Saq the Pious kit and older wlp530 packs

[Brewtopalonian]

@Brewtopalonian

planning to brew the Saq kit (its a Westy 12 clone) tomorrow and not sure how much yeast I should pitch. 5 gallon batch, OG 1.090. I have 3 packs of wlp530, all three manufactured back in Jan 2019. Mr Malty says the viability is around 10%, so I would need 11 packs with a starter on a stir plate. Obviously, Im not doing that, but curious what everyone thinks or if anyone has had experience pitching older WLP yeast?

I began the starter with one pack, then this morning, concerned I would be underpitching due to the age of the packs, I added a second. Should I add a third?

Stop using White Labs.  Their garbage to begin with, even fresh.  Total cell count might be 90mil in even the freshest packs.  Switch to wyeast or better still, Imperial.  If you use Imperial, no need for a starter.

Good luck!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

This is certainly not my experience.  Perhaps there’s some mishandling in the chain of custody.  Try a different retailer.  I know my retailer gets White Labs and Wyeast in equally good condition.  I’ve come to prefer White Labs, though I’d still probably use Wyeast if convenience or strain availability dictated it.

I am the retailer [emoji1787]

[Robertestein05_gmail.com (Robert)]

@Brewtopalonian

@Brewtopalonian

planning to brew the Saq kit (its a Westy 12 clone) tomorrow and not sure how much yeast I should pitch. 5 gallon batch, OG 1.090. I have 3 packs of wlp530, all three manufactured back in Jan 2019. Mr Malty says the viability is around 10%, so I would need 11 packs with a starter on a stir plate. Obviously, Im not doing that, but curious what everyone thinks or if anyone has had experience pitching older WLP yeast?

I began the starter with one pack, then this morning, concerned I would be underpitching due to the age of the packs, I added a second. Should I add a third?

Stop using White Labs.  Their garbage to begin with, even fresh.  Total cell count might be 90mil in even the freshest packs.  Switch to wyeast or better still, Imperial.  If you use Imperial, no need for a starter.

Good luck!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

This is certainly not my experience.  Perhaps there’s some mishandling in the chain of custody.  Try a different retailer.  I know my retailer gets White Labs and Wyeast in equally good condition.  I’ve come to prefer White Labs, though I’d still probably use Wyeast if convenience or strain availability dictated it.

I am the retailer [emoji1787]

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Oops.  No offense intended.  Still could be something in the pipeline between them and you.  I’d think White Labs would want to know if their product was not getting to market in good condition.  All else being equal, I find no significant quality difference.  That said, if anyone is having consistent trouble with any given  brand, yeah, no brainer, switch to another.  So your advice may serve KCGuy well in his specific case.

[Brewtopalonian]

@Brewtopalonian

@Brewtopalonian

planning to brew the Saq kit (its a Westy 12 clone) tomorrow and not sure how much yeast I should pitch. 5 gallon batch, OG 1.090. I have 3 packs of wlp530, all three manufactured back in Jan 2019. Mr Malty says the viability is around 10%, so I would need 11 packs with a starter on a stir plate. Obviously, Im not doing that, but curious what everyone thinks or if anyone has had experience pitching older WLP yeast?

I began the starter with one pack, then this morning, concerned I would be underpitching due to the age of the packs, I added a second. Should I add a third?

Stop using White Labs.  Their garbage to begin with, even fresh.  Total cell count might be 90mil in even the freshest packs.  Switch to wyeast or better still, Imperial.  If you use Imperial, no need for a starter.

Good luck!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

This is certainly not my experience.  Perhaps there’s some mishandling in the chain of custody.  Try a different retailer.  I know my retailer gets White Labs and Wyeast in equally good condition.  I’ve come to prefer White Labs, though I’d still probably use Wyeast if convenience or strain availability dictated it.

I am the retailer [emoji1787]

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Oops.  No offense intended.  Still could be something in the pipeline between them and you.  I’d think White Labs would want to know if their product was not getting to market in good condition.  All else being equal, I find no significant quality difference.  That said, if anyone is having consistent trouble with any given  brand, yeah, no brainer, switch to another.  So your advice may serve KCGuy well in his specific case.

None taken Robert! [emoji6][emoji482]

I’ve seen the issues with them time and again, so I just stopped using them.  Like you said, no brainer.

[MBOARDMAN70 (KCguy)]

@Brewtopalonian

Stop using White Labs.  Their garbage to begin with, even fresh.  Total cell count might be 90mil in even the freshest packs.  Switch to wyeast or better still, Imperial.  If you use Imperial, no need for a starter.

Im certainly wondering about their quality through my LHBS.  Hell, I had bought four wlp530 packs, and found one with a pinhole leak in the inner sleeve and the yeast had turned brown and useless.  Im very intrigued by the new yeasts, not having to mess with a starter sounds good too.  I’ll check Imperial Loki out for my next belgian recipe.

[denny]

@Brewtopalonian

@Brewtopalonian

@Brewtopalonian

planning to brew the Saq kit (its a Westy 12 clone) tomorrow and not sure how much yeast I should pitch. 5 gallon batch, OG 1.090. I have 3 packs of wlp530, all three manufactured back in Jan 2019. Mr Malty says the viability is around 10%, so I would need 11 packs with a starter on a stir plate. Obviously, Im not doing that, but curious what everyone thinks or if anyone has had experience pitching older WLP yeast?

I began the starter with one pack, then this morning, concerned I would be underpitching due to the age of the packs, I added a second. Should I add a third?

Stop using White Labs.  Their garbage to begin with, even fresh.  Total cell count might be 90mil in even the freshest packs.  Switch to wyeast or better still, Imperial.  If you use Imperial, no need for a starter.

Good luck!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

This is certainly not my experience.  Perhaps there’s some mishandling in the chain of custody.  Try a different retailer.  I know my retailer gets White Labs and Wyeast in equally good condition.  I’ve come to prefer White Labs, though I’d still probably use Wyeast if convenience or strain availability dictated it.

I am the retailer [emoji1787]

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Oops.  No offense intended.  Still could be something in the pipeline between them and you.  I’d think White Labs would want to know if their product was not getting to market in good condition.  All else being equal, I find no significant quality difference.  That said, if anyone is having consistent trouble with any given  brand, yeah, no brainer, switch to another.  So your advice may serve KCGuy well in his specific case.

None taken Robert! [emoji6][emoji482]

I’ve seen the issues with them time and again, so I just stopped using them.  Like you said, no brainer.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Same here…we have 2 shops in town.  One used to carry only Wyeast m the other only White.  Now both are Wyeast only.

[coolman26]

I too prefer WY, but WL is what my local carries. When the weather cools down, I’ll go back to WY if needed. Most of the time I’m using harvested anyway. Given similar yeast strains in each, I almost always prefer the WY for some reason.