Can I save my yeast? Swollen unused smack pack?

[brew69er]

I'm fermenting my 1st lager right now!

But.....I ordered my Wyeast American Lager yeast about 8 months ago and kept it cold. I smacked the pack very well and waited all night and the next day and it really never swelled.

So I went to my local homebrew supply and purchased a new smack pack (same brand everything) and it really didn’t swell very much either. Eventually it did swell enough that I felt semi confident so I pitched it and all is well, my beer has visible signs of fermentation....so no problem.

The 1st or older smack pack did swell up nice (couple days later) after I pitched the newer yeast. It must have been a temp issue. I want to salvage the old yeast now.... but how?

My idea, is to boil 1/4 cup corn sugar in 2 cups of water then put in a 22oz bottle and ferment out and then cap? Could this yeast then be reused in my next batch? I would sterilize everything.

 

[Revvy]

First, about paniciking if your smack pack doesn't inflate, IT DOESN'T MATTER.

From the horse's mouth.

From the Wyeast FAQ website:

3. Does the package need to be fully swollen before pitching?

No, The package can be pitched before activating, or at anytime during the activation process. The activation process "jump starts" the culture's metabolism, minimizing the lag phase.

Smacking though fun, is never really necessary.

Making the starter is all that matters, not whether or not the pack inflating. It's fine!!!

Now in terms of keeping any yeast. It's easy, just make a starter with it, feed it for a few days and just jar it like you would washed yeast post fermentation and store it in your fridge. You can store it for a couple years this way as long as you make a starter if it's been a few weeks in the fridge.

But ignore whether or not a smack pack swells. It doesn't mean the yeast is bad or anything.

 

[kpr121]

You dont want to use corn sugar as a starter. Its better to use malt extract. The yeast will adapt to whatever sugar you feed it. So if they've been chewing on corn sugar, then all of a sudden you throw them into 5 gallons of wort they will not know how to handle it and could produce off flavors.