I bought a few (too many) kits about 2 months ago, and am down to the last 2. Last night I grabbed the 1056 from the fridge and found it to be fully swelled (remaining one is still flat). I tried my best to see if the pack inside had been compromised, but no luck, just too swelled to tell. I figured I might as well give it a try.
I made up a 650ml wort starter and opened the yeast and gave it a sniff. While yeast in general is not the most fragrant stuff, I found no objectionable odor. I carefully squeezed the inner back to open it, and pitched it into the starter.
The appearance was quite normal. This morning I gave it a swirl, and got the typical foam up that I usually see from an active starter, and it smelled fine.
I did notice on the last batch, about 3 weeks ago, that the bag they were in seemed a bit puffy, but really did not think anything of it at the time. I suspect that it puffed up mostly in these last few weeks, in spite of being in the fridge for 2+ months.
Given that it seems to be OK, would anyone have doubts about using it? Any thoughts on why it would have inflated? Infection?
John
Happens all the time. Generally not a problem. Glad you made a starter if it was several months old
560sdl,
Thanks for the confidence. First time I had this happen in a dozen or so batches. I had 1 from last summer that did not survive shipping at 90F, but that’s the only 1 that had issues.
FYI, nice location you have listed. Known Kent Island for many years, from land and water. My father lives a few miles south of the bridge off 18, beautiful area. We descend upon them every fathers day for St Michaels boat show and copious beer drinking. Homebrew will rule this year.
John
[quote=“jleiii”]560sdl,
Thanks for the confidence. First time I had this happen in a dozen or so batches. I had 1 from last summer that did not survive shipping at 90F, but that’s the only 1 that had issues.
FYI, nice location you have listed. Known Kent Island for many years, from land and water. My father lives a few miles south of the bridge off 18, beautiful area. We descend upon them every fathers day for St Michaels boat show and copious beer drinking. Homebrew will rule this year.
John[/quote]
Where are you now? In Maryland?
You must mean Route 8 south of the Bridge. Rt 18 runs parallel to Rt 50. I live all the way at the end of Rt 8, at the tip of the island. Just moved there a year ago and love it. Boat, fish, crab, golf, brew beer and grow hops. Hard to beat that, except I still work in Montgomery County 
Oops, yes Rt 8. You’d think I’d get them right after being in that area regularly for 15yrs, and that general area for 45+. We refer to it as Rum and Coke Road, my wife’s drink of choice. I grew up boating on the northern half of the bay, and my uncle has a waterfront farm near Centerville, so I go way back down there.
Can’t imagine commuting from there to Montgomery County, although I am at least a little envious!
I’m in NJ, just east of Philly, but we’re down there regularly all year. My father has waterfront property on Warehouse Creek.
I’ll PM you next time we’re going to be down, and maybe we can share some homebrew.
John
Sounds like a plan.
Funny, I grew up boating on the southern part of the bay. Been coming to the island for boating for 25 years +
Be great to meet sometime and good luck with your current brew. I always have at least 4 kegs on tap.
Alan
use whitelabs.
Looks like all is well. Starter gobbled up all the sugars and dropped out by the time I got home, and a taste of it was fine, and quite dry.
Brewed up the White House Honey Porter last night, and it’s chugging away in earnest this morning.
I’m trying a new idea I read about recently regarding reusing yeast. I read a great post on another popular forum about taking a small sample of the starter to use for the next starter. I saved, rinsed and reused a couple before, but this idea is even better. You start with a fresh batch every time. I set aside some of this yeast and will see how it goes the next time.
John
