6 degrees for yeast!

First time poster, potential first time brewer (if package finally arrives).

The winter months here in Las Vegas offer a limited time out of the year to brew (temp wise) and I’ve decided to try my hand at cider. I ordered some dry yeast from an online brew-store (2 weeks ago!!! Sorry Santa, milk this year, cider next) and the package has been sitting at a FedEx holding facility in St. Paul, MN for 5 days now where the temps are bouncing around 6 degrees F.

I’ve heard of people freezing their yeast but we all know 6 degrees is well below freezing; a temp that can destroy most cells.

My question/s: how viable will this yeast be when it finally arrives here in Vegas? Will I be sorely disappointed at my first brewing attempt? Does dry, dormant yeast have super powers? Or is the lesson learned: “order your yeast during the summer, newbie!”?
I do plan to use a yeast nutrient and energizer.

Side thought…
Let’s say that a commercial transport flies at an altitude of between 20K and 40K feet; if the cargo cabin (say from a FedEx parcel transport) isn’t pressurized then the internal temperatures at this altitude can drop below -30F (even if it’s pressurized the holds might not be heated well for inanimate objects). That said, most home brewers with no LHBS order online and have their yeast delivered… giving, at worst case, the yeast time to chill-out for several hours during its flight at this temp with no harm…(???).

Thanks in advance for your thoughts! Cheers!

P.S. Though they hover around $0.80 a packet, a 2 week wait makes them more valuable.
I ordered:
Lalvin K1V-1116 Montpellier
Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne
Red Star Pasteur Champagne

You are overthinking this way too much haha. Your yeast is fine. Just because it's 6 degrees outside does not mean it's 6 degrees in the holding facility. If anything you should be more concerned during summer since the yeast sits in a truck all day before being delivered...and most of the delivery trucks are NOT air conditioned so it's essentially a giant heat box.

My guess is that the yeast will be fine, however, you could stop by here: http://www.vegashomebrew.com/ and get some back up just in case. Also, morebeer is on the west coast so shipping from there would eliminate such problems.

To preserve dry bread yeast, we put it in the freezer where it will stay good for months. It might be a problem with liquid yeast.

Thanks for the replies!
I’ll pitch the yeast and check Vegas Homebrew for some back-up… assuming that in 3 days there isn’t any activity I can pitch again in the same primary and let stand for 3+ weeks to let all the yeast fall, rack for 2+ more weeks and then bottle without a huge yeasty flavor…

I’ll post my results. Thanks again! Cheers!

This is why I only buy my yeast from the local homebrew shops.

Your yeast is fine. There's no water in them since they're dried, and the only way they'd be damaged by freezing is if ice crystals form and shred open their cell walls. If other microorganisms can survive in space, your yeast will shrug off a little time at 6*.

Received the yeast three days ago (12/17/2010) and after 10 hours had about 3 bubbles per minute in the airlocks for each of 4 batches (Lalvin EC-118 and Red Star Pasteur Champagne) so I figured they survived any extreme cold temps and are good to go!
Woke up this morning and found one batch has stopped bubbling (Lalvin EC-118). Indoor temperature is 69 degrees F (20 C; in between the recommended 15 to 25 C range for this yeast). Prior to pitching I added yeast nutrient, yeast energizer and pectic enzyme to this batch; I also just pitched the yeast on-top of the juice without the recommended rehydration process… I’ve read that a lot of people do this with no problems.

Q: should I have waited until racking to secondary before adding pectic enzyme? Do the yeast and enzymes not like each other? Do I just have lazy yeast or poor rehydration manners? The other three batches are still only burping about 3 bubbles a minute.

Detail:
Batch 1:
1 gal Apple juice
1 pkt Pasteur Champagne
½ tsp yeast nutrient
½ tsp yeast energizer
½ tsp pectic enzyme
1 cup brown sugar (boiled in 2 cups water)

Batch 2:
1 gal apple juice
1 packet Pasteur Champagne
1 cup brown sugar (boiled in 2 cups water)

Batch 3: (no more bubbles)
1 gal Apple juice
1 packet Lalvin EC-118
½ tsp yeast nutrient
½ tsp yeast energizer
½ tsp pectic enzyme
2 cups brown sugar (boiled in 2 cups water)

Batch 4:
1 gal apple juice
1 packet Lalvin EC-118
2 cups brown sugar (boiled in 2 cups water)

Being my first batch, I wanted to see how well the nutrient, energizer, and pectic enzyme actually did compared to not using it.
Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks!

Just because you don't see any bubbling doesn't mean nothing's happening. Wait a few more days and take a gravity reading before you start worrying about anything.

indigi said:

Just because you don't see any bubbling doesn't mean nothing's happening. Wait a few more days and take a gravity reading before you start worrying about anything.

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+1 to that. Check today, check tomorrow, and then check the day after that. If your numbers haven't changed, you know it's stalled (or finished).

If all else fails, and you do need to repitch, you could always repitch onto one of the other viable yeast cakes (although not recommended since it's considered overpitching). I only suggest that since you already had to wait 2+ weeks for your yeasties to arive.

I ordered my first on-line products from MN and the liquid yeast too sat in a terminal for over a day at -10f. It has been a week since the boil and it went very well. I did do a starter to confirm everything.
I think you will be fine.

DrawTap88 said:

+1 to that. Check today, check tomorrow, and then check the day after that. If your numbers haven't changed, you know it's stalled (or finished).

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Thanks for the replies! Between the answers here and reading many forum posts I decided to move all four batches to a 62 F room (3 days ago) in hopes of a slower fermentation and a better tasting cider. After batch 3 stopped bubbling 2 days ago I waited till today (1 week from pitching) to test FG.

Batch 3 FG came out at 0.99 from adjusted (Temp) OG of 1.068. Brew calcs puts this at 10.5% ABV but a table in a beer brewing book puts this at 8%...?? who to trust? I’m somewhere in the middle between the them and my buzz.

The batch is defiantly dry, not sweet, and pretty strong tasting! It also has a harsh after which I’m guessing is because it’s so ‘green’. The color is golden apple-juice with a little cloudiness.

I was planning to rack to 2nd fermenter for 1 week then back sweeten and prime for bottle conditioning with frozen apple concentrate…but now that all ferm sugars are gone will racking to secondary for 1 week essentially kill (starve) the yeast preventing me from my original plan of bottle conditioning? If I rack to secondary should I prime it?? As is, 13% is a little strong; I want to enjoy the taste more than the buzz.

Thanks again for all the replies (and all posts in this forum) which has helped make my first fermentation an educational and, I believe, a successful attempt! Cheers to all, and to all a good night!

Edit: Now that I think about it, I believe the yeast will just go to sleep but will still be viable for up too...???....a year to two???

wetzie said:

I ordered my first on-line products from MN and the liquid yeast too sat in a terminal for over a day at -10f. It has been a week since the boil and it went very well. I did do a starter to confirm everything.
I think you will be fine.

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That’s good news, now I know if liquid yeast can make it then dry shouldn’t ever have a problem… but the opposite temp extreme I know is a different story!