I’m getting ready to brew a 10.5 gal batch of ESB as soon as it warms up around here. This weekend looks to be around 47*, so I’ll try then. I have one pack of Wyeast dated Dec 13th 2013 that will go into a 1qt starter. I also have 4 1qt jars of yeast slurry, each jar is about 1/4 full with 7 month old slurry. So almost 1qt of slurry total. Is this 7 month old slurry still good? It still is a light tan/beige color and hasn’t turned dark [peanut butter color] yet. It has been refrigerated and stored under a beer and water mix. Do I need to make a separate starter or can I use some of the slurry by itself to add to the smack pack starter for enough for the 10.5 gals?
I would opt to make a starter with the pack and step it up once or twice.
If you use the Old stuff, definitely make a starter.
[quote=“roffenburger”]I would opt to make a starter with the pack and step it up once or twice.
If you use the Old stuff, definitely make a starter.[/quote] Yeah, I probably should do a 2 step starter with the pack. I will have to do a small mash to have enough starter wort. The old yeast looks ok but it has sit longer than usual for me. Thanks.
I’ve used slurry as old as one year. It has about a 36 hour lag time with no starter, so if you do use the slurry make a starter, or at least proof it. I’ve noticed on the slurries more than about 6 months old the beer has a “yeasty” off flavor that takes an extra two weeks or so to age out. I had one that never totally lost the flavor. I assume this is due to yeast autolysis from the near-dead yeast struggling to revive.
I’ve revived slurry that’s 10 months old fairly often. I typically run it through two starters. It takes about 36 hours to get going, but then it seems to ferment normally. I haven’t experienced any off-flavors using old slurry. I’ve kind of revamped my brewing schedule for the next year so that the oldest slurry I’ll use is about 6 months old.
