How long will opened S-04 keep ?

[setmash]

Hi guys, being relatively new to AG Im still playing it safe on the yeast side of things. Ive found i get good results with S-04 and want to continue with this whilst i grow my brewing experience. I do a fair amount of brews so recently bought a 500g pack of S04 from WHS thinking it would last me a while. To my horror the pack says once opened use within 7 days - OMG thats like a thousand liters of beer.....question is if I open the vacuum pack then store it in a good sealed plastic container (in a cool dark place) - how long will it keep ? Otherwise I will return it.

Thanks

Rich

[Matt12398]

If you could keep it dry, airtight and in the fridge I would have thought it would be ok for longer.

Why would you want a thousand litres of beer brewed with safale 04 though? That's going to get boring very quickly.

[Dave S]

I guess the 500g packs are really aimed at microbreweries turning 10 or so bbl's a week.

[Scott-ayling]

You would have been cheaper and had more choice just buying a few packs of different yeasts then either top cropping the yeast or washing/rinsing the yest after fermentation.

[boingy]

Split it into small ziploc bags or vacuum seal ones if you have the capability and put them in a sealed plastic box in the coldest part of the fridge (veg compartment). It will easily keep 6 months but you may need to allow for less viability as time goes on so either plan to pitch two bags as time goes on or vary the package sizes to account for this.

[setmash]

Many thanks for the info WHS kindly advised me to split in to small batches and freeze. I wil do this. I plan to move on to more adventurous yeast but its still baby steps.

[BeerEagle]

:deleted

[Ben711200]

before I understood what I was doing, and made ciders and shonky wines, I had a tub of that Youngs Super Wine Yeast stuff (a bombproof cheap wine yeast with nutrients thrown in) that I used over the course of a year or so. I didn't know to keep it refrigerated and while I may have been inadvertently over pitching, I noticed no difference in performance between the first and last use.

I'm not saying it's correct, and I would always refrigerate now as it is clearly best practice, but dried yeast is probably more robust than people give it credit for. How else would they get away with using it for kits with no special storage instructions to the general public?

[Normski]

If you havn't opened it yet and you have the option to return it.
Send it back.

A single 12g pack. £1.95p
500g = 66p pr 12g approx. Thats 40 brews.
If you keep it and have to up the amount you have to use in future batches it might not work out as cheap as you first thought.

Buy a few packs of a selection of yeasts. Cheap, Easy to use and store.

[Rookie]

I've bought yeast packs with best by dates well over a year in the future. I'd think that properly packaged your yeast should last quite a while.
Do you know any other brewers in your area that might want to split the yeast with you?

[boingy]

Keep it. It will be fine and it will give you the opportunity to pitch slightly higher rates than with a fixed packet size. I'd suggest 15 grams for a 5 gallon batch. If the yeast has been opened for more than a few weeks then pitch a bit more. Better to over pitch than under pitch.