rancid yeast?

[A4J]

Can yeast spoil?

I opened up a vial of WLP013 (London Ale) for a starter I was making earlier tonight and it smelled rancid. It smelled really bad. I just bought the yeast this morning and the label shows an expiration date of Sept 2008, but it just smelled really bad. I pitched it anyway.

So, if the starter takes off and it doesn't smell bad, can I assume that it's safe to use?

 

[EvilTOJ]

Yes yeast can spoil. However, you would see mold growing on the yeast for it to truely be 'spoilt'. Most likely if it were bad it would just die and nothing would happen when you pitched it. London Ale is notorious for smelling funky. The starter can still smell bad though.