Brewer Gerard
Well-Known Member
Whats the oldest vial you've used to make a starter? I've built starters off out of date ones before but, i have a particularly old one in the fridge at the mo and am wondering what are the chances of reviving it?
Oldest vial used to make a starter?
- Thread starter Brewer Gerard
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The oldest I've used so far was 6 months old, WLP007 on a double ipa and that turned out successful. I've heard of people doing over a year old. Just make a small lower gravity starter (about 1.020) and step it up. How old is your vial?
madscientist451
Well-Known Member
My lhbs had a large box of out of date vials from White Labs and said I could take what I wanted. Some wouldn't kick off at all, but some were a year out of date and they worked great.
Fedora
Glorified Janitor
A couple weeks ago I tried to revive two vials of Chico that were 2+ years old. Pitched into a 1.050 starter they showed very little signs of life after two days and were dumped out.
Snausages01
Well-Known Member
3.5 year old slant of WLP029. 250mL starter stepped up to 2L after a few days. Pitched and all went well.
BlueHouseBrewhaus
Well-Known Member
Two year old Wyeast American Lager yeast. Took a week and a half to wake it up and step it but it made a tasty summer lager.
If you try this again do a step starter with the first step being about 250 ml of 1.020 - 1.025 wort.
1.050 is high even for a normal starter with a brand new vial!
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Brewer Gerard
Well-Known Member
Cheers for responses. I had a vial of wlp833 that was sitting in the fridge about 8 months beyond expiry. It's been on the stir plate for over 24 hours now and not a budge thus far. I made a 1.040 starter. I'd be amazed if i got nothing at all
It will go eventually. That is why Wyeast packs are better. You pop it in a sterile environment and it's like a small starter step, then it may take a few days to swell before making an actual starter. I am using 18 month old Wyeast pack on my next lager, 2 steps (pop and then 2L starter over the course of 1.5 weeks).
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Brewer Gerard
Well-Known Member
never used wyeast, what yer sayin makes sense though. Took off in the end bout 12 am last night. Lower viability => longer lag phase. Great that the product can be stored for that long!
RiverCityBrewer
Well-Known Member
This reminded me that I had a Wyeast 3068 in the fridge... dug it out and its from Dec 2011. Just popped it and I'll see what happens. If the pack looks viable and I get a good starter going, I'll step it up a few times and make a Dunkelweizen next week.
