@IslandLizard : reply 49 in
WLP001 Dry mentions a newer dry strain from a different lab that's also in the $10 / sachet range.
Yeah, I saw that. Prices are quite staggering for what one gets, less than a tablespoon of granules.
There must be some fantastic markups along the way.
For comparison, one can buy 2 pounds of dry bakers yeast for under $10 (used to be $5) at Sam's or Costco's. But the supermarket always wanted $3.50 or so for an ounce, although I haven't checked lately (read: the past 15-some years).
Now pricing of wet (liquid) yeasts have gone up quite a bit too. So again, the incentive to make more (and bigger) starters, becomes even more paramount. The opposite of what the yeast makers and retailers want us to do (or believe).
Anecdote:
A few months ago I found 2 pouches of US-05 in my freezer. Best by dates 2010 and 2015. Probably got them with an equipment and sundries purchase back in the days. There are probably some other goodies in the bag too, I forgot about.
After carefully rehydrating, I made 3 rounds of starters of each. Surprisingly, the 2010 actually grew faster than the 2015 one under identical conditions. But I don't know of either's whereabouts before I got them.
They both fermented wonderfully, and the beer tasted accordingly!
I still have some (starter) slurries left of each.
On the liquid yeast side, I also had some left, purchased fresh in early 2015. Always kept in the 34°F kitchen fridge. They grew up wonderfully too, given enough time and 3 step ups.
