3 replies to this topic

[davelew]

So, I went to the LHBS over lunch today. I'm planning to brew a session beer this weekend, then do a Russian Imperial Stout next weekend with the primary yeast cake from the session beer.I was originally planning to use Wyeast 1272 American Ale II for both beers, since that was recommended by a friend who's an amazing brewer. I'm not a big fan of 1056 and 1272 in general; they're too clean for an ale yeast, and if I wanted a lager then I'd brew a frickin' lager. So I was thinking of something like 1728 Scottish ale, where I could brew a 70/ this weekend then a scottish-style RIS next weekend.I got to the store, and they were out of almost all Wyeast. No 1272, no 1728, not even my other backups of 1028, or 1762. Then I checked the half-price bin of old yeast, and found an old pack of 1728 dated "16DEC08". Usually, I let a starter go one day for every month since the manufacturing date. Since I'll probably brew on Sunday, that's only three days left for a 4.5 month old Activator pack. Figuring I had no time to lose, I smacked it right there in the store.Here I am , getting ready to leave work, and the smackpack is sitting on my desk nearly ready to burst! When I get yeast that's barely a week old, it sometimes swells that quickly, but I've never seen it happen with old yeast, especially yeast so old that it got moved to the half-price bin.Anybody else had this kind of a reaction from old yeast?

[MtnBrewer]

Never have had that reaction. However, on the rare occasion that I use a smack pack, I usually don't smack it. Most of the time I just open it and add it to the starter. The only exception I can remember recently was the Roeselare last year that I bought the year before that. A year old pack of yeast (and other critters) swelled up after about 2 days of lag.

[davelew]

I added the smackpack to some starter wort yesterday (1 cup of 1.050 canned last-runnings wort from a doppelbock plus 1 cup of 1.020 canned last-runnings wort from a mild to get to 1 pint of 1.035 wort), hit it with 15 minutes of air through a HEPA filter and airstone, then put an aluminum foil lid over the growler.What I could smell of the smackpack was pretty good, and when I put a sanitized airlock on this morning for a few minutes to check the flow rate, there was a bubble every 5 seconds. If all goes as planned, it will go in the refrigerator this evening to get time for the yeast to settle out.I'll check the taste of the starter wort when I decant, but I expect it to be pretty good. Not bad for the oldest yeast I've ever used...