Old LME for starter?

[ChuckS1]

So I was getting ready to brew this weekend and realized I have no DME for my starter and no LHBS within an hour’s drive. I do have, however, some Breiss LME that I bought last fall that my wife uses to boil her bagels in before she bakes them. Originally it was a light Pilsner extract, but has turned dark with age. Date on the bottom of the plastic jar is 12/2019, which I assume is the production date. Using it for Wlp002 in a English IPA. I was thinking I’d decant it before pitching just in case there are any off flavors. Think it’ll work?

 

[Jayjay1976]

I don't see any issues with using old LME. Apart from it darkening, it should still be plenty fermentable. If it does have any old or stale flavors, you could decant off as much of the starter as possible and pitch just the yeast into your beer.

 

[ChuckS1]

Worked fine. Did take 24 hours for the WLP002 to take off, but that’s most likely because the yeast pack was a few days shy of being 6 months old.