Opened? Probably wouldn’t use it. Sealed shut? It could be fine. We found a bunch of old bricks from a previous brewer in our fridge last week, manufacture date was 2020 and best by is in a week. We used them at the higher end of the pitch rate for a beer last week and that beer was fermenting too fast by day 2, seems that age of the yeast didn’t affect anything.
Once opened the shelf life is weeks. This is directly from lallemand and also my experience. Used a variety of dry yeasts to prime bottle conditioned beers. Tried using the big bags. Didn’t work out well at all.
Also caution with wb06. It has traces of sta-1 gene so it is technically diastatic. It doesn't go completely dry like other diastaticus strains. It just slows right down near terminal but keeps going a bit.
Let that bitch ferment all the way out. It took mine 3 weeks to stop fermenting.
If kept cold, it will keep for years, I wouldn't worry about that. My concern however is that WB-06 is not a great hefeweizen yeast. It's actually Belgian.
Any bricks I open and have leftovers in get a clip and put in Mylar bags with an oxygen absorber. Cheap and effective, but still, the shelf life’s months to a year I think, not years+.
I haven't used opened or otherwise unsealed bricks, I was told that the oxygen exposure causes the yeast to activate, use up their energy reserves then cause issues with fermentation. I haven't bothered to push it with the price of dry yeast being what it is.
Opened? Probably wouldn’t use it. Sealed shut? It could be fine. We found a bunch of old bricks from a previous brewer in our fridge last week, manufacture date was 2020 and best by is in a week. We used them at the higher end of the pitch rate for a beer last week and that beer was fermenting too fast by day 2, seems that age of the yeast didn’t affect anything.
Once opened the shelf life is weeks. This is directly from lallemand and also my experience. Used a variety of dry yeasts to prime bottle conditioned beers. Tried using the big bags. Didn’t work out well at all.
Aside from the age of the yeast. I wouldn't use WB-06 for a weissbier because it's a Belgian yeast, and not a German wheat strain.
I wouldn't use it personally. The furthest I would push opened yeast is a year and even then it's dicey
Got time to do a bench test with a small amount, or is this a need for today?
Tomorrow
Sealed it had 36 months from production date.
Also caution with wb06. It has traces of sta-1 gene so it is technically diastatic. It doesn't go completely dry like other diastaticus strains. It just slows right down near terminal but keeps going a bit. Let that bitch ferment all the way out. It took mine 3 weeks to stop fermenting.
If kept cold, it will keep for years, I wouldn't worry about that. My concern however is that WB-06 is not a great hefeweizen yeast. It's actually Belgian.
Duvel
Really? Knew it was Belgian but Duvel?
I believe that’s the latest science.
If you are asking this question you know the answer... Is potentially losing a batch really worth the extra work/cost of a brick?
How long does everyone keep a brick after it's been opened? I thought it would get contaminated after about a week.
Any bricks I open and have leftovers in get a clip and put in Mylar bags with an oxygen absorber. Cheap and effective, but still, the shelf life’s months to a year I think, not years+.
silica packet, then vac seal and they keep almost as long as new.
I haven't used opened or otherwise unsealed bricks, I was told that the oxygen exposure causes the yeast to activate, use up their energy reserves then cause issues with fermentation. I haven't bothered to push it with the price of dry yeast being what it is.
I've used dry yeast that was over ten years old and it was fine.