White labs yeast best before dates

[strange-steve]

I just received an order from an online brew store which included a vial of WLP650 and the best before date on it was 12/08/19.

I emailed the company to let them know it was out of date and they replied to say that it should have been reduced but slipped through the net and they would give me a refund. Fair enough.

Then got another email to say that actually the best before date is US format and so the best before date is 8th December. If anyone has a pack of White labs could they have a look to confirm that? Not that I think they're being disingenuous, I just wonder how I never noticed that before.

That being said, I don't often use White labs and I wonder if they've changed their packaging recently or if their wild yeast/bacteria are packaged differently because the last time I used them the yeast was in a little soft plastic pouch, the 650nis in a hard plastic vial.

 

[SteveH]

I think they're correct, here's mine recently purchased discounted as just out of date, 21st September

 

[SteveH]

Oops pic is a bit fuzzy, hopefully you can make the date out

 

[strange-steve]

Well there you go, it hadn't even occurred to me Thanks for checking that Steve!

This is the type of packaging I've had before which spells out the month to avoid confusion, probably why I hadn't noticed this before:

 

[Sadfield]

I wonder if they do the mixed/bacteria that way to isolate it from their pure pitch packaging equipment, to avoid contamination.

I've an very out of date pouch labelled JAN-11-19 and old vial (that I've reused) labelled SEP-06-15. Which will explain why you've probably not noticed before.

 

[strange-steve]

I wonder if they do the mixed/bacteria that way to isolate it from their pure pitch packaging equipment, to avoid contamination.

I suspect you're right, makes sense :thumba:
I was about to put this through a multi-step starter, so it's good news that I can skip that.

 

[BeerCat]

I have a vial of 655 Belgian sour mix1 and just realised it was out if date last month.
Will you make a starter? Some do with sours apparently so givingiit a go.

 

[strange-steve]

I have a vial of 655 Belgian sour mix1 and just realised it was out if date last month.
Will you make a starter? Some do with sours apparently so givingiit a go.

I probably would make a starter in your case, I can't imagine that changing the sacc:brett:bacteria ratios will make a massive difference to the finished product.

 

[SteveH]

I wonder if they do the mixed/bacteria that way to isolate it from their pure pitch packaging equipment, to avoid contamination.

I've an very out of date pouch labelled JAN-11-19 and old vial (that I've reused) labelled SEP-06-15. Which will explain why you've probably not noticed before.

Weirdly in a recent order I got a mixture of vials (brett and vault strains) and a pure pitch pouch, and the brett is the only one with the numeric month for the date format.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Suspect that the "regular" ones are coming from their place in Copenhagen (hence using "Jun"), whereas "specials" are only made at head office in California (with US-style dates and no concept that other countries use different formats).

 

[samale]

Old thread but I just got some wlp670. How do I calculate a starter size if I only know when it's out of date

 

[strange-steve]

I believe for those vials the manufacture date is 4 months prior to the best before date.

 

[samale]

I believe for those vials the manufacture date is 4 months prior to the best before date.

Would you recommend a starter with this blend. I am planning a dark winter Saison.

 

[An Ankoù]

I had a phial of WLP077 at least 9 months past its used by date knocking around in the darker recesses of the fridge. It was already out of date when I got it in a 5 for a tenner lucky dip from BrewUK. Made a starter with it expecting to have a week before I needed to think about what I was going to do with it and it was off in two days!

 

[strange-steve]

Even though it's a blend I would still make a starter cos I think it's only one sacch strain.

 

[samale]

I will get a starter on tonight.

 

[foxbat]

I use a starting cell count of 80bn for those vials. White Labs quote a range of 75-150bn which is so wide as to be of no use to anyone trying building a starter and if they regularly achieve the top end then I'm sure they wouldn't be touting their pure-pitch sachets as good for 100bn+ because that wouldn't be an improvement.

I got the figure of 80bn from The Yeast Bay website who contract out their culturing and packaging lab work to White Labs.

 

[samale]

I was a bit worried about the best before date but the starter has taken of well. I only made it yesterday and I don't have a stir plate yet. Just giving it a good swirl now and then