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I have a Wyeast 2278 smack pack that has a best if used by date of March 24. So I'm a little more than two months past. What's the likelihood it'll still be viable if I make a starter?
I've rescued yeast from packs that were 4+ years past their best-before, you'll be fine.I have a Wyeast 2278 smack pack that has a best if used by date of March 24. So I'm a little more than two months past. What's the likelihood it'll still be viable if I make a starter?
Now that’s impressive. I was nervous about 6-9 months pastI've rescued yeast from packs that were 4+ years past their best-before, you'll be fine.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...quid-yeast-after-the-best-before-date.697114/
I had one recently that was 6 to 9 months expired and I was nervous about it, so I decided to make a starter just to verify that it was viable. Turned out that it wasn't, so I went with the backup plan.Now that’s impressive. I was nervous about 6-9 months past
Brewed a Belgian Strong last Friday. Used Wyeast Belgian Abbey 1214. Exp August 2023. Smacked pack, it fizzed, placed in house at 73 degrees for 3 hours. It never expanded the package. Pitched and at 38 hours not a speck of fermentation starting. This is the second Wyeast that was not expired but close that failed. Since the first issue I keep a Safale 05 in the fridge. Pitched the dry and in 2 hours I had fermentation starting. I am giving up on Wyeast because I cannot trust it. I must add, all the Wyeast I used that was good was yeast I ordered from my brew shop and expiration date was always out many months.
I learned that the hard way with a 9% triple. Pitched a 1l starter. Started fast but a lot of off flavors and sulfur. Finally tasting better at 7 months old, but still not exactly what I was hoping. I knew lagers needed double yeast.How many gallons of (high gravity) Belgian Strong are you making? If 5 gallons, one smack pack would be a huge underpitch, even if the yeast was 100% viable (which it never is).
Why not make a starter then? And yeah, no way us05 was working in 2h like that, esp in high gravity wort. It was the wyeast multiplying enough.It never expanded the package.
There's all sorts of rules of thumb but somewhere around 1.060 is generally regarded as the point at which you need to be pitching more, you get rules like 0.5 billion cells per litre per Plato of low-gravity wort and 1-1.5 billion per litre per Plato of high-gravity wort. For 5 US gallons / 20 litres that would translate to around 100 billion cells for 12 Plato (=1.048 gravity) wort and 400-600 billion for 20 Plato (=1.083 gravity)I learned that the hard way with a 9% triple. Pitched a 1l starter. Started fast but a lot of off flavors and sulfur. Finally tasting better at 7 months old, but still not exactly what I was hoping. I knew lagers needed double yeast.
There's all sorts of rules of thumb but somewhere around 1.060 is generally regarded as the point at which you need to be pitching more, you get rules like 0.5 billion cells per litre per Plato of low-gravity wort and 1-1.5 billion per litre per Plato of high-gravity wort. For 5 US gallons / 20 litres that would translate to around 100 billion cells for 12 Plato (=1.048 gravity) wort and 400-600 billion for 20 Plato (=1.083 gravity)
It's recommended to always make a yeast starter when using liquid yeast. It a) proves viability, b) grows more cells, and c) you can overbuild to save some out for another batch (by making a new starter again).Used Wyeast Belgian Abbey 1214. Exp August 2023. Smacked pack, it fizzed, placed in house at 73 degrees for 3 hours. It never expanded the package. Pitched and at 38 hours not a speck of fermentation starting.
This is the second Wyeast that was not expired but close that failed. Since the first issue I keep a Safale 05 in the fridge. Pitched the dry and in 2 hours I had fermentation starting. I am giving up on Wyeast because I cannot trust it.
I am both a real microbiologist and a random homebrewer.it’s written by a real microbiologist not a random homebrewer
I expect to see good articles from you then! Things like “how to make a mini fridge into a -80° yeast bank”I am both a real microbiologist and a random homebrewer.
How did you determine that no fermentation was taking place? Bubbles in the airlock? Krausen on the top of the wort? Both are not reliable indicators of fermentation. As others have said, it's most likely the original yeast was working prior to the dry yeast.... Pitched and at 38 hours not a speck of fermentation starting. ...
Couple of things: Nobody is making 5 1l starers to bring back a pack of yeast. If they are stepping it up, it's with very small amounts of weak wort slowly building up. Also, I can make 13.5 starters from a 3lb bag of DME, which cost me about $13. If you use wort from beer it's about half that cost. Excluding the reusable vials and small amount of glycerin, I can make 10 starters from the freezer bank for the cost of a new pack of yeast, and that doesn't even include shipping, or the fact that yeast has a hard time with shipping in 100° summer heat.This is really one of those diminishing returns kind of thing. I can understand if you're a homesteader in the middle of Alaska, or the last remaining homebrewer after the zombie attack and you just HAVE to revive some old yeast. Making two or five starters in a row to do it will not be cheaper than a new pack, even if you consider your time worth zero.
Couple of things: Nobody is making 5 1l starers to bring back a pack of yeast. If they are stepping it up, it's with very small amounts of weak wort slowly building up. Also, I can make 13.5 starters from a 3lb bag of DME, which cost me about $13. If you use wort from beer it's about half that cost. Excluding the reusable vials and small amount of glycerin, I can make 10 starters from the freezer bank for the cost of a new pack of yeast, and that doesn't even include shipping, or the fact that yeast has a hard time with shipping in 100° summer heat.
Bröther I have left an expired smack pack at room temperature for 3 weeks and still fermented a crisp ale. Maybe don't make it a habit, but once won't hurt anythingI have a Wyeast 2278 smack pack that has a best if used by date of March 24. So I'm a little more than two months past. What's the likelihood it'll still be viable if I make a starter?
NoDo you have a hemocytometer or are you just winging the pitch?
it's all the same thing? I just made starters for 4 yeast packs that were best by Aug-Oct 2022. Turned out great, lots of yeast to harvest once decanted. The first one I made a 2nd 1l starter to test and it took off within hours so it was pretty viable, I'd say. I did do 1c of 1.020 wort to start then added 1l of 1.040 or so of wort to each pack, gives them a gentler wake up from the back of the fridge...Did I miss anything?
So out of curiosity, does "just" mean last week, last month, or back in March?I just made starters for 4 yeast backs that were best by Aug-Oct 2022
3 were 9 months expired and one was 7 months. They were kept in the fridge.starters for 4 yeast packs that were best by Aug-Oct 2022.
Are those starters on stir plates? That would be a much better/more efficient way to propagate the yeast. They need Oxygen.in the last 2 weeks I made 4 starters, decanted, doing another 4 starters starting today (with fresh packs)
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