old smelly smack pack

[Chad Keven]

just after some advise; I prepared a 3L starter for an amber ale this weekend, I Pitched a smack pack thats around 6 months old. when I cut open to chuck it in it had a bit of a wierd smell to it. also it didnt swell too much in 3 hours.

this morning theres no krausen and bugger all co2.

the question: should I buy some dry yeast today?  or persevere and use it? might buy some yeast anyway as a back up.

anybody struck smelly old yeast before?

[Ralph]

If your starter has not got up and fermented like it should then there is the risk that there would not be enough viable yeast to ferment your ale if you pitch it. If you had a couple more days to see if the starter got up and going properly and maybe to build the starter up then it would probably be ok.

I would think that you could always pitch the starter into your wort, and if there are not enough signs of fermentation after 24 hours or so then you could always chuck some dry yeast at it? Or pitch the starter and the dry yeast at the same time? I don't think the yeast from the smack will be a danger to your brew and I am guessing that the smelliness of the pack would be simply due to yeast cells breaking down?

[Dougal]

What kind of smelly? Sulfur is okay.

There's a rule of thumb floating around with old smack packs that you should break open the nutrient pack a day earlier for every month since production to get it to wake up adequately. That pack is at about 10% cell viability by now. Looking at this site, if you're using a stir-plate you've now got about 109 billion cells and you need 180-ish for a normal ale fermentation.

I'd definitely look at doing another starter step after chilling and decanting, or just buy some dry yeast if you're running short on time.

[Chad Keven]

not sulphury kinda like a sick vomity smell like my toddler's milky puke .its american ale 2 wy1272 i think i'll take my chances but do a dash to the brew shop monday if no good. i'm doing 50l so didnt want to buy $15 worth of so5 if i didnt need it. being tight probably be my down fall!

[Dougal]

For a 1.050 beer you'd be looking at another 4 litre starter step on top of what you have to get there. I'd definitely chuck in at least one packet of S-05 too at pitching time.

[Chad Keven]

thanks online beer dudes; the next question is: is S-05 any better than the various yeasts i have stored in water in my fridge? should I put a freaky cocktail in there? irish ale, kolsch who knows? might create a freaken monster! or should i just get some dry stuff?

[Ralph]

Depends what sort of yeast characteristics and attenuation you want? With US05 you know what you will be getting in terms of clean character and predictable FG. With a weird cocktail you may get something that has more yeastie notes and may finish at a gravity different to where you want?

Then again, a weird mix of yeast may also produce something wonderful if you are lucky! Something that you may never be able to exactly create again!

How old and how active the yeast in water in your fridge is would be a deciding factor as well. If they are fresh and ready to go you could use them, but if they are older and need waking up then you may not have time to get them up and running before brewday?

US05 sounds like the closest to the Wy1272 out of the options you are talking about?

[Chad Keven]

yes all good relevant points, I have checked my flask and there is some activity! i was getting worried there i'm still concerned with less than 48 hours to go that i'll be under-pitching. my other option is to have a sicky off work and brew in a few days time so i have time to build up.

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