I have 2- 11g sachets of BRY97 that are nearly 1 year old. 2 questions, Are they viable enough to use for a 15 gallon 1.044 gravity beer? If not, does it make sense to add 1 additional sachet to the old ones and hope they take off?
Make a starter for the dry yeast. If the starter doesn’t actually, well, start, then a small loss.
One year old or one year past the printed expiration date? Regardless, I wouldn’t worry about viability. Dry yeast are hearty buggers and I wouldn’t hesitate to use this yeast. I’d only start to wonder if it was 3 or 4 years past the expiration date. But I do think you should pitch four packets into that wort. Maybe you could get by with less, but my inclination would be to play it safe and pitch more than the bare minimum.
IMO, Hope is not a course of action.
I agree
IMO, that’s a tall order for two pax of yeast. Though I normally pitch dry, in this case I would probably rehydrate with some Go Ferm.
I’ll add, no doubt the yeast you have is good if stored cold. I too would pitch more yeast.
Making a starter for dry yeast is not recommended.
I’ve been making starters with dry yeasts for several years with excellent results. I’ve rehydrated first and directly pitched into starters and see no difference in performance. Lots of folks recommend just using additional packets because they’re cheap, but I’ve never seen a yeast producer specifically recommend against making starters with their products.
Bucking the conventional wisdom was tested at Brülosophy a few yrs ago and they also found no issue making a starter for dry yeast. exBEERiment | Yeast Pitch Rate: Starter vs. Rehydration With Dry Yeast In An American Pale Ale | Brülosophy
Likewise, though he initially says just pitch more, this Lallemand rep says it’s OK to make a starter at 7:15-8:15 …and even recommends 30-40°C to create more biomass:
IMO, if it works for you keep doing it. …but life is short and making a starter adds a step and cost that isn’t really required.
Yeast is most likely ok if it was refrigerated, but you need to make something similar to a starter. Some call it vitality starter.
You just need to know whether the yeast is ok.
The “not recommended” guideline really should be “not required”. There is a difference between these two statements.
Dry yeast and yeast from a starter are in different metabolic states. Dry yeast has been processed in such a way that it has all the reserves it needs to grow and reproduce for several generations so you don’t need to provide any oxygen when you pitch it. Once you make a starter you have taken it into the growth phase and used up most or all of those reserves so you will need to oxygenate or aerate your wort, just as for liquid yeast. You have wiped out one of the advantages of dry yeast, which is probably why it is not recommended. If you need to test the yeast, though, go ahead and do it.
Here’s my take on it FWIW
You don’t need to make a starter (or oxygenate) with dry yeast if you’re pitching an appropriate number of cells.
If you don’t have enough cells, its ok to make a starter but you should treat the resultant yeast as a liquid pitch and oxygenate adequately.
What I often do is to make a 1-3L starter but only use a couple of grams of the dried yeast rather than the whole pack. Reseal the pack and put it back in the fridge. Adding a whole pack of dry yeast to a smallish starter isn’t gonna generate a lot of growth since the pitch rate is so high.
By adding just a couple of grams you grow more new cells and you can pitch them along with the rest of the opened pack.
There are still several advantages. It’s much more tolerant of adverse shipping and handling conditions (living in the desert, that’s big for me), has a considerably longer shelf life, a packet has a lot larger cell count than many liquid yeast brands, and let’s not forget price. The price savings in most cases more than pays for the DME to make the starter.
I switched to back to dry yeasts, almost exclusively a number of years ago and never looked back. As the quality and variety of dry yeasts had improved, you’ll find many homebrewers have switched as well.
Essentially how to make a yeast starter for dry yeast from Lallemand.
You are correct.
… which is why the below propagation tech sheet instructs the brewer to oxygenate.
I reached out to Lallemand about the propagation protocol for Diamond lager yeast. Specifically asking about step three where it says to oxygenate at 1-1.2 Lpm for 24 hours. They confirmed to provide oxygenation/aeration continuously for that 24 hour period.
That’s like a whole 5lb tank of oxygen. While that may be appropriate for a 100HL batch, it seems like overkill at home. Try SNS or, if you still believe in it, your trusty old stir plate.
Or pitch another pack or two of dry yeast and skip the whole propagation process…
Yep