Bought Whitelabs yeast about weeks ago, put in fridge, now its a blob in the vile.

[jetmac]

Bought WLP001 about 2 weeks ago. Use by date 6/12/2011. Had it stored in fridge. Now I want to use it. Took it out about 4 hours ago. I haven't shook it but it's like one big blob in the vile. Is this normal? I see air pockets thruout the yeast

 

[wonderbread23]

Its normal.

 

[0110x011]

perfectly normal. The yeast is flocculating, much like it does at the bottom of your fermentor after you ferment a beer. When you're ready to pitch, just shake it up real well and dump it in.

 

[Revvy]

When it gets nice and warm in the starter vessel, it will wake up and do it's job just fine.

 

[celticcolorado]

That is actually a good sign of a yeast that flocculates very well.

 

[Saccharomyces]

WLP001 floccs into a very compact cake when it is cold, which is why it is a popular strain for bottle conditioning. After it warms up, if you gently shake it the floccs will break up easily.

 

[jetmac]

Thanks for the help y'all

 

[jetmac]

I dropped that blob into a 3L 1.040 starter and 24 hours later it is nice and creamy. I stopped the stir plate and let it sit a few hours. Now I'm chillin it, then this weekend, let it warm to pitching temp, decant, add a little fresh starter wort and pitch it a few hours after the little yeasties wake up.