Ok another weird one from me guys... My last brew day was around then second week of September. Had the yeast starter ready a few days prior to use my harvested yeast from a prior brew. The problem was that somehow the mason jar of yeast got an infection (too much headspace? Too old? Who knows?! Never happened before...that's another thread) so I had to dump it and get new yeast. No problem! Here's my question: Is the yeast starter still viable? I never ended up using it and put the sanitized lid back on and it went in the fridge. Next brew day is in about a month. Is it still ok? Looks fine but the cold could have just slowed down any possible infections. I will be using a new pack of Belgian yeast for a White IPA. I don't want to waste my money, but I also don't want to toss the starter liquid I'd I can help it! Yeast has skyrocketed in price lately in my neck of the woods. It's gone from 7.99 for a pack of yeast to 10.99 in just over a year... Happy brewing!
So no yeast has been added to this starter? Is this correct? If that’s the case, just reboil it quick and you should be fine. Assuming it doesn’t smell sour or nasty.
I think it would depend on how you got the yeast from the prior batch and washed it and how sanitized the jar was. I had three jars from a Kveik beer I did and two were fine where one lost the seal and was not. Some times this happens. Only reason I wanted to try with the Kveik was because other homebrew club members had luck saving some. I have not tried with any other yeast as of yet.
Yeah I think it might have been a loose lid. There was all kinds of black gunk on top of the glass. I now remember I had filled that jar too much and some spilled out. Maybe I didn't wipe the top all the way and it wasn't airtight? Couple that with the fact it's almost been in there 6 months, it was a recipe for disaster. That's all I can think of. Irrelevant now I suppose. Lesson learned.
You might want to read this article, about the small but real risk of Botulism from storing post boil wort (like an unused starter wort) for extended time before fermenting. https://beerandwinejournal.com/botulism/ TLDR: Post boil wort is the right pH to encourage growth of Clostridium, which can grow in the wort after boiling because the spores survive boiling and then can begin to grow. And since that stored wort isn't immediately fermented (which if it were would take the pH out of Clostridium growth range), it remains in the favorable pH range for Clostridium growth, producing toxins which do not boil away when you reboil the wort.
Seems like it's not a live issue anymore, and I really really really don't want to encourage people to take unnecessary risks, but: https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/Botulism/clinicians/control.asp Quoting from the CDC webpage: "Despite its extreme potency, botulinum toxin is easily destroyed. Heating to an internal temperature of 85°C for at least 5 minutes will decontaminate affected food or drink." [me again] So in the narrow context where the wort is going to be thoroughly boiled, absent overt signs of contamination I think it might be reasonable to use it. Obviously in a lot of contexts (e.g. starters) there's no plan to boil the wort again, in which case you should just dump the wort if it hasn't been promptly used after boiling. But you can also give it a good boil. (Another option is to pressure-can the wort in accordance with safety guidelines, in which case the spores will be killed and the wort will be shelf-stable at room temperature.) [updated to clearly identify the language quoted from the CDC] [updated again to note that the Beer & Wine Journal article actually discusses the use of heat to denature botulinum toxin, citing the same numbers provided by the CDC]
And let’s remember, one can always save yeast ,after the primary ferment, in a clean sanitized container in the fridge for a while. For me, 3 months is the longest. said this bit due to the concern over dollars spent, which I respect!!!
