I have two packs of WY 1217, West Coast IPA and was going to do a 6-6.5% IPA with the packs. They were packed on October 18 of last year. Do you guys think its still useful to try to make a starter and use these packs? Just want to know. Otherwise I can go with US-05
Yeah, with a starter they should be fine.
^^^ What he said
I have had better luck with expired Wyeast packs vs. White labs. One tip though - don’t make an overly large starter to put too much stress on the yeast and if the starter fermentation appears odd visually to you (or tastes/smells off) for whatever reason then don’t use the yeast. Last summer I tried to start up two 1.5 mos past expiration date vials of WL 530 in a 1.5 L starter on a stir plate. I never saw a krausen or even any streaming bubbles of CO2 rising. But the wort was literally “spraying” (for better words) off the surface of the starter. The yeast did propagate, but when I pitched the ample starter into a low gravity patersbier (1.046) the resulting beer had some plasticy off-flavors I don’t get in beers with healthy starters. Just my observations.
So for two packs together, would you suggest a smaller starter? 1L? I was thinking of doing 1.5L w/ two packs cuz its just this one 1.056-1.059 beer i plan to make.
I think brewinhard means a lower SG starter for the first step. Make up a 1.010 starter to prevent stress on the yeast. Step two can be a typical 1.038 SG. Start with one liter then move up to 1.5, or greater, to get the cell propagation you need.
You can salvage yeast that is way older than that.
Flag porter is partially made with yeast salvaged from a bottle of beer that had set on the bottom of the English channel for over 100 years.