Help with growing up old yeast for my starter

[kwingert]

I'm brewing an Oktoberfest; 5.5 gallons with an OG of 1.062 using WLP830. I have 2 vials and need 460 billion cells. Here's the problem: the production date of the yeast is Jan 30, 2013. I ordered the yeast and expected it to be no older then a month. So what do I do? I really need to brew on Sunday and pitch on Monday after cooling the wort. But, I can brew next weekend; its just more convenient to brew this weekend.

Here's what I have for equipment:

2 - 1 gallon glass jars which I can oxygenate and shake.
1 - 2000 Erlenmeyer flask and a stir plate. I don't have access to this until tomorrow afternoon.

Any suggestions how to grow enough yeast?

 

[aiptasia]

1) Buy some fresh yeast.
2) Use the flask and stir plate to make a starter, decant, and then step it up with a fresh batch of wort.


Just FYI, the dates on White Labs bottles are "best before" dates, and not "born on" dates. Always check the dates on the bottles before you buy them.

 

[BlackGoat]

that yeast isn't that old, it should work. Just consult http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html and it will tell you what size starter you need.

Edit - just saw that the date is a best-by date, which does indicate that the yeast is pretty old so you may want new yeast.

 

[BigFloyd]

Do a separate starter for each of the vials. One about 1.5L on the stirplate in the flask and another about the same size in one of the gallon jars. It doesn't sound like you'll have time to crash them though.

The two of them combined ought to give you enough if the yeast is still viable. The stirplate one only ought to run for 18-24 hours anyway.

If the yeast is a dud, there's always next weekend.

 

[kwingert]

The "best before" date on my yeast is May 30 and getting more yeast is really not an option because I have to order it from the internet. The closest HBS is 2 hours away and there is no guarantee it will be any fresher. And to top it off, my buddy who is loaning me the stir plate and flask called me and said he broke the flask.

The problem with mr.malty is it just says to pitch 4 vials into 3 liters of starter wort.

This is what I think I will do. According to mr.malty, I have 46% viability or 46 billion cells. If I pitch each of my vials into 1 liter of wort it should at least double leaving me with about 100 billion cells in each jar. Then I can pitch those into 3 liters each and I should have more then enough yeast. It will not allow me to brew this Sunday but I will have a good pitch of yeast which is the most important thing.

Does this sound like a good plan?

 

[BigFloyd]

This is what I think I will do. According to mr.malty, I have 46% viability or 46 billion cells. If I pitch each of my vials into 1 liter of wort it should at least double leaving me with about 100 billion cells in each jar. Then I can pitch those into 3 liters each and I should have more then enough yeast. It will not allow me to brew this Sunday but I will have a good pitch of yeast which is the most important thing.

Does this sound like a good plan?

That ought to work. Good luck with it.

 

[kwingert]

Thanks for the replies.