Out of date California Ale Yeast?

Rogermort · Dec 12, 2017

IÃ¢â¬â¢ve unearthed a sachet of WL Cal Ale WLP001 in the fridge. Use by date of April 17. Is it worth building a starter from or should I throw it away?

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henteaser · Dec 13, 2017

Yes, build a starter, but step it up.

Let's assume it was packaged this time last year, it's probably only ~5% viable (i.e. only 5 billion useful cells in the pack). You need 190 billion yeast cells for a 5 gallon batch. So...

Starter 1: 300ml (on a stir plate) will get you up to somewhere near 50 billion cells
Starter 2: 1000ml (on a stir plate) will get you up to somewhere near 190 billion cells

Don't be tempted just to go for the larger starter straight off the bat, the inoculation rate will be way too low and they'll be no beneficial growth.

Handy calculator to check your numbers: http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php

johnnyboy1965 · Dec 13, 2017

Just "prove " the yeast. 500ml of water a little sugar/DME/LME and see if it takes off...If not bin it

henteaser · Dec 13, 2017

johnnyboy1965 said:
Just "prove " the yeast. 500ml of water a little sugar/DME/LME and see if it takes off...If not bin it

And if it does "take off" then what? What's my pitch rate?

Bigcol49 · Dec 13, 2017

Original post deleted by me!
Message to self - learn to read!

Rogermort · Dec 13, 2017

henteaser said:
Yes, build a starter, but step it up.

Let's assume it was packaged this time last year, it's probably only ~5% viable (i.e. only 5 billion useful cells in the pack). You need 190 billion yeast cells for a 5 gallon batch. So...

Starter 1: 300ml (on a stir plate) will get you up to somewhere near 50 billion cells
Starter 2: 1000ml (on a stir plate) will get you up to somewhere near 190 billion cells

Don't be tempted just to go for the larger starter straight off the bat, the inoculation rate will be way too low and they'll be no beneficial growth.

Handy calculator to check your numbers: http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php

So if I did step one tomorrow (Thursday) and stepped it up to step two on Saturday evening, do you think it would be viable for a 23 litre batch by Monday PM?

Drunkula · Dec 13, 2017

Rogermort said:
So if I did step one tomorrow (Thursday) and stepped it up to step two on Saturday evening, do you think it would be viable for a 23 litre batch by Monday PM?

I reckon so. All the sites I've read where people research it say a max of 2 days on a stir plate, though some like to pitch anywhere between 12 to 24 hours when it's at high krausen so 48 hours per step is plenty. This would still give you enough time to chill the first starter and pour the wort off before stepping up if you wanted to.

BeerCat · Dec 13, 2017

I have used out of date liquid before with no problem. I will say though the last yeast i bought was only a month old and the starters went off like a rocket. Big difference in vitality. Goes to show why its good to make a starter.

Out of date California Ale Yeast?

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