Is this yeast dead?

[hexmonkey]

I found an unopened packet of Wyeast VSS Fat Tire yeast that I didn't remember I had in the back of the fridge. It had a date of 12/21/2007. When I opened the packet, it had an odd, sort of 'meaty' smell to it, not exactly rotten, but weird.

I made a 700 mL starter for it anyway, and it's on the stirplate since last night at about midnight. So far, unsurprisingly, no visible activity. The weird meaty smell has dissipated, leaving an earthy yeasty smell.

Jamil's yeast pitching rate calculator says this should have about a 1% viability.

What's your opinion? Will it ever come back to life?

 

[Revvy]

WHo knows...People grow starters from bottle conditioned beers all the time...

the only thing I would say is to give it a couple days...it may be really really slow for the little beasties to take off.

 

[hexmonkey]

WHo knows...People grow starters from bottle conditioned beers all the time...

the only thing I would say is to give it a couple days...it may be really really slow for the little beasties to take off.

When I cultured Pacman yeast from a bottle of Shakespeare Stout last year, it took about 3 days, IIRC.

Now that I think about it, it's probably a gamble with contamination (even with the usual sanitary precautions) if it takes so long to start up, isn't it...?

 

[Revvy]

When I cultured Pacman yeast from a bottle of Shakespeare Stout last year, it took about 3 days, IIRC.

Now that I think about it, it's probably a gamble with contamination (even with the usual sanitary precautions) if it takes so long to start up, isn't it...?

Not necessarily...if your container is covered, and you sanitized and did everything else right, you have an even chance of it turning out fine...It's really academic to speculate..you will know in a couple days if the yeast smells nasty or doesn't even take off.

 

[Edcculus]

Meaty probably means a little autolysis went on. Thats not a problem though since you are making a starter that will propagate a lot of new yeast (meaning it won't impart off flavors to your beer later on).

 

[hexmonkey]

Meaty probably means a little autolysis went on. Thats not a problem though since you are making a starter that will propagate a lot of new yeast (meaning it won't impart off flavors to your beer later on).

Have you ever smelled that in yeast? It's really a weird smell, not entirely meaty, but the funny thing is that the first thing I thought of was 'Wow, that smells like meat'.

On the bright side, after I got home a few hours ago, it does seem to be lightening up a bit, and I see some teeny-tiny bubbles rising and swirling around in there. It was definitely darker last night and this morning, and the stir plate is running pretty low, so the bubbles couldn't be anything other than the little beasties farting...

 

[raceskier]

hexmonkey,

Did your ancient yeast come back to life?

I read this thread the day after I put a starter on the stirplate with a 1 year old (Feb 08) Wyeast 1007 German Ale Propogator pack. That was Wednesday night. I checked it about every 12 hours. Nothing doing. Mr Malty's calculator showed 1% viability for the year old pack. Friday night and still no activity. I thought "Oh Crap! No brewing this weekend!". I'll just dump the starter in the morning. Well, this morning, some 60 hours later, I have a nice healthy krauesen on the starter. No sign of any colonies on the slants I made though. Now to rush to the LHBS for my grain.

Sometimes, patience is all it takes.

 

[hexmonkey]

Did your ancient yeast come back to life?
...
Well, this morning, some 60 hours later, I have a nice healthy krauesen on the starter. No sign of any colonies on the slants I made though. Now to rush to the LHBS for my grain.

Sometimes, patience is all it takes.

Yep, it took a bit less time than yours, it seems. I was seeing activity (teeny champagne bubbles) less than 24 hours later.

Did you use nutrient? My starter wort was about 1.025 or 1.030 with a pinch (maybe 1/4 tsp) of Wyeast's yeast nutrient.

I had started with ~700mL of wort and after the bubbling stopped, I added another 300mL to step it up a bit more. I think I did it backwards, but it seems to have worked okay.

 

[hexmonkey]

Meaty probably means a little autolysis went on. Thats not a problem though since you are making a starter that will propagate a lot of new yeast (meaning it won't impart off flavors to your beer later on).

Bleh. I just checked the gravity last night, got down to 1.012 from 1.054 but...I thought I could still taste (or smell) that meaty off-flavor.

It seems harder to detect now that the sample has had a chance to chill in the refrigerator. Is it possible that it will go away if I just keg it and let it cold-condition for a few weeks? It does seem a bit cloudy as well, maybe if I can clear the yeast out with finings it will take the off flavor with it?