Old yeast, is it still alive

[Summers]

Okay so back in April of 2015 I washed some yeast from a brown ale it was a common WLP002, I spend my time going back and forth doing all the washing. I ended up with half a 500ml jar of yeast with and the other half minimal trub and left over beer from that batch. So I kept the yeast in the back of the fridge waiting to see if after 5 month my jar of washed yeast is going to back to life for a brew I am planning in the next month.


Well tonight my plan was to just make a simple starter 1.5lt with 120g of DME my OG was 1.029 and just let it ride really see what kind of shelf life this yeast has. Now some might argue that at this point the yeast has had enough time to no longer be a WLP002 yeast strain and it has taken on some new characteristics but I am not looking at that. I just wanted to know if five month old yeast can come back to life to make beer with
new.



Let me know how old the oldest yeast you have ever kept and were able to bring back to life.

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't still be viable yeast if it's only 5 months old. Just feed it enough of a starter to rouse it and get a good yeast colony going before storing it in preparation for your next brew day.

 

[BigFloppy]

throwing a stopper on there will help you see action... color looks good right now

 

[lowtones84]

I would put money on it being just fine.

 

[Brew_G]

Five months is nothing. It'll be fine.

 

[ptarmigancraft]

I have done about a year with a 001 and 005, honestly didn't notice a difference after the starter.

 

[mkyl428]

This is the oldest I have used, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/using-yeast-past-its-prime.html WLP566 that expired a year before I used it

 

[unionrdr]

I've made small starters for 2 year old 7g Cooper's yeast packets that fermented so vigorously, it needed a blow off! So this should be fine imo.

 

[bmorosco]

1 year is the oldest I have done and it worked fine .

 

[z-bob]

I saved the trub (with hops, cuz I didn't have a spider yet) from a beer I brewed last winter. Wyeast "Belgian Abbey II". I put it in the fridge in February, and I'm sure the yeast was very stressed going in because it was a strong beer and I fermented it too cold. Any chance it's still good?

I should make a test starter with some, even if I don't have anything to brew with it. It'll be good practice, and I can keep the starter if it's okay.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

This is some good news.I have four jars in the fridge from last march I was going to dump.Looks like I should use them...sweet..Oh,If I didn't wash the yeast and its been sitting with the trub.Will that make any difference

 

[DurtyChemist]

This is some good news.I have four jars in the fridge from last march I was going to dump.Looks like I should use them...sweet..Oh,If I didn't wash the yeast and its been sitting with the trub.Will that make any difference

Nope. You'll be fine. Trub has been shown to keep yeast healthy I think.