Lacto 6 months past use by date - still viable?

[beesy]

So the only lacto I could find local was a vial of WLP677 that has a best used by date of July 2010. Anyone point me in the direction of viability info for lacto? Brewing up a berliner, so I'm debating on making a starter for it, or just pitching it into the wort and waiting for it to get going 3-4 days before pitching my saccharo. A starter would yield a more repeatable brew IMHO. I emailed White Labs to see if they could provide any viability info for lacto, if I get a reponse, I'll post it.

 

[ChrisKennedy]

Make a starter, and make it with lots of steps.

I would start at around 150ml, kept around 98F for a few days, then throw that in around 1200ml kept at around 98F for 4-5 days, and then that into 3000ml kept at around 98F for maybe even a week.

Throwing a fresh pack of lacto in wort for 4 days only took the pH from 5.4 to 4.25. Once I threw some yeast in, the next day the pH was down to 4.07, but the pH drop is probably going to stop pretty abruptly. I expect a slow drop to around 3.5 if I keep the beer warm over the next 3 months.

 

[beesy]

Does lacto floc like yeast? Does it help to crash it? I don't want to dump a bunch of dme into the berliner . If it doesn't floc, I'll probably opt to order a new vial/pack online.

I did get a response from White Labs, but it was pretty generic, saying a starter may help. They did not give any kind of indication to viability. I posed the question to them about lacto floccing, so I'm waiting that response.