[ultravista]

I built a 2L starter last night with a 6 month old slurry of WLP001 from a local brewery. The yeast was stored at 40 degrees and tasted/smelled ok.

For the starter, I dumped approximately 200ML of the slurry into the starter. The starter is in a 4L flask and on a stir plate.

It's been approximately 24 hours now with no signs of activity in the starter. Nothing.

Sure, it is a bit old, but given the volume of yeast, I was expecting some decent activity by now.

I have only used WLP001 a few times - none with a starter. Does this yeast take off slowly in low gravity wort?

I've got about 800 ML of slurry left in the container. If you were me, would you pitch more or let it do its thing?

My brew day is Saturday ...

[ultravista]

Finally, approximately 26 hours after pitching, the fermentation has begun. The starter is taking off.

[wingnut]

after sitting for a long time, it ususally takes 24 to 48 hours for the yeast to work through the lag phase.  The 10 fold step up also takes a while as the yeast have to multiply (the lag phase) before active fermentation is visible. 

Note: if after 48 hours you have not seen active fermentation, take a gravity reading.  I have sometimes had starters on the stir plate that nevery throw a foamy head... they just ferment out to 1.012... with no visible signs. 

Glad to hear things kicked off for you, and it is another reason I always like to make a starter before pitching.  The yeast will startup much faster in the beer now, and you KNOW you have active yeast!

Enjoy your brewday!

[S. cerevisiae]

Six months is old for a BRY 96 (a.k.a. Ballantine Beer, Sierra Nevada "Chico," Wyeast 1056, White Labs WLP001, and Fermentis US-05) culture.  BRY 96 is an unstable yeast strain, and most yeast strains are down to 25% viability at 120 days.

Two liters is far too much media for a crop that is that old.  Plus, a 2L starter is unnecessary unless one is pitching ten gallons of wort or a high gravity five gallon batch.

[ultravista]

Mark, I am brewing a Pliny the Elder clone that typically 1.072 - 1.078 depending on crush.

It's moving along well now, perhaps too little viable yeast in the beginning.

Thinking back, the bottle of yeast is at least 6 months old. A friend at a local brewery gave me a Nalgene bottle of yeast drawn from the bottom of their conical.

[ynotbrusum]

I have found that this strain is unstable on subsequent pitches after storage.  I don't have a lab grade environment, so I tend not to use it much for re-pitching.

[69franx]

So glad this post is going on right now. I am sitting on 2 quart jars of wlp001 under beer right now that I harvested a while back(going on almost 4 months now) the batch I harvested them for has gotten pushed back several times due to summer time fun. I now will plan on using fresh packs of 05 rather than try to get these going. They were the first attempt on my part for harvesting yeast, so the responses here, I will let them go as the beer they were going to ferment is way too big to take a chance on (1.100)

[ultravista]

Frank, why not try a starter with what you have? My starter was slow to take off, it is rocking and rolling right now. I am confident the yeast is still good, just older and dormant for a while. A fresh dose of wort resuscitated the slurry.

[brewday]

Six months is old for a BRY 97 (a.k.a. Ballantine Beer, Sierra Nevada "Chico," Wyeast 1056, White Labs WLP001, and Fermentis US-05) culture.  BRY 97 is an unstable yeast strain, and most yeast strains are down to 25% viability at 120 days.

Think you meant BRY 96.  Of course I learned that from you.

[69franx]

Frank, why not try a starter with what you have? My starter was slow to take off, it is rocking and rolling right now. I am confident the yeast is still good, just older and dormant for a while. A fresh dose of wort resuscitated the slurry.

We will see, that brew day us still a month away. Should be plenty of time to try to start it and see what happens I guess

[S. cerevisiae]

Think you meant BRY 96.  Of course I learned that from you.

Yes, you are correct. 

[mainebrewer]

I routinely re-pitch my yeast.
I try to re-use it within 4 weeks of harvest, I re-pitch WLP001 10-12 times (never pushed it past that number) without any issues. However, the limit for me on WLP002 is 4-5 times before I get some kind of issue with the fermentation.

[S. cerevisiae]

However, the limit for me on WLP002 is 4-5 times before I get some kind of issue with the fermentation.

What are you experiencing issue-wise with WLP002?  I never use the Fuller's strain because it is my least favorite British strain.

[mainebrewer]

The issue is usually some kind of off flavor.
Not sure if I'm picking up some kind of contamination in the yeast, or what, since the off flavors aren't the same each time.
I just never have the issue with WLP001.

[erockrph]

I routinely re-pitch my yeast.
I try to re-use it within 4 weeks of harvest, I re-pitch WLP001 10-12 times (never pushed it past that number) without any issues. However, the limit for me on WLP002 is 4-5 times before I get some kind of issue with the fermentation.

Do you top-crop the Fullers or just harvest from the trub? That stuff is so damn flocculant that you might just be getting progressively more flocculant yeast out of the cake each time and ending up with yeast that drops before it cleans up all its diacetyl or acetaldehyde.