Re-pitch?

[Jhedrick83]

I have 2.5 gallons of a Belgian Tripel I brewed up yesterday that isn’t moving at all according to my tilt. My concern is twofold. One, my O2 tank bubbled the wort for 5 seconds before going dry and two, I didn’t notice until almost time to pitch that my Purepitch pack (that I bought 3 days ago from LHBS) was best by January 9th. Should I try to aerate and repitch. LHBS opens agin tomorrow (closed mondays) and if they have any in date Belgian Yeast, I can get some and dump it in. I’m getting a new O2 tank anyway tomorrow.

thoughts?

 

[Staticsouls]

If it were me in your situation I would go buy more yeast. I wouldn't necessarily pitch it right away though. I like having extra yeast on hand personally but I would assume there is going to be a bit of an extended lag time due to the date. I'd maybe wait till I was past the 24 hour mark but not later than 36 hours to pitch the next pack.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Since you're going there anyway, I would bring the expired yeast packaging back to the shop and politely explain the situation. The manner in which they handle the situation will be useful to you.

Beyond that, your expired pack likely resulted in a substantial under-pitch on a Tripel--that's a style where you really want to release the hounds. I've never worried about over-pitching a Tripel.

With that in mind, I'd get more yeast in there, then evaluate whether I wanted to continue giving money to a shop that sells yeast that is a quarter of a year past its sell by date. I'm all in favor of giving people the benefit of the doubt. We're human and screwing up is what we do. Nevertheless, a quarter of a year..? I wouldn't make a stink about it, but I would be give them the opportunity to fix their mistake.

 

[Jhedrick83]

Thanks. It was pitched at 7:30 pm on 4/4. No change on the tilt and no visible signs of any activity. I just hope they have in date yeast I can get.

 

[Toxxyc]

Wait at least 48 hours, unless you can get an identical yeast packet to pitch. I've had some yeasts take 5 days to get started.

 

[Jhedrick83]

Wait at least 48 hours, unless you can get an identical yeast packet to pitch. I've had some yeasts take 5 days to get started.

yeah, my goal was identical strain but actually close to in date.

I’ve had nothing but positive experiences at the LHBS so I hope this was just a simple oversight. I mean, we do all make mistakes.

 

[Toxxyc]

I've had a LHBS (who I supported A LOT) send me a box of grains in which the base malt was not milled. I didn't notice until after the mash and my efficiency was through the floor. They flat-out refused to reimburse, replace or even share some of the cost of the malt. All I asked for was for them to replace the base malt that had the batch fail, as I would re-brew the batch. Beer turned out horrible and I had to dump it.

 

[Jhedrick83]

They did have the same strain and in date, even though some slow fermentation had started this morning about 11:30, I pitched it just to be sure I didn’t have any issues with completion or underpitching. Lesson learned to always double check those dates.

 

[Karn]

A couple of weeks ago, this being 2021, I pitched a dry lager yeast, that had an expiration date of 2018, at 10:30pm.
Next morning at 8:30am, there was vigorous air lock activity.
I received a discount on the purchase of the yeast due to the expiration date, but this was obviously still viable yeast.

 

[odie]

should have waited IMO. sounds like it was going but just didn't show much on the surface. Not unheard of.

The local LHBS here sells dry yeasts years beyond the exp dates. They sit out on the shelf too, not in the refer. Granted they are discounted heavily...under a dollar in some cases. but still...

But I buy mine in bulk and store cold...some get beyond their dates as a result but all have been fine. Those dates are very conservative, just like dates on food, for liability and other reasons.

 

[Jhedrick83]

This was a White Labs pure pitch pack. It was a very different color than the usual yeast slurry you get from them.
Other than the standard overpitching concerns, is there another reason I should have waited?

 

[hotbeer]

Other than the standard overpitching concerns, is there another reason I should have waited?

Some people like to think of costs. But for a hobby, I don't.

I'd think the bigger thought would be like the bonus question on a test I was given in college.

If a cell divides once every 2 seconds, then how much longer will it take 1 cell to become over 10 million cells than it will for 2 cells to become over 10 million cells?

 

[hottpeper13]

Where would we be without math?

 

[Jhedrick83]

Some people like to think of costs. But for a hobby, I don't.

I'd think the bigger thought would be like the bonus question on a test I was given in college.

If a cell divides once every 2 seconds, then how much longer will it take 1 cell to become over 10 million cells than it will for 2 cells to become over 10 million cells?

Could it have gotten the job done? Maybe, the trick is knowing how many live cells I still had to start with. I've always heard that underpitching not only can lead to an incomplete fermentation but also way more off flavors. Especially with something this big, I doubt what I did was an overpitch to a point that it would cause an issue. I'd rather do that than have underpitched and have bad beer when it is all said and done.