So I cant find an answer to this. Driving me mad.
I have a vial of Whitelabs. I'm going to need a starter due to size & gravity of beer I want to brew.
I want to use yeastcalc to determine step sizes etc
Q1. What is the manufacture date of my vial? I only have a best before stamp on the label.
Q2. What is the starting cell count? From the whitelabs website the initial cell count is anywhere between 75 & 150 billion cells.
Q3. Do i just make the assumption its 150b IF i can work out the manufacture date or could it be 75b on THAT date?
:angry:
mckenry
A1. Most Whitelabs have a best before date 4 months from manufacture, not all, but if you use 4 months you will be correct in most cases.
A2. Whitelabs err on the cautious side when they say 75-150 billion live cells. I'd go with stux and assume 100bn, in most cases you will be underestimating the numbers.
A3. Go with 100bn at a date 4 months back from the best before date.
Wolfy, totally understand where you are coming from.
I try to plan my import of fresh yeast such that no vial is older than 8 weeks from manufacture and with the popular strains this works well. Some of the less popular strains get a little older in the fridge and occasionally reach the BB date, when they do they go into the Past Date area and are sold at a discount rate.
Not many vials get this old and last week there were 6 vials out of a shipment of 100 that were moved to the discount pile and they were snapped up by some very good brewers.
I do the same with Wyeast, I stock both and believe I am the only Aussie HBS to do so.
My aim is to provide the best product possible to my customers and in doing so some may shop elsewhere when they see the sold out sign on the strain they want today.
I am also in the habit of letting my customers know when I'm about to order fresh stock so they can be sure and get 4 day old yeast if they are local to me.
I'm by no means the only one and Ross and the guys at G&G do the same things for their customers but as you say there are complications with buying form overseas.
Where is Pro Culture when you want them :icon_chickcheers:
Nige