I have not purchased this yeast strain in years. I could not get over how much the price has risen. It’s almost the same price as a liquid culture at my LBHS.
I noticed the same thing, but with lager strains you don’t have as many choices for the dry yeast. I used it for the longest time, as it re-pitches well, but I have been on a WLP 802 strain for months, as it seems to be a great pilsner workhorse for me. If re-pitching enough, the cost becomes palatable, but I agree that 34/70 is charged at a higher than dry ale yeast rate.
I have used to have several cool lager strains in my old yeast bank. The only lager strain that I currently have in my bank is the Acme strain, and it is a psuedo-lager strain. I plan to add lager strains from old New York and Minnesota breweries in the near future. I am searching for the perfect Pre-Pro Pils strain.
When are you going to start a boutique yeast company Mark? Didn’t East Coast Yeast start out of a guy’s home lab?
I have no desire to turn my yeast hobby into a job.
More proof of your intelligence!
I actually just purchased 2 packs of this today for my first lager attempt. I had my daughter with me and wasn’t paying attention to the dates. It is hard to read but it looks like either Jan 2015 or 2016. I believe Fermentis uses best by dates, so I’m hoping for the latter…
Even if I’m lucky, the viability is likely low. Praying to the Marzen gods that 23 grams is enough to do the job for a 1.058ish wort.
Looks like a 6 to me.
- There’s a 6 above it to compare with.
I see what you mean Jim, but there isn’t a 5 to compare to either. I think if it were a 5, the top portion would be made of 4 dots not three to create a hard edge.
I thought 5 at first glance but after closer examination I can’t tell. Just hope your LHBS treated it well and pray to Ninkasi[emoji3]
IIRC from the Fermentis presentation at NHC, their dry yeast loses 5% viability per year in the fridge and 10% per year at room temp. They were previously using a 2 year best by date, but recently increased to 3 years based on the rather slow loss in viability over time.
Depending on how the yeast was stored, you’re looking at anywhere from 70-90+%of the original viability. That should be plenty good enough for a 1.058 Märzen.
I’m betting you’ll be fine. I recently made a 4 qt. starter with ONE packet of 34/70. Shook the hell out of it and split it at high krausen between TWO six gal. batches of 1.043 German Pils. They took off great at 50F and are now lagering at 32F.
I don’t remember the use by date but I had the packet sitting in my fridge for 6 months.
That’s what I call shaking a starter like it owes you money!
The last time I used W-34/70 was for a German helles in a batch split three ways: one-third with W-34/70; one-third with WLP800 (Pilsner Urquell); one-third with Gervin ale yeast - an English yeast that’s said to be the same as Danstar Nottingham. All fermented around 12 Celsius, which was no problem for any of them. The beers produced by W-34/70 and Nottingham were identical - I couldn’t tell any difference whatsoever in taste or appearance during fermentation. WLP800 was very different, with a much more glutinous looking and persistent krausen that lingered for a couple of weeks. It produced a better beer than the others, with slightly kolsch-like nose and more character, if that’s possible in a lager, and a creamier head with better retention.
I was so suprised at the similarity between W-34/70 & Gervin that I’m going to repeat the test to check I didn’t mix up my yeasts. If it turns out the same again, I’ll obviously stop buying W-34/70 - Gervin ale yeast sachets are £1.75 in the UK while W-34/70 is £4.50.
Interesting, Charles. I’ve been reading about how 34/70 throws all kinds of fruity, hefe, what-have-you flavors if fermented warmer than 54F or whatever. I’ve not experienced that. But at this point, with the price of 34/70, I’d rather pay for a smack pack and build a starter. I’ll get better yeast and a quicker start on the first pitch.
That wasn’t my experience - I found it very neutral and a bit characterless. People say lagers need to be brewed cold for a clean fermentation and minimum esters, but in my experience good lagers have some character, though its a different kind of character from ales.
Well, whether it was a 5 or a 6 it is now fermenting. I was a bit nervous as there was a much longer lag time than I’m used to (around 44 hours before krausen even started to form), but I’ve only done ales thus far, almost always use liquid yeast with a starter and have never pitched at 50 degrees before this batch.
Lager yeasts normally take longer than ale strains to form a krausen, even at room temp when making a starter. You should be fine.
I think I read it on Kai’s site that a 36 hour lag time is normal for most lager fermentations. So 44 hours isn’t all that far off. Personally, I like to see signs of fermentation at 12 hours, or the next morning after brewing if I can help it.