Saison Brett/ Old Yeast question

[horsepowerwhisperer]

Hello, yeast heads!

Here's one for you...

I brewed a 15 gallon Saison batch last Sunday. When I was picking up supplies, I saw they had some Wyeast 3031 Saison/ Brett blend at my LHBS. I asked if they'd had any experience with it. They hadn't, and the smack packs they had were over a year old; so they just gave me a couple. They didn't puff at all before brew day, so I blew them off. Now, throughout the week, they have swelled to about 2" thick.

The Saison is about 90% fermented at this point. I'm thinking about pulling five gallons out of the fermenter tomorrow, putting it into a corny keg or carboy, and pitching the smack packs. The hope is that there's enough viable yeast to dry the beer out completely and give it some brett character over the next couple of months.

Is it a problem that I smacked the packs a week ago and didn't do a starter? Are the remaining viable yeast cells dead by now? Is it worth the trouble, or should I just toss the 3031 and let the Saison finish out normally?

What would you do?

Thanks!

 

[jfolks]

Only one way to find out! Very possible only the Brett survived by this point, so your plan will likely work. Snacking a week ago is not a problem. The only risk is that it won’t get Bretty and this is a waste of time (so to be safe you could just buy fresh Brett). But I say go for it!

 

[horsepowerwhisperer]

Thanks, I guess I'll give it a go!