they need to have another 3 hours (at room temp) so they can swell.

Whoops, wrong thread.

It's even ok at room temp much longer than 48 hours.

Think about it, some bottle conditioned craft beers sit on the shelf at room temp for weeks, and you can still harvest healthy yeast from the dregs for propagating.

I don't recommend long term storage at room temps, but a couple/few days won't hurt anything.