How long can we wait before pitching the yeast?

After brewing the wart in our large pot we transferred the wart into our 5 gallon fermenter. Due to laziness we forgot to place the yeast packet in the refrigerator immediately after returning from the home brew store. Can we hold off on pitching the yeast until we pick up a new packet?

The yeast has been sitting in a room temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit for over a week. As of now the wart is sitting in a cool dark place. Will we ruin our brew if we wait to pitch the yeast or must it be added immediately as the temperature reaches the optimal level?

I'd pitch it immediately, and if you don't see any signs of fermentation in about 24-48 hours, buy more yeast. The longer that wort sits there, the more worried I'd get about it picking up a stray bacteria.

Dude said:

I'd pitch it immediately, and if you don't see any signs of fermentation in about 24-48 hours, buy more yeast. The longer that wort sits there, the more worried I'd get about it picking up a stray bacteria.

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what dude said

Pitch it. Since you said packet, I'd assume you have a dried yeast. 80F for a week is nothing. Even for a liquid vial, it's not a big deal.

Thanks for the info. We got a new packet of yeast and pitched it within about 12 hours of removing the wort from the stove. Now we wait........