yeast... another silly question Options

[catsh16]

OK...
so I've just taken a 2.5 year hiatus from brewing... which means the $150 I have in ingredients are now... well... old.

The main topic here is the yeast: so: its Whitelabs Belgium ale yeast... expired 2010... kept refrigerated.

On Monday night we made a yeast starter (3/4gal in 1 gal jar w/ 1/2cup malt extract)
Today Wed AM: after ~36hrs @ ~80F it is now slowly gaining activity.
my plan was to wait another day or two until the yeast appears to gain significant activity... then brew.

pps. the rest of the ingredients are impressively stable... grains still smell right, extract is a tiny bit moldy, Hops... still bitter

Seems good to go...
Does anyone think I should hold out until I find fresher yeast??? (not readily available!!)

[Ijones]

I would say since all the ingredients are old I would go ahead and give it a try. As long as the yeast where stored properly and sanitation was very good when making the starter. The 2 day lag time could have been wild yeast ramping up. Anyways as long as you are willing to accept that it may be a little funkey go for it. I would probably get all new ingrediants myself as I have very little time on my hands latly and want to make sure i make something that is up to par.