I have a recipe calling for Wyeast 1007 German Ale Yeast. Neither of the LHBS has it in stock. If I order it online and it freezes in transit will it work as well as if it had never been frozen?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
no. it will kill a lot of the cells and the ones that survive will be severely weakened. you could make a starter and step it up though.
Freezing definitely hurts liquid yeast. The freezing water solidifies and punctures cell wells, killing the yeast. If you order online and are worried about freezing, you’ll want to do a small starter ( like .25L) then step it up.
I’ve received a few smackpacks in slushy condition. I always worry about them, but I’ve never had any fermentation issues from any of them, starter or not.
I would be concerned if it freezes hard, though. Supposedly K97 is the dry version of this yeast - maybe that’s a better option for you?
While we are on the subject, I was wondering about when I should harvest yeast. Got an APA i dry hopped a few days ago and wanted to cold crash. Should i rack to a secondary first and harvest from the cake, or after I crash?
Safale German Ale K97 (dry yeast) is supposedly the same as 1007. I have used twice and like the results. Clean and crisp.
I think it’s safer to ship dry yeast.
I cold crash, package, the save the yeast.
+1.
And involving freezing yeast, as long as it does not freeze solid you will have enough yeast to make a starter with to properly ferment your wort.