Yeast too old?

[cutarecord]

Just got back from the LHBS and got my WYeast 1010 American Wheat smack pack. I was getting ready to formulate a recipe for my starter from Jamil's site, which i know tends to be agressive about how Viable yeast is. WELL i just noticed this pack has a 08-August-2011 date on it.

My LHBS keeps his yeast in a refrigerator, so that's a plus. HOWEVER, you guys think this pack is too old? Do i really need to go get more yeast for my starter? You guys ever use a smack pack this old?

 

[slarkin712]

It's probably still viable, but you'll need to do a stepped starter to get the counts you need. Maybe something like .5L and then 1.2-1.5L will get you good cell counts. And you should be able to see if it's viable from the first step.

 

[cutarecord]

I should also add that I do have a stir plate

 

[kh54s10]

www.yeastcalc.com

This is a good place for information and calculations for making step starters.
The stirplate is good and will make the process quicker.

I have heard of successful uses of yeast that was more than a year old.

 

[cutarecord]

cool! i just calculated everything out and it looks like if i do a 2L first step and a 1L second step i'll end up with about 297 billion cells.

After i pour off the liquid of the first step i just add 1L of cooled wort to the yeast again? or do i need to pitch another package of yeast?


Also 297b cells is a bit higher than the recipe is calling for. Is there any problem with pitching too many yeast cells? I know if i pitch with too few the fermentation will be slow and cause a huge lag time (which i assume is a bad thing) BUT is there a down side to pitching too many initial yeast cells?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

cool! i just calculated everything out and it looks like if i do a 2L first step and a 1L second step i'll end up with about 297 billion cells.

After i pour off the liquid of the first step i just add 1L of cooled wort to the yeast again? or do i need to pitch another package of yeast?

no, just pour the new wort on top of the yeast you have. double check, but i think you'd do the 1L first, decant, then add 2L of chilled wort.

 

[Billybrewer09]

I just brought a smack pack of American ale 2 back to life. It was packaged on 2/10/11.
I made a half liter starter then steped to a 1 liter. Decanted that split the slurry in half and made a 1.5 liter starter for both. Should have more than enough for my 2 hearted clone.
point being, yeast is never to old. Make a step starter and plan ahead.

 

[slarkin712]

cool! i just calculated everything out and it looks like if i do a 2L first step and a 1L second step i'll end up with about 297 billion cells.

After i pour off the liquid of the first step i just add 1L of cooled wort to the yeast again? or do i need to pitch another package of yeast?


Also 297b cells is a bit higher than the recipe is calling for. Is there any problem with pitching too many yeast cells? I know if i pitch with too few the fermentation will be slow and cause a huge lag time (which i assume is a bad thing) BUT is there a down side to pitching too many initial yeast cells?

I would play around with the numbers a bit on yeastcalc. Your second step should be larger than your first. Look at the innoculation rate and try to keep it between 50 and 100 (it doesn't have to be though), because it is more efficient and you get more bang for your buck from your starter. For example, with 10% viability (i.e. 10 billion cells), if you put .5L into the starter size and then 1L in you'll notice that 1L doesn't get you twice as many cells.