Need yeast but its labor day!!! Hurry

[Brewerfan]

I need yeast bad . I accidently threw out a good yeast package and kept one that was years old. . . .Like 10 years.

I already have a batch of apple wine that used champane yeast. I just put it in the secondary fermenter. There is still vigorous bubbling coning out of the airlock.

I have a watermellon batch that will be sitting in the primary fermenter for 14 hours at the time of this post. I'm afraid of it going bad if I wait to long.

Can I take some juice out of the apple and put it in the watermellon batch?
I belive the yeast would still be alive.

Help please.

 

[Wade E]

Do you have the yeast slurry from the apple? Just adding a little of that juice wont be enough yeast to do the job but if you have the yeast cake (slurry) that you racked off that will work just fine and we use this often for starting hard to start wines or to get a stuck fermentation going again. What sg is your apple wine at now and is there sediment at the bottom of that now?

 

[Brewerfan]

I got rid of the slurry before it was to late. Dont know thw current sg off hand .
There may be a little on top in the secondary. . . . there is sediment on the bottom.

Even though the yeast is sealed in a packet any chance of having some luck with it. Mabey a starter yeast. Its real old but its worth a try.

 

[JasonH]

I've used some packets that were 3 years or older and have had moderate to poor success. Some work and some don't. Its not a problem for me because I always make a healthy yeast starter with my must before pitching into the primary, but it seems like you may not have much time being that watermelon goes bad fast.

 

[Brewerfan]

I tried to rehydrate the yeast. Red star pasteur champane.10 years old in a sealed packet.

I had the water at 95deg. Added yeast, stirred, then let sit for about 15 min.

It had the smell (just like outside of the breweries here) of yeast and seemed to have a little bit of froth on the top of the solution.

At 20 min i added about 50% must volume of the yeast solution. Let it sit for 5 min more.

I could hear a tiny bit of bubbles when I put my ear close. It still had the same on top after 30 min.

I did add the yeast to the must. I figured the tiny , very faint bubbling was a clue that a tiny bit of yeast was active.

I figure that if it were to go bad soon it was worth a try to get the process started.

Tomorrow morning i will get a fresh yeast packet and do the smell/taste test to the must.

If its not bad i'll just pitch the yeast and hope for the best.

 

[Tom]

Cross your fingers

 

[Brewerfan]

I went to check on the must this morning and the yeast was working!
Just to be sure I still rehydrated a packet of leven 71B and put it in.
I know that one strain will overtake the other.

I found out that the packet was more like 12 years old. I'm surprised