using old-ish liquid yeast

[gurtpint]

I have had a packet of Wyeast Activator liquid yeast sitting in my fridge for a long time. The stamp says its production date to be May 3rd 2010. Would it be ok to use it for my next brew (making a started with the yeast beforehand) or would I still risk an infection?

 

[Aleman]

There is no chance of infection . . . unless you introduce it! . . . It will take a long time to activate . . . and yes you will need to make a starter . . . I would probably go with a 500ml one and when that is working make it up to 5 litres.

 

[gurtpint]

Ta Aleman. Do you think going from half a liter to two liter starter would suffice? Otherwise I'll have to go hunting for a bigger container. How much DME for 500ml and how much for 2L? Will fermenting the starter for the usual 2-3 days be enough?

 

[Aleman]

Don't really know . . . it depends on what sort of compromises you are willing to accept . . . Once it is fermenting strongly then there is no issue. . . The key is to produce healthy active yeast, it is better to underpitch a smaller volume of healthy yeast than to over pitch badly performing yeast.

As for how long it takes :hmm: That's not really something I can guess at. once the activator pack has swollen each step should take 2-3 days . . . as to how long it will take . . . that is up to the yeast.

I would make up 2.5 Litres of a 1.040 wort (don't know the amounts off hand) then put 500 ml into one flask and 2L into the other . . . if your aseptic techniques are sufficient there shouldn't be an issue.

 

[dennisking]

I`ve used them that old before, just took longer for the pack to swell. It was a long while ago but I think I used a 1lt starter with 100gms of malt extract and it was fine.

 

[gurtpint]

Thank you gentlemen. I'll give it a shot starting with a 500ml water + 100ml DME starter, allow that to get going as long as required, fridgerate, decant and then make a bigger started around 2 liter mark. At present I have no decent flasks whatsoever so sanitized plastic bottles will have to do.

 

[dennisking]

At present I have no decent flasks whatsoever so sanitized plastic bottles will have to do.

I use 2lt plastic lemonade bottles [the wifes honest]

 

[evanvine]

the wifes honest

I hope she is! :whistle:

 

[dennisking]

well that`s what she tells me

 

[evanvine]

well that`s what she tells me

Yes, dont they all!!! :rofl:

 

[gurtpint]

Oh dear, I wonder what will come out of this... Got stuck in the starter making business last night. Gave the yeastie smack-pack a good wallop, waited for 3 hours. The pack didn't seem to swelling much but I went on and made my DME starter anyway. Open the package, pour in the yeast... and out comes the nutritient bag completely intact! A sign from above that some gym work is needed? Well, opened the damn pack and threw it into the starter, thinking that it should do its trick there anyway. The starter has been sitting on my book shelf for over 24 hours now and no signs of activity whatsoever. Makes me paranoid also about whether the wort was still a bit too hot when I added the yeast as I went by the ear and didn't take the temp. According to internet sources there might not be a cause for alarm until 48 hours have expired, so we'll see... If things end up going a**e over t*t I'll resort to dry yeast.

 

[dennisking]

3 hours is much to short with an old pack, will be at least a day or 2. Thats why I prefer Whitelabs

 

[gurtpint]

^Lesson learned the hard way... Nothing going on here, so I'll chuck the starter into the toilet and use dry yeast. Will try to check out Whitelabs, probably will have to order them from the UK as it seems their products are unavailable over here.

Talking about these matters, anyone here use yeast slopes/slants? Wheeler speaks highly of them in his book and they are another thing on my seemingly endless "to try" list.

 

[Aleman]

Wyeast or Whitelabs require planning of at least a week before brewing . . . add another three days to that if working from slopes.

The Brewlab slopes are excellent, true to type, active (given enough time to become working), and produce damn good beer.

If you are going to start working with Smack packs / Tubes / Slurry and Slopes get Chris Whites Book on Yeast . . . it will save you a lot of heartache!

 

[gurtpint]

^Point taken. Will probably get hold of the book. Cheers!

 

[dennisking]

I find with Whitelabs once I`ve split several ways I make a new starter and it`s up and running in 24hrs

 

[gurtpint]

How many ways can you split a pack dennis?

 

[dennisking]

I split each vial into 6 but I have read some peaple split them into more.

 

[gurtpint]

^6 seems good and economical as far as I'm concerned!