Partially frozen Wyeast pack
Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:58 am
by Guido
I just received my homebrew supply order, several days late because of the bad weather in the mid-west. My pack of Wyeast 4766 Cider yeast was partially frozen (It was crunchy inside). I'm sure some of the yeast are goners. I know I can tell viability with the smack pack, but do you think it might be a good idea instead to put the yeast in a flask on a stir plate to revive it with some cider medium instead of DME. What do you think? Maybe I should activate the smack pack, see how much it swells, and then add it to the flask with the stir plate.
Re: Partially frozen Wyeast pack
Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 4:57 pm
by spiderwrangler
I'd probably make a starter on the stir plate with cider or even apple juice and some nutrients just to get it back up to being happy and ready to go...
Re: Partially frozen Wyeast pack
Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 5:20 pm
by pythoner
To freeze the yeast, you need a cryogenic freezer. The probably have put out the shock proteins... The stir plate is a near must for there health
Re: Partially frozen Wyeast pack
Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 5:28 pm
by spiderwrangler
To freeze them for preservation purposes, you need a deep freeze, if the pack was slushy, it's likely that some of the yeast did experience freezing, which may have caused damage.
Re: Partially frozen Wyeast pack
Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 4:40 pm
by phodog
got a solid block of wyeast lambic a couple weeks ago, thawed, dumped it in, and viola, activity!
Re: Partially frozen Wyeast pack
Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:11 pm
by brewinhard
phodog wrote:got a solid block of wyeast lambic a couple weeks ago, thawed, dumped it in, and viola, activity!
WHAT?!! That's crazy! Are you a spokesperson for WYeast?