Out of date kviek

[JonBrew]

Hi,

I have a pouch of Omega Hornindal in my fridge which expired towards the end of December.

With any other yeast I'd stick this in a stirred starter but not sure as to best practice with a kviek strain. I've heard in general that, due to the low pitching rates suggested for kveik, folk are splitting these pouches rather than pitching the lot.

My thoughts are to either do a starter as normal but then only pitch maybe half the slurry (or less). Or, do a vitality starter with the whole pack - rationale for this being that I'm guess there will still be some living cells left but that the health of those cells could be low.

Thoughts?

Cheers

 

[foxy]

My thoughts would be the tolerance of the use by date, only a month and a bit out of date should be within that tolerance. For me I would use it as you intended if it was fresh.

 

[Brew_DD2]

I'd probably do a starter. This will serve two functions; it will let you know if the yeast is viable at all. It will also give you much more yeast than you'll need for this brew, that you can save for the next one.

 

[JonBrew]

Thanks for the thoughts on this.

I had been highly temped to take a punt and pitch the packet as is but I think I'll go down the starter route and then pitch a portion of the resultant slurry. It may be that I end up over pitching (by kviek standards) but it'll be my first time using kviek so can assess the results and adjust for future.

Cheers

 

[Brew_DD2]

Just go for a teaspoon or two of your slurry from your starter and you'll be good to go.

 

[The Baron]

I am with Foxy on this there are tolerances set and I bet its quite a wide one too, just use as it is meant for

 

[JonBrew]

Just had a quick look at Omega's website and looked at their homebrew Q&A section. Should have done this before now. Read the following with interest:

"What’s the shelf life of each pack?
The shelf life on our packs is five (5) months from the date of packaging. We highly recommend using a starter for any packs older than three (3) months."

Then there's this...

"How many yeast cells are in your homebrew packs?
Through our proprietary process, we generate the optimal number of yeast cells, which varies from strain from strain, to yield the best and most consistent performance for each.

As a result of genetic differences, we have observed strain to strain variation in cell counts even under identical growth conditions. Certain strains may contain up to 500 billion cells per pack while other strains may contain slightly less than 150 billion cells per pack."

 

[SmallSpacesBrewing]

I've had Kveik slurry in the fridge for over a year. Pitched a spoon or two and full activity within 6-8hours. Kveik is a beast not contained by numbers. Remember, the used to dip a piece of wood in this stuff and just leave it hanging for a year. No problem

 

[Brew_DD2]

Are commercial isolates as hardy as the farmhouse blends?

 

[JonBrew]

Are commercial isolates as hardy as the farmhouse blends?

That's a fair point. I've heard this debated before. I listened to a podcast with Imperial Yeast and they actually said that for their kveik isolates, such as Loki, they recommend pitching in line 'normal' pitching rates. However, I've also heard anecdotal reports that when you pitch these isolates at the higher rates you end up with restrained yeast characteristics and a fairly clean beer.