Left Wyeast Pack Out Several Days - Still Good

[brewinginct]

I have three packets of the Wyeast Berliner-Weisse blend that I smacked five days ago (6/7) intending to use that day.

Things came up and long story short, brew day had to get postponed, and I won't get to brew until tomorrow.

The thing is, these yeast packets have been at room temperature since Saturday.

Is the yeast still good? I can't imagine there would be any problems, except for maybe some extended lag time.

 

[BigFloyd]

Under those circumstances, I'd want to make a starter with those packs.

You gave them a quick snack when you smacked them, but by letting them sit at room temp 5 days, they've run out of food and you probably had some die off.

Why 3 packs?

 

[Travestian]

Under those circumstances, I'd want to make a starter with those packs.

You gave them a quick snack when you smacked them, but by letting them sit at room temp 5 days, they've run out of food and you probably had some die off.

Why 3 packs?

A starter for sure is in order. To not do so is asking for an improper pitch amount.

I'm curious too as to why 3 packs.

 

[eastoak]

maybe he used a yeast calculator and it told him to use 3 packs due to the date on the yeast? wild guess.

 

[BigFloyd]

maybe he used a yeast calculator and it told him to use 3 packs due to the date on the yeast? wild guess.

Probably so. If you're going to spend that kind of cash, why not get what you need to do stir plate starters and buy one pack/vial?

 

[Travestian]

Probably so. If you're going to spend that kind of cash, why not get what you need to do stir plate starters and buy one pack/vial?

I second this option.

 

[TexanRudeboy]

Those packs get shipped all over the country. I order from Austin Homebrew, I live in Houston, even with the cold pack its warm after 2 days shipping. I can't imagine too much harm has been done. Like others said, make a starter.

 

[Travestian]

So are the ice packs just a gimmick?

 

[eastoak]

So are the ice packs just a gimmick?

i've never bought liquid yeast online but i do have those ice packs at home and they do not stay cold for the length of time it takes to ship a box across the country. i would not call them a gimmick, they probably are better than nothing.

 

[vNmd]

So are the ice packs just a gimmick?

I vote gimmick, but I don't know what temps a package can get to during shipment or what temp the yeast start dropping dead at.

I order frozen food online every now and then. It is always in some sort of styrofoam container with dry ice to keep the food frozen solid. Even with that after several days delivery some of the shipments have been questionable (cool but not frozen).

I bought a few kits online (austin) that came with the cold pack thing. The cold pack is small to begin with and the shipping box has no insulation (except maybe some grain). It obviously doesn't have to be frozen, but after a few hours the cold pack doesn't live up to its name. The few I bought were in the early spring late winter months and the yeast was ok (they did their job). Now that it is getting warmer out - I am switching to LHBS for the yeast if I buy kits online.

 

[eastoak]

I vote gimmick, but I don't know what temps a package can get to during shipment or what temp the yeast start dropping dead at.

I order frozen food online every now and then. It is always in some sort of styrofoam container with dry ice to keep the food frozen solid. Even with that after several days delivery some of the shipments have been questionable (cool but not frozen).

I bought a few kits online (austin) that came with the cold pack thing. The cold pack is small to begin with and the shipping box has no insulation (except maybe some grain). It obviously doesn't have to be frozen, but after a few hours the cold pack doesn't live up to its name. The few I bought were in the early spring late winter months and the yeast was ok (they did their job). Now that it is getting warmer out - I am switching to LHBS for the yeast if I buy kits online.

this makes the most sense. some people don't have a local home brew store, but if you do i don't see why ordering yeast online is a good idea.

 

[brewinginct]

Well, when I went to my LHBS looking for this blend, they only had three year-old packets (7/12). They weren't sure how well it would work, so they gave me the packets for free. I'm definitely lucky to live close to such an awesome store.

As for not making a starter. I considered it, especially because the packets were a year old and the yeast probably wasn't doing that hot. At the same time, the blend was made with certain proportions of yeast/bacteria, and I didn't want to possibly mess up that mix and make the bacteria less dominant.

Also, the lacto starts working during the initial lag time, lag time which active yeast from a starter probably would have cut down on.

Everything turned out fine. It took a few days to get any real CO2 production, but as of a week after pitching the packets, my gravity went from 1.035 to 1.006 and the beer tastes slightly funky, like light kombucha.