White labs yeast quality problem

[drvinck]

Hi, I bougth a tube of London ale yeast from white labs today. It is mostly brown in color. I never used this strain before. Is it normal for this yeast or is it a quality issue. The best before date is septembre 2016 so the yeast is fresh.

 

[Build]

I haven't seen one where the yeast is actually brown, but the liquid can be. If it went over 38C or was exposed to sunlight, that could do it.

You could always make a starter and see what happens.

 

[cannman]

I'm thinking yeast should be yeasty color...not brown... Where did you get the yeast from? LHBS or mail order?

 

[drvinck]

Bougth it at LHBS. They have good yeast handling. I will do a starter and see what it looks like. Thanks

 

[Morrey]

If you have mainly experience with dry sachets, most liquid yeasts in a vial (WLP) will look tannish like coffee with cream once shaken into suspension. Make a starter and you'll likely be fine.

Wyeast is hard to judge simply by color alone due to the smack pak design.

 

[jjeffers09]

Is it the new package "purepitch" or the vial?

 

[cannman]

I'm thinking yeast should be yeasty color...not brown... Where did you get the yeast from? LHBS or mail order?

What I mean, if you're not in the brew shop when the yeast package arrives *shrug* you really don't know. If you really feel like the LHBS has that good of storage, then we must ask you, how did you store your yeast from transport to pitch?

Is it the new package "purepitch" or the vial?

I hate the plastic bags.... *barf*

 

[kh54s10]

How brown is brown? All the yeast I have seen have some slight brown hue to them. Most are a very light creamy color, like heavily creamed coffee. Some have more coffee than cream. I have never seen one that was really "brown" though.

The starter should give the answer. If it seems to grow yeast cell counts and doesn't smell like puke, it should be good.

If these are in vials where you can see the color, and you have another LHBS close by, maybe a stop in to see if they have one to compare??