Three old liquid yeasts being revived

[universalfrost]

Well I’m kicking myself because I forgot about these three packs of yeast, wyeast 3711 French Saison 27mar18, omega -004 west coast ale 07apr19, and omega -091 hornindal kveik 28apr19.


They sat in the back of my fridge forgotten until just recently.... well I made up some starters and ready to brew up some plain SMASH beers with some two row and some older and weak cascade hops.


The wyeast saison really took off in the pouch when I activated the smack pack.

All yeast smelled like normal packs of yeast with no off flavors. I’m going to let these sit and spin for a day or two and then see how the starters taste after a cold crash. Any suspect starter gets tossed..

I will report back once I get the 4-5 gallon batches brewed and ready to pitch the yeast.

stay tuned.. will these yeast rise from the grave like Jesus or will they turn into zombies like the walking dead?

 

[OnePlate]

Good luck! I think all of those will be totally fine, if a little bit slow to take off. The Hornindal for sure will be fine. I'm most interested in that French Saison.

 

[universalfrost]

Saison and kviek are showing activity already. West coast is not showing any signs... too early to tell.

the starters are each with the following:

1450ml of distilled water with 1 cup cbw golden light dme and 1/8 teaspoon of wyeast nutrients. (Sg would be around 1.25-1.30 based on prior starters that are identical)

Interesting to see the color differences between yeasts with identical starters.

 

[cabron99]

I've had great results just storing in the referator for extended times. I'm sure you will. Just be patient.

 

[Bassman2003]

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to hearing about the fermentation and final beers.

 

[IslandLizard]

Multiple stir plates at work always make me smile!

I’m going to let these sit and spin for a day or two [...]

It may take as long as a week. Did that with some that were 2 years old. They came back in full glory.

To know when they're done, I go by the change of color, from brown to creamy, or at least significantly lighter than they are now.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

I am drinking two batches currently that I brewed with a 5 year old vial of WLP004. Built the vial up in incremental starts and it worked like a champ. You'll be fine!

 

[universalfrost]

The hornindal kviek is a champ. Only a few hours in and a nice head of krausen.

I’ve got the stirrers on a timer of on for thirty and off for 1.5 hrs. This is because of the two stirrers on the right creating some heat when left on ...

 

[brownni5]

Last summer I brewed with a year-old pack of Hornindal. Didn't bother with a starter, just pitched the pack. No problems whatsoever.

 

[universalfrost]

Looks like all have come back from the dead.. west coast ale was just a slow response...

 

[Bassman2003]

Cool.

 

[mashpaddled]

Patience and incremental steps up will almost certainly get you lots of healthy yeast.

 

[universalfrost]

I’m going to do another 1300ml starter of each in a few days. Hopping to brew up a large 15 gallon smash beer and split it up evenly between these three yeasts..stay tuned but so far the yeast appear to be happy and healthy.

 

[Nate R]

Saison and kviek are showing activity already. West coast is not showing any signs... too early to tell.

the starters are each with the following:

1450ml of distilled water with 1 cup cbw golden light dme and 1/8 teaspoon of wyeast nutrients. (Sg would be around 1.25-1.30 based on prior starters that are identical)

Interesting to see the color differences between yeasts with identical starters.

Are you trying to target sg of 1.25-1.30?
I was under the impression goal was 1.40?
If so, why the lower sg?
Thanks

 

[universalfrost]

I went with lower SG so as not to stress out the old yeast and I’m also going to do multiple starters to keep building up if needed.

even with healthy yeast I would only do 1.4 SG at the most...

I have excellent results with my methods.