My liquid yeast I had ordered ended up being in transit for a week instead of 3 days and appears to be DOA. All I have in the fridge is wine yeast. Is it worth pitching to see what happens, or should I just dump the batch?
Wine yeast in beer
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I'd say pitch it. I've tried it - wine yeast is highly attenuating and a clean fermenter. The beer will finish low and probably a bit thin. So probably depends on the style you're looking for. And ask for a refund on that poorly shipped liquid yeast!
Wine yeast can't ferment maltotriose, so I would say that your beer is more likely to finish high than low. What's the recipe and what yeast were you planning to use?
You could refrigerate or even freeze the wort until you can get your hands on some more of the right yeast.
You could refrigerate or even freeze the wort until you can get your hands on some more of the right yeast.
K1V-1116 will work. It is one of the few wine yeasts that can ferment maltotriose. I used it to make a Belgian-style Dubbel last year.
Wine yeast can't ferment maltose either, except for some strains, but only barely.
That's indeed one of the few exceptions in wine yeasts.
I doubt the OP has that in stock, and if he has to go out to buy it, he may as well pick up a (real) beer yeast. A dry yeast preferred as it won't need a starter.
What strain and brand?
How do you know it's dead?
Did you make a starter?
What yeast strains do you have at hand or could you get today? Some could be more suitable than others.
I would not throw the wort out, at least pitch something.
By itself? What inspired you to do that? How did it turn out?
What inspired me? A fever dream, I guess.
I knew it should work and I wanted to try it and see what happened. I didn't have any Belgian yeast packets, and I knew '1116 was a good attenuator and it makes lots of esters. I'm not sure if it's POF+ (phenolic) or not. It didn't attenuate quite as much as I expected, perhaps the D90 candi syrup has a lot of unfermentables in it, but I thought it was good. It's not aging as well as a real Belgian would. I have a few bottles left and it's not quite as good as it was fresh.
I've also used this yeast in a SMaSH beer with pilsner malt and Sterling hops a few years ago. That one was better -- something between a kolsch and saison, maybe.
Broken Crow
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What are you brewing? Lallemand Windsor doesn't ferment maltoriose either and it's a first-choice for a couple of my darker English styles. I've never used wine yeast in a beer though, so I've no idea what else it might bring to the table.
Be aware that champagne yeast, K1V1116, and a few others do not play well with other yeast strains. They have a "kill" factor that does exactly what the name suggests. So you can't pitch them and then pitch a beer yeast later to clean up. You can go the other direction; beer yeast first and then use the wine yeast for bottling, but I've never tried that.
It was WLP005. I just dumped it in…have gotten away with it before, but maybe I shouldn’t do that?
How did you determine it to be DOA?
Thanks, it's a good, solid British Ale yeast! And won't ferment maltotriose.
Those Perfect Pitch sleeves are very good, the yeast stays in tip top condition for a long time, as long as it's kept cold/cool that is.
Why do you think yours is dead? Did it get overheated in the mail?
Next time plan on making a yeast starter well ahead of brewing day, give it a week. It a) proves the yeast's viability (not being dead), b) grows more cells for a better pitch rate and... c) the bonus, overbuild it a little so you can save some out for a next starter/batch cycle and so on.
Or use dry yeast, it's far easier to ship, especially in Summer and deep Winter, and there's larger selection now than ever before.
36 hours after pitching I had nothing. Not even a microbubble. Between the long (and I assume warm) transit and the fact it was already close to the best before date, I was worried about it. I did some more reading and changed my mind and ordered some dry yeast online. It is supposed to arrive in 2 days, so I will give the old yeast that much longer to come to life.How did you determine it to be DOA?
Thanks, it's a good, solid British Ale yeast! And won't ferment maltotriose.
Those Perfect Pitch sleeves are very good, the yeast stays in tip top condition for a long time, as long as it's kept cold/cool that is.
Why do you think yours is dead? Did it get overheated in the mail?
Next time plan on making a yeast starter well ahead of brewing day, give it a week. It a) proves the yeast's viability (not being dead), b) grows more cells for a better pitch rate and... c) the bonus, overbuild it a little so you can save some out for a next starter/batch cycle and so on.
Or use dry yeast, it's far easier to ship, especially in Summer and deep Winter, and there's larger selection now than ever before.
As long as your sanitation has been good, it may keep fine till your dry yeast takes off.
Although you don't see any airlock activity, the yeast can very well be working, in silence. That's a good thing as it would drop the pH to around 4.2, making it harder for other microorganisms to take hold.
Again, using liquid yeasts demand making starters before use.
