In a jam will this old yeast work

[i4ourgot]

Just finished a batch and went to look at my starter and nothing happened. It doesnt look very different from when I left it on the stir plate 24 hours ago. I have two packages of expired dry US-05, like a year and 5 months expired should I add both of those and my starter and see if anything happens. I think I let my starter get too cold last night.

 

[TechFanMD]

How was the US-05 stored? Refrigerated? They say something like 5% a month loss.....but I've used pretty old yeast and read plenty of posts of old dry yeast working perfectly fine (with some being 5+ years old) Since you have two.....you really don't have much to lose and I'll bet it will be fine.


Now cue the doomsdayers.

 

[i4ourgot]

yeah stored in the fridge.

 

[TechFanMD]

yeah stored in the fridge.

I would go for it. The worst that can happen is it doesnt do anything and in 2 days you need to go to plan C. Amazon has 3 packs of US-05 on Prime for $10 if you don't have a homebrew store nearby.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Dry yeast is a beast in general. One pack of 05 will most likely do the job. 2 packs in 5 gallons will be plenty even if expired...unless you stored them on the sun youll be fine...me thinks

 

[Steveruch]

How was the US-05 stored? Refrigerated? They say something like 5% a month loss.....but I've used pretty old yeast and read plenty of posts of old dry yeast working perfectly fine (with some being 5+ years old) Since you have two.....you really don't have much to lose and I'll bet it will be fine.


Now cue the doomsdayers.

I'm pretty sure it's 4-5% a year if kept in the fridge.

 

[Derp]

Yeast are hardy beasts. I tried harvesting some yeast from 2 bottles of Fuller's 2017 Vintage Ale and failed, so instead of wasting the starter wort I threw in a 14-month-old pack of Wyeast 1728. It spun for 3 or 4 days without any visible changes, but this morning I woke up and it had a nice krausen.