yeast viability, and summer shipping

Most places ship with an ice pack, or offer one for $.99. As long as you don't leave it sitting in your mailbox/front porch for hours you should be fine getting it shipped. At least that's been my experience.

 

If you desire to purchase liquid yeast right now (August) your best bet is to purchase from your LHBS. There will be more viable yeast in their 4 month old packages then what will survive a three day trip with an ice pack. As you rightly pointed out, an ice pack will not survive a three day trip.

If you want to still work out a 'deal' with an online vendor you need to request that they pack your liquid yeast within a styrofoam 'box' with multiple ice packs included. Even then you are taking a bit of a risk.

Cheers!

 

The best workaround is to have a closer supplier do the shipping. I live in FL but use suppliers in TN and GA. UPS ground is a two day shipment from either . . . if I ordered from Northern Brewer (MN) it would be a four day event. I always use two ice packs (what's another buck?) and because these are small time shops usually speak to the owner/packer directly. I've had no problem verifying the date of the yeast and they work with you . . . not packing the yeast until just before Mr. UPS arrives for pick up. I always order on Mon, which means it arrives on Wed with Thur as a back up (a weekend is a killer). My UPS delivers early-afternoon so I'm always hanging around at that time. If your delivery is later in the day it's a bigger problem.

That said, I'm still reluctant to order anything in the really hot part of summer. If you upgrade to one day shipping you'll have more invested in transportation than yeast. This has driven me to make max use of re-using/harvesting yeast strains (Ommegang dregs are spinning on the stir plate as I type while a DuPont brew is cold-crashing).

 

@PortLargo Great suggestion. Finding a LHBS nearby (whatever city is nearest) and having them ship would be your best bet. @corbmoster Where in TX are you?

 

@corbmoster, the other option is to keep a stock of dry yeast in your refrigerator. Over the past few years the dry yeast vendors have significantly increased the variety of yeast they produce and dry yeast when refrigerated has a two year shelf life. Buy the dry yeast during the colder time of the year and you are 'set' for two years.

The one yeast strain that I use the most is a dry strain: US-05. I used that strain for 9 batches in 2015.

Cheers!

 

Not a shill for UPS, but the entire eastern half of Texas is one day shipping to Huntsville. Just looked at AHB, their prices seem high and shipping is higher than many . . . hard to believe there aren't other suppliers in Texas. Not a slam ... but all of this is easily found on Google.

 

I'd caution you again using Austin Homebrew Supply. I ordered some yeast from them that I couldn't find in Dallas at the time. They sent me two vials there were within weeks of their "best by" date, and another that was already past it. They then tried to argue that it shouldn't affect the yeast... that was the end of my business relationship with them.

If you're open to other options, look @ Homebrew Headquarters in Dallas. Most of the yeast I get there was packaged within a week. They also have plenty of ice packs.

Does Houston not have a LHBS? Cheers!

 

@corbmoster you have 3 breweries within about an hour of you, B-52, Southern Star and Copperhead, you might reach out to them and see if they are willing to part with some if you can make it by when they are harvesting it. I have been to B-52 several times and they seem like the kind of people that might be willing to do something like that. Doesn't hurt to ask

 

The "Best By" date is arbitrary nonsense, but it is annoying when vendors can't manage their inventory turnover effectively. It's reasonable IMO to expect yeast that's less than a couple months old, at least for popular strains. A few years ago, a vendor emailed me to give me a choice between an old-ish pack of the yeast strain I had ordered and a much fresher vial of its equivalent, which I thought was nice.

 

. . . don't leave us hanging . . . which way did you go?

 

What are you wanting to brew?

 

LOL. I took the fresher White Labs equivalent.

 

Why don' you try Ritebrew in Wisconsin. They keep a wide variety of dry yeasts in stock and price/shipping is very reasonable.

www.ritebrew.com

 

Try seeing it this way . . .

U.S. Ground Map Results
Business days in transit to: HUNTSVILLE, TX 77320