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Last night, I was trying out a new recipe for a hoppy tripel, and ended up with more wort than anticipated (at an OG of around 1.070), so I quickly sanitized my clear growler that I usually use as a starter, and pumped about a litre into it as the carboy was already pretty much too full.

I had this old vial of Escarpment's Ardennes ale yeast in the fridge that had expired in March 2018, and I had been meaning to use some DME to make a little starter for it to see if it was still alive... but I figured since I had this extra wort, why not throw the yeast in and put it on the stir plate. (I put a little bit of yeast nutrient in it for good measure).

So it definitely seems alive already... but I dont think I'll be able to brew anytime soon, so here's a couple Q's for you experienced folks.

1 - do you think it worth trying to save?
2 - i usually use a starter with a much lower OG - is using a higher OG starter gonna mess things up?
3 - does having hops in the starter have an impact on things?
4 - if I wanted to try saving it, could I just chill it after a couple of days, pour off the excess wort (or beer I suppose by then), and then put it in a Mason jar for later use?





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Well if it seems alive already then 1) I'd definitely keep going with it.

I think 2) and 3) have an impact, especially 2. With a higher gravity and old yeast you may not get the growth you'd expect with a 1.038 starter and fresh yeast. Buy hey, if it's fermenting at least you've revived it.

If I were you I'd do 4) and keep it in a mason jar under as much of it's fermented beer as it can hold. Whenever you want to brew with it next you can either make a new starter with it or YOLO and pitch it as is with unpredictable results.

Congrats on saving it.

Agree with RubberToe, at that age the yeast has next to no viability and with pitching into 1.070 wort the yeast is under a good amount of stress.
Would be a fun project to keep it the mason jar and build it up in a multi step starter, similar to saving dregs from a commercial bottle.
Last year I grabbed a pouch of the Unibroue yeast from Wyeast, it was free and very old. I built it up with a few low OG and volume starters then pitched into a small witbier and turned out great! It was fun but in the end a lot of work, but again this is a hobby!


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wcturnedec wrote:Agree with RubberToe, at that age the yeast has next to no viability and with pitching into 1.070 wort the yeast is under a good amount of stress.
Would be a fun project to keep it the mason jar and build it up in a multi step starter, similar to saving dregs from a commercial bottle.
Last year I grabbed a pouch of the Unibroue yeast from Wyeast, it was free and very old. I built it up with a few low OG and volume starters then pitched into a small witbier and turned out great! It was fun but in the end a lot of work, but again this is a hobby!


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Ok, so let it finish off with what's there now, then harvest, refrigerate and start all over again for 2-3 times kinda thing?

I really need to get me a proper erlenmeyer (maybe Santa will bring me one) - my growler only seems to work for 1.5 - 2 days tops before the whirlpool will no longer form... there is a slight curve in the bottom of it.

At this stage it is pretty active, so I am thinking just putting an airlock on it maybe?

Has anyone used this yeast before? It smells pretty terrific already.

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If it has decent activity I'd just keep it until you want a fresh starter for your next brew and do that vs keep stepping it up now.

I've used Ardennes before and it's quite a beast and likes to climb out the top. IIRC a great candidate for top cropping.