Yeast starter question for 3 month old yeast

[rwing7486]

Hey everyone, brewing a northern english brown this weekend with an estimated 5.25 gallons of 1.056. I grabbed the last packet of WY1028 London Ale yeast at my LHBS which has a MFG date of June 13th. I've looked at both Mr malty and brewers friend yeast pitch calculators and both estimate around 35% viability. With that said though mr malty says I need a 2L starter and brewers friend says I only need a 1.25L starter. Thoughts?

 

[hottpeper13]

This is what I do. Make a 1qt starter 2 days before brew day. On brew day, collect 200ml of the starter and bank for another brew. When the wort has boiled for 10 min I take 1qt and put in freezer to chill, then put in starter,let get to high krausen and pitch. I pitch the next morning and it's always at high krausen. I can my starter fluid so with this procedure I use 1/2 as much and my beers are at that 1/4" foam stage at 6-8 hrs. When doing a lager I pitch into only 2.5gal for the first batch and then repitch that until the double bock.

 

[RM-MN]

Hey everyone, brewing a northern english brown this weekend with an estimated 5.25 gallons of 1.056. I grabbed the last packet of WY1028 London Ale yeast at my LHBS which has a MFG date of June 13th. I've looked at both Mr malty and brewers friend yeast pitch calculators and both estimate around 35% viability. With that said though mr malty says I need a 2L starter and brewers friend says I only need a 1.25L starter. Thoughts?

I think you need a third opinion on the viability of your yeast. http://www.woodlandbrew.com/2012/12/refrigeration-effects-on-yeast-viability.html

 

[rwing7486]

I think you need a third opinion on the viability of your yeast. http://www.woodlandbrew.com/2012/12/refrigeration-effects-on-yeast-viability.html

I really like the data collection done but i think 1 month of data is insufficient to conclude a linear regression of viability decrease. I would be curious to see what happens after 2, 3, and even 4 months

 

[madscientist451]

If I make a starter, I just shake up the jug and throw the whole thing in. The recommended
process is to cold crash and decant the liquid, but I either don't have time, or am just too lazy.
I don't think its going to make much difference if you make a 2L or a 1.25 liter starter.

 

[rwing7486]

I forgot to mention that I use a stir plate. My recommended yeast cell count to pitch is 205b. I do see contradictions between mr malty (white sitr plate) and braukiser stir plate. One recomends 2 packs @ a 1.3L starter and the other says 1 packet @ 1.1L starter. I also cold crash my yeast for a few hours (or longer depending on yeast strain) as i decant my starter before pitching - reason being is the OG of the starter is significantly less than the OG of the wort that this would reduce the the "actual" OG of the wort