Autolysed Yeast in Starter - Am I OK?

[BackAlleyBrewingCo]

Hi all,

Last night I made a 2L starter with a pack of Wyeast 3787. The pack has a production date of 3/18/2010. I took it out of the fridge and smacked it, then let it sit at room temperature for 4 hours. The pack only swelled a little bit in that time, but I decided to go ahead and pitch it in the starter as it was getting late. After pitching I smelled inside the pack and it had a very pungent odor of meat, similar to marmite. Based on this observation I'm operating on the assumption that a significant percentage of the yeast was autolysed.

After 12 hours I've got a little bit of activity in the starter - slight krausening and a thin layer of healthy looking yeast on the bottom of the jar, so there were viable yeast cells in the pack along with the dead ones. I'm not planning to brew for 2 weeks, so I think I have three options available to me:

1. The surviving yeast have been stressed and the autolysed yeast will cause off flavors if pitched - throw out the starter and get a new pack.
2. The viable yeast are probably OK, but the autolysed yeast will cause off flavors if kept around - decant the starter into a new jar at high krausen, leaving behind the trub containing the autolysed yeast.
3. The viable yeast are probably OK and they'll metabolize the autolysed yeast, and probably end up healthier for it - proceed as normal.

Right now I'm wavering between options 2 & 3. What do you all think?

TD

 

[chs9]

I can't speak from experience, but I've had a few hefeweizens that have traveled significantly to get to me. Sometimes, they end up with this bacon flavor that is not really appetizing at all. I always assumed it had something to do with mistreatment of the yeast during import, probably due to temperature. I don't think the beer is brewed with "meaty" yeast (it's from the conditioning yeast I think), so it's a bit different but IMHO scrap idea number 3.

Point is, that flavor could make it into the beer. Decanting is easy money. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Gibbnal]

I would go with #1 if fresh packs are convenient to get. That is never an option for me so #2 would be my next choice.

 

[Wolfy]

I'd suggest trying to decant off only the viable yeast into a smaller size starter, step that up again to your full starter and pitch that. If you can isolate the yeast that is alive and active there is no reason you can't use it.