WLP665 Expired Vial / Sour Ale

[TheUnit]

Hi folks,
I'm new here, and new to home brewing. Thus far I've only bottled a Belgian trippel and holiday spiced ale.

I bought all the ingredients to make a Flemish sour, when I got home and read the vial of WLP665 I saw that it was expired in July, while it is now December. So I assume the vial is weak.

I made a starter using 2 cups of water and a 1/2 cup of DME, and then pitched the vial into it. After 24 hours I'm seeing yeast gathering at the bottom and bubbles at the top so that looks good.

I've realized that the vial contains 4 organisms [2 yeast and 2 bacteria (saccharomyces, brettanomyces, pediococcus, and lactococcus)].

My questions are :

Will both yeast and bacteria revive in the starter? Will all 4 stay in the intended proportion? Is it likely that any of the 4 organisms have died off?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[TheUnit]

Anyone have any insight at all?

 

[DaveHunter5]

Yeast and bacteria are living things and can only live or so long, that is why there is a best-by date on the vials. If a person takes an expired sample and makes a starter chances are that you will see activity in the starter and think everything is fine so one uses it. That isn't the best practice however because you don't have any idea on the health of the yeast and any activity you see may be from mutations or unhealthy yeast.

To answer you question, I think the levels of each species will be out of whack and the flavor profile you are looking for may not work. I would go buy a fresh/newly manufactured vial create another starter for your beer. Also go to mrmalty.com to find out the size of starter you need for your OG, just using a measuring cup and set amount of water works but its not best practice for the proper amount of yeast that that beer needs, IMO.