Interesting thing at LHBS

[bbrim]

I went in to pick up some yeast, a little extract and some crystal malt today. I asked if he still had a supply of yeast from Union Labs, they're a small company out of South Dakota. He said he had a bit left but hadn't heard from them in quite a while so it was old. It sounds like they are struggling to keep up with demand. Anyhow, he went and looked in his yeast fridge and pulled the yeast out. It was dated October 13.
He looked at it and looked disappointed. He pulled the 8 vials he had left out of his fridge and said, "I can't sell these to anyone, I'm not sure if they're still viable." Right there I was super pleased that his customers are important enough to him that he won't dupe them like that. Then he said, "If you're willing to risk a little extract to see if they'll wake up then they are all yours, otherwise I will throw them away." Score! I took them, it is definitely worth a shot.
I've seen some posts on here recently about people being sold old yeast and thought that was bad business. I was so happy today to see y LHBS won't operate like that.

 

[stevem86]

That is a good LHBS owner!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[jerrya100]

Nice score. Hope they work out!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[invictusbrew]

Honestly, if stored correctly there should be nothing wrong with these, if you have the ability, make a small starter and try one out. I harvest fresh yeast from starters and refrigerate them and have had almost 0 problems with them even sitting in fridge as long as 10+ months! While I, like you, would not like to see an LHBS sell stuff this old, for your unique situation I think you're very lucky! Let us know how it turns out!

 

[grathan]

I have a strong starter going atm from October yeast that saw several freeze/thaw cycles in my garage over the winter.

 

[bbrim]

I have no doubts the yeast will work out great. I made about ~100g of beer with the last vial of that yeast I bought.

 

[ktblunden]

My LHBS sells expired yeast at a heavy discount. I had excellent results with two expired lager yeasts. I made a stepped starter for each and the beers turned out great.

 

[unionrdr]

I've made small starters for dry Cooper's yeast that was two years old. worked so well,it needed a blow off.

 

[Calichusetts]

I had a similar experience, the former beer manager at one of my go-to beer scanned in an IPA I was buying. He gave me a look and then said this was past its prime. He gave it to me free and said I could grab any similar priced beer for the IPA price.

 

[kh54s10]

It is great that the mentioned Lhbs is honest enough to give the very old yeast to someone who could use it properly.

Old yeast can be a good option for someone who has the ability to use it appropriately.