Brewing a California Common but my yeast is dead

Hi All,
So rather than go to my LHBS I was thinking about using a yeast cake from a red ale I have ready to go to secondary. Any experience with using a different yeast strain for different beer? I have the san francisco lager yeast in a starter and it just doesn't look alive after 24 hours. My thoughts were to use the yeast cake from a red ale to ferment the california common. The SFLY I made a starter for had a best by date of jan 11, so I am two months past that (it has been sitting in my frig since December). Would love to know your thoughts and if you think I should just buy some more from my LHBS or reuse the yeast cake.

Did the gravity drop in your starter?

The key to California common IS the yeast- fermenting with lager yeast at ale temperatures. Using an ale yeast will completely change the character of the beer.

My starters don't show much activity, but sometimes 24 hours isn't enough time for older yeast. Did you try checking the SG of the starter to see if it's started at all?

Hi folks. I did not check the SG, I almost never do because they always seem to take off. My starter is the generic 1/2 cup DME with 2 cups of water, boil, cool add yeast and put on stir plate. Usually in 24 hours I see activity ie krausen. I see nothing here 24 hours post. So I will give it another day and if nothing is going on I will make the trip to the LHBS for more of the San Francisco Lager Yeast. Thanks for reinforcing the importance of using this yeast strain. I am fired up now to brew this kit.