zeg
Well-Known Member
If you have 1% viability you'd needs a multi-step starter. It all depends on the age/viability of the yeast and how much other crap is in there.
If it's very low viability, there's also the issue that you probably won't get the results you expect from the strain. By the time a significant fraction of the yeast have died, the characteristics of the survivors will be selected for "can survive a long time in a pint jar in the fridge," not, "makes good beer."
Also, you'd probably want to do a starter and decant just to separate the live yeast from the dead so that you don't pitch a ton of dead yeast into your beer.