Frozen yeast...is it dead??

So, I washing my yeast from my last batch and put it in the freezer to layer it out quickly and forgot it. Realized what I'd done this morning and stuck it in the fridge on the way to work. I killed it didn't I?

how long did the yeast spend in the fridge? enough to freeze them solid?

if so, yes i fear they are dead.

a moment of silence, please.

Oh yeah, frozen solid.

Oh my God you´ve killed the yeasties! You bastards!!!

It was a clean trub too. That sucks.

there are lots of threads on here discussing it - short answer is it depends - at best it severely impacted the viability but may still be salvagable with a small starter and then step up from there

i had a smack pack of 1450 delivered last week that was accidentally placed in the freezer and I'm planning on doing a small starter to see if any yeast survived

I wouldn't call em dead yet. I just had a similar incident. I unthawed them, made a new starter and threw them in there. They did fine. Let them munch for a few days and put them back in the fridge for future use.I l

I've done it for a few days, thawed it slowly, pitched it as usual and wouldn't you know it, that fermentation took off like a rocket. Think of it this way, the yeast that live are only going to cannibalize the yeasties that you murdered, built in yeast nutrients!

same question different form of yeast
I ordered in a Hop Zombie batch with the small brew kit from smallbatchhomebrew and put the hop bag in the freezer. forgot to take out the US-05
does dry yeast do ok frozen or does it have the same problem with viability?
I'm assuming it will be ok if I use the entire packet for 1.25 G
would appreciate any thoughts

Dried yeast will be perfectly ok.
Freezing damages liquid yeast when ice crystals pierce cell walls.
Dry yeast doesn't have that problem

terrapinj said:

there are lots of threads on here discussing it - short answer is it depends - at best it severely impacted the viability but may still be salvagable with a small starter and then step up from there

i had a smack pack of 1450 delivered last week that was accidentally placed in the freezer and I'm planning on doing a small starter to see if any yeast survived

Click to expand...

just wanted to follow up

the pack was originally dated July 31, 2012 and was placed in the freezer for about 5-6 hours before I discovered it and placed it in the fridge

i did a 500ml starter on monday and set it on the stir plate for a few days, didn't see signs of activity but I often don't on the stir plate but after shutting the plate off last night it had clearly fermented and grown more yeast.

i added another 2500ml of wort (doing a 1.084 beer) and started the plate up again last night and it was clearly fermenting away this morning with a ring of bubbles on the stir plate