Pitched old yeast?

[tallmikeG]

I brewed a batch of wheat beer over this past weekend, and I may have mistakenly pitched some expired yeast into the fermenter. It's now the fourth day of "fermentation" with no apparent activity....now for my question: Is this batch lost, or can I add more healthy yeast to start fermentation? how would this extra yeast affect the taste of the final product? sorry for the noobie question, and thanks in advance!

-tallmikeG.

[Tweek]

It definately wouldnt hurt to add more yeast. I wouldnt toss the batch just yet. You do have a good potential for outside infection if you havent started ferment after four days, but a couple bucks on a new vial of yeast is well worth finding out.

good luck

[YamahaXS]

go buy some new yeast and pitch immediately.


assuming you practiced good sanitation, your beer will probably be ok so go get some new yeast. Make sure you buy a yeast that you can pitch asap, you don't want to wait another couple of days for a starter.

good luck!

[tallmikeG]

cool...thanks guys! everything's well-sanitized, so i'm not really worried about infection this early. I'll pitch some new yeast when i go home on my lunchbreak. :)

...just for future reference, what is the advantage for using a "yeast starter"? I've been pitching directly from the bottle.

[Tweek]

If you make a yeast starter you will never end up pitching dead yeast. You have a chance to "proof" the yeast before it goes into your beer. Also making starters will vastly reduce your lag time reducing the chance for outside infection.

[tallmikeG]

well, that's convincing enough! Thanks for the quick reply...i'm obviously new to this forum and you've managed to make my first impression a good one! I hope i can make a positive contribution!

[tallmikeG]

well, woke up this morning to see some hyperactive fermentation! looks like the new yeast is doing it's thing...hopefully everything remained sanitary.

thanks again!