Carbonated liquid yeast vial

[sammykap]

Hey all,

I just opened a vial of White Labs 009 super high gravity ale yeast and there was a significant amount of carbonation in the vial and it smelled like it had been fermenting. Is this normal? If it's not normal can I still use the yeast?

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Always take caution when opening a WL yeast vial, as they warm to be pitched, pressure can build and you can get brewkakked with the yeast. It is totally normal, just open slowly to avoid getting yeast ******.

 

[Revvy]

Perfectly normal...it builds up an amount of co2 in there.

 

[HVBrewtality]

Always take caution when opening a WL yeast vial, as they warm to be pitched, pressure can build and you can get brewkakked with the yeast. It is totally normal, just open slowly to avoid getting yeast ******.

what he said... just less gross

 

[Newbeerguy]

Yep I made that mistake on my first vile of WL yeast. Now I just crack the seal to bleed out the pressure when i first take it out of the fridge. Then every 1/2hr or so I unscrew the top to prevent the pressure from rebuilding up. Works like a charm.

 

[sammykap]

Haha I did get "brewkakked"... but only slightly. I'm pretty new at this but the last time I used WL yeast i only got a slight hiss when I opened the vial so I got a little worried that I would end up throwing 70 dollars worth of rotten honey down the drain (trying my hand at a mead, if for no other reason than the long ferment time will tie my equipment up for a while, forcing me to stop dumping money into this new hobby for a few months). Started noticing airlock activity after only 5 hours.