So I didn’t get to brew my Brown ale last Friday night. After getting the kids to bed (and waiting to be sure they were in bed), I went to the garage to find some equipment troubles. I had stored my chiller inside my 10 gallon stainless pot. There must have been a little water between the copper chiller and the stainless because I got a little oxidation of the copper. So there was a little green copper on the pot bottom and the chiller. I know that oxidized copper is not something you want getting into the beer. So I needed to look up the proper way to clean oxidized copper. As a result, I didn’t brew.
So now I have a dilemma. I am ready to brew again, but should I use my yeast that I started and chilled? I am looking for ideas. Here is my situation:
I had one WLP001 vial of yeast that was only 14 days past its “best buy” date. I made a starter on a stir plate 2 full days before brewing. I got good growth as estimated by an increase in creamy opaqueness of the start wort post 2 days (looks like most starters I make, so no worries there).
Then I crash cooled it overnight, anticipating I’ll pitch the slurry only the next day into a Brown Ale.
I never got to brew the brown ale – sad to say.
So now I have yeast still in the fridge and settled out. The spent starter wort still above it.
Which route is the best course of action?
- Pitch the slurry as is after bringing it to room temp.
- Decant spent wort and add new start wort day of brew session.
- Ditch the whole thing and start fresh.
- Something I didn’t think of.
dan
I would either decant and pitch the slurry as is, or decant and add fresh wort to get it going again…either way should be fine.
Keith
I say just use it the way it is. There’s still plenty of yeast in there!
Adam
A properly made starter will last up to a couple weeks in the refrigerator. No need to use more DME unless you want to increase the cell count. Go with option 1: decant while still cold and then let it rise to pitching temperature over the course of several hours and pitch as is.
Ryan
i agree with Dan. i recently made a starter w/ Wy3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen) and was unable to brew that weekend and threw it in the fridge. 2 weeks later, i decanted & added a bit of fresh starter wort and it was blasting away in primary after 5 or 6 hrs.
Scott
Agreed…’should be just fine. 001 is a rather resilient strain. I’ve gotten it going in the worst of conditions. I’m using it now for an IPA. I have to say, it’s bubbling away quite fine outside of its recommended 68-73°F range.
Frank
I say just use the slurry as is at room temp….it’s not much different from yeast vials you’d buy at the store at this point.
Ray
Having been in this position myself, too, I have a question for those of you advocating to use it: for how long is yeast viable in this condition? Days? Weeks? I just chucked an unused starter after a few weeks.
JW
According to the guys over on the Brew Strong podcast, you can pitch the yeast within a week or two from when you harvested it (or when the starter is complete) and you shouldn’t have to worry about it. So under that guidance, option (1) is probably a safe bet.
Just to be on the safe side, however, I would go with your option (2). Even if you add in a pitch of wort to the starter and let the yeast chew on that for 8-12 hours, you’ll get the yeast awake and active by the time you pitch(along with a little bit more cell growth).
Best of luck – let us know how it turns out.
-JW