Yeast 1 Month past "Best By"

[sdenue57]

Hey everybody. So my situation is that I have a vial of White Labs/Yeast Bay Vermont Ale yeast that the best by date was a month ago. It came with the NB Heady clone kit. Gonna try brewing it tomorrow. My question is two fold I guess: 1- I have a stir plate and am going to make a starter, should I add a little yeast nutrient? 2- Should I even waste my time? Thanks for any input

 

[masskrug]

If you make a starter, you will know weather the yeast is active.

 

[kh54s10]

It should be fine with a proper size starter. Get it going ASAP. 18- 24 hours is best. Nutrient is ok. Yes you should "waste your time".

 

[Rdom]

The production date for the yeast bay yeasts is 4 months before the "best by" date and each vial has about 80 billion cells at packaging according to their website. You can use this info in one of the yeast starter calculators to help you estimate how much viable yeast you have and, more importantly, how big of a starter you need for your beer. You may need to "step up" your starter to get the cell count you need. The Brewers Friend yeast starter calculator has worked well for me.

 

[sdenue57]

Thanks for the input. The yeast is in the flask, spinning away!