Viability of Wyeast 1203 Burton IPA after 6 months

[SwissRico]

Hi, I'm inheriting an IPA kit off of a friend who's decided he's not got time to make 20l of beer. It's an extract kit, with hops and steeping grains under vacuum.. My only concern is he says it has one pack of Wyeast 1203 for the 20l (near enough 5gallons) and it's marked March 2015.

What to do? I don't think that that's enough even with fresh packet (unless I make a starter) .. But I'm also not going to use it for another 6 weeks (life and a heatwave is getting in the way)..

I do have my emergency packet of dry Nottingham...

Never made a starter, but do have about 200g of light DME and a cellar at 22C (73F)

 

[m00ps]

Just start getting into starters. After the first few, it becomes second nature. I harvest all my yeast from my starters so I never have to rebuy any strains. I also dont need to worry about viability because the starter always gets me fresh healthy yeast for the wort. Ive used yeast that has been in my fridge for a year and it still only lagged a bit to start showing activity in the starter. It only take a few minutes to make one which is vastly preferable than the potentially wasted hours and money that go into making a brew.

When Ive been worried about how old a yeast is getting Ill make a small starter (600ml or so) and let that ride for a full week and just decant that and store the entire yeast cake from the bottom. You could do this and that way you know the yeast is good for sure before the brewday approaches

 

[SwissRico]

Thanks m00ps. I guess I'll start starting then

Found this, and it looks dead simple
http://homebrewacademy.com/how-to-make-a-yeast-starter

 

[daksin]

Yeast in its original package is likely extremely viable, if it has been refrigerated the whole time. You actually lose very little viability as long as the package remains sealed and refrigerated. You really should make a starter though, even a small one just to get everybody all woken up.