First attempt at reusing yeast and Murphy's Law

[BrionLax]

I made my first attempt to reuse some yeast from a batch of beer that I did a couple of months ago. In what I think was successful wash of the yeast because the yeast at the bottom of the 3 mason jars had a very good colour and formed a very solid cake at the bottom of the jars. The jars were chilling away nicely in my spare refrigerator waiting for my next brew day.

Now for Murphy's Law - I went away for 5 weeks for work and when I came home, the fridge had died. I have no idea when it went but by the time I got home, everything in the fridge was warm/room temperature.

So here is my question, the jars still seem to be sealed very tight but will this yeast be viable or is it best to just toss it and not risk ruining a batch of beer for the price of a package of yeast?

On a side note, I did also have some hop pellets in their sealed packages in there as well. Will there be much loss of their bittering/flavouring ability after 5 weeks at room temp?

Cheers

 

[Burquebrewer]

You should be good to go with the hops. Those sealed packages are good and you shouldn't notice any depreciation. I'd use them soon though.

As for the yeast...smell it. If it smells good, make a starter with it. If it ferments, taste the starter. if there is nothing funky about it, pitch it.

 

[Jtk78]

...... is it best to just toss it and not risk ruining a batch of beer for the price of a package of yeast?

Just my opinion, yes. Without question. I'd consider the first harvest a practice and try again. I'm a firm believer in things happen for a reason. If you do use the yeast again and anything goes wrong, you better hope your knee is double jointed, because you're going to be kicking yourself hard and repeatedly. While I do harvest yeast, it's not where the money is in a batch of beer.

On the plus side, the hops should be fine.

 

[Burquebrewer]

Becoming familiar with when a yeast is still viable/clean is an important skill for a homebrewer. Even yeast bought from your LBHS or on-line can be bad before it reaches its expiration date.

If for no other reason than to become familiar with the process, try it. Maybe do not make a large batch of something expensive, but at a minimum, I would make a starter with it and pitch it into a cheap and quick batch of beer, just to get more familiar with storing/saving/reusing yeast and what to look for in determining a yeasts health.

 

[BrionLax]

Thanks everyone. I think I will try the starter with one of the jars and see what happens and then go from there.

Cheers