Bewitched Amber from Last Year - Yeast Question

[Bassman]

I have a can of Bewitched from last year. It's not a full year old. I kept the can at room temperature and the MB gold foil pack yeast under the lid. I also have some extra packs of yeast that I kept in the fridge.

Is there any reason to use 2 packs of yeast or will the one pack be viable enough?

I also posted on the MB forums.

[myhorselikesbeer]

Bassman...Welcome to the Borg. You will probably still be ok using the dried yeast that was at room temp. They keep for quite a ling time. If in doubt then use one of the packs you have in the fridge. I don't know your brewing level, but this could time to try a starter if you have never done one. Use about 2 oz. of DME in 500 mL of water, boil 15 min, cool, add your yeast an see if you get activity in 24-48 hrs, then pitch the slurry into your Bewitched Amber wort.

[Beer-lord]

It's not usually suggested that you make a starter with dry yeast though many like to rehydrate it first. There's been lots of discussion on whether you even need to make a starter with dry yeast as it already contains more yeast cells than comparable liquid yeast. That said, other than some time spent, you're not doing any harm. I'd suggest that if your dry yeast is old, just use 2 packets and you should be fine.

[FrozenInTime]

Personally, yeast fromunder that long, I would throw it in the boil to use as a yeast nutrient and ferment with some fresh yeast. I don't have much faith in fromunder being very good, it works but there is better. IMHO

[myhorselikesbeer]

I agree Paul that a starter from dry is not usually done. I just thought that if he wanted to play a little and get the feel of doing a starter it would be helpful.

70 degrees....nice... we might get to 35 today....heat wave.

[Beer-lord]

I lied, it's only supposed to be 69 today...tomorrow it's 70.
I think there's one more cold front later this week and that will hopefully be all left of winter here.

I think Frozen had a good point. In many of my Mr. Beer recipes I ditched their yeast and used 05 and was happy I did so. In lieu of any name brand yeast, it's best to pitch 2 since it's a year old and left out at room temp instead of the fridge.

[myhorselikesbeer]

Agreed

[Bassman]

I have a packet of US-05 that has been in the fridge. I was going to use the MB yeast because I just wanted to make it straight up rather than tweak the recipe.