Small Batch Yeast Rejuvenation

Paying a visit to a new (to me) homebrew shop in the area last week--unbelievably, there are three here that are within easy driving distance--I discovered a box of expired yeast vials and smack packs, all marked half off.  "Great for yeast starters!" the note on the box proclaimed.  Indeed, I replied.  In the box was a vial of WLP862, Charlie Papazian's Cry Havoc strain; I've never used it, but have been interested since Br. Abelard put it to work on his recent kolsch.  I hadn't yet settled on a yeast for an upcoming imperial porter, and growing up this vial seemed like a good possibility.  Of course, the "best by" date on the vial was 10 March, solidly three months ago; according to Jamil Zainasheff's pitching rate calculator, it was only 10% viable when I bought it.  Nothing like a challenge.

On hand at home were partial ounces of Galena, Warrior, and Nugget hops, and just over a quart of starter wort from the end of my recent Burton ale mash.  Add a pound of DME, some water, yeast energizer, and a short boil, and we have a gallon of hopbursted IPA.  It came together almost too easily, and into a little fermenter it went.

It took a couple days to get going, during which time I moved it into a glass fermenter and put it on the stirplate, much to its benefit.  This strain is known to have a bit of a lag starting fermentation even under optimal conditions, and I didn't entirely set it up for success.  It would've been smarter to start off with a much smaller starter of lower-gravity wort; next time I'll probably build it up with just a cup of 1.030 wort before this size starter batch.  Thankfully, by yesterday afternoon it was chugging away, making up for lost time; I had to slip it into a swamp cooler to keep it under control.  This is a way to take advantage of a good deal on yeast, fully utilize the resources already around, and get a micro batch of semi-experimental beer out of the deal.  There's not time now to propagate enough yeast for my imperial porter, but that just means the Cry Havoc will be available for something a little further down the brew docket.  In the meantime, I'm planning to stop by that LHBS again; they seemed to be suffering from an overabundance of expired Pacman smack packs...

Starter IPA
1 gallon
OG: 1.056
IBU: 39.1

1 qt Starter wort
1 lb Muntons Extra light DME

.1 oz Galena (13.2%) (15 min)
.2 oz Nugget (12.4%) (10 min)
.2 oz Warrior (16.7%) (5 min)
1.1 oz Galena-Nugget-Warrior blend (0 min - hop stand 30 min)

Pinch Yeast energizer
WLP862 Cry Havoc

- Br. Absalom