Coopers Lager Yeast 15gr - what is it?

[glivo]

My maternal grandfather had a saying when we drove through any town while on day trips or going away on longer family fishing holidays.  "Good beer in that pub", he'd say as we drove through the main street of most any country town.  At one point he was a travelling sales rep so he knew most of them.  His comment would often result in my grandmother suggesting we stop "so the kids can have a break".  She was quite partial to a drop of the amber as well but only drank middies.  They were around in the days when you had to be a "traveller" to buy a beer at the bar on a Sunday, hence the term "Sunday Driver", which had nothing to do with Church attendance.  My Pop's name was Thomas Cooper.  (No, not the same one.)

Anyway, I will soon honour his memory by starting to make Thomas Cooper Golden Crown Lager for the first time.  The nights are growing colder, down to overnight 11'C this week, so time to go the Lager route again.  Just the other day I managed to purchase 2 cans of extract from the local HBS, reduced as they are just OOD by only 6 weeks (8 weeks today).  I was going to use the last pack of Diamond Yeast I have left over, but I've now read that the yeast provided with the extract is a Lager Yeast.  It is marked R3424 and by all accounts it's supposed to be a lager yeast.

The instructions here, are a bit confused (with one obvious error) but it does say, "while your brew ferments try to keep the brew temperature consistent and at the lower end of 13°C-18°C."  This certainly suggests it is in fact a lager yeast.

I will harvest and wash this yeast from the first 2 FVs and reuse it throughout this winter.  If it works out, I may even attempt to freeze some for next year.  I can't find anywhere what this yeast is although I guess it doesn't matter too much.  It's a cold ferment lager yeast so that will do me.

Yeast Expiry:  Batch code = 19521. This gives 170 days in 2021, 365 days in each 2022 and 2023 plus 40 days in 2024.  This is a total of 940 days during which the yeast is "good" and still in date, so surely after just an extra 50 or 60 days it should still be OK.  I've used older yeast without it causing any issue.  In fact, I've never come across a packet that didn't work.

[Aussiekraut]

1 hour ago, glivo said:

My maternal grandfather had a saying when we drove through any town while on day trips or going away on longer family fishing holidays.  "Good beer in that pub", he'd say as we drove through the main street of most any country town.  At one point he was a travelling sales rep so he knew most of them.  His comment would often result in my grandmother suggesting we stop "so the kids can have a break".  She was quite partial to a drop of the amber as well but only drank middies.  They were around in the days when you had to be a "traveller" to buy a beer at the bar on a Sunday, hence the term "Sunday Driver", which had nothing to do with Church attendance.  My Pop's name was Thomas Cooper.  (No, not the same one.)

Anyway, I will soon honour his memory by starting to make Thomas Cooper Golden Crown Lager for the first time.  The nights are growing colder, down to overnight 11'C this week, so time to go the Lager route again.  Just the other day I managed to purchase 2 cans of extract from the local HBS, reduced as they are just OOD by only 6 weeks (8 weeks today).  I was going to use the last pack of Diamond Yeast I have left over, but I've now read that the yeast provided with the extract is a Lager Yeast.  It is marked R3424 and by all accounts it's supposed to be a lager yeast.

The instructions here, are a bit confused (with one obvious error) but it does say, "while your brew ferments try to keep the brew temperature consistent and at the lower end of 13°C-18°C."  This certainly suggests it is in fact a lager yeast.

I will harvest and wash this yeast from the first 2 FVs and reuse it throughout this winter.  If it works out, I may even attempt to freeze some for next year.  I can't find anywhere what this yeast is although I guess it doesn't matter too much.  It's a cold ferment lager yeast so that will do me.

Yeast Expiry:  Batch code = 19521. This gives 170 days in 2021, 365 days in each 2022 and 2023 plus 40 days in 2024.  This is a total of 940 days during which the yeast is "good" and still in date, so surely after just an extra 50 or 60 days it should still be OK.  I've used older yeast without it causing any issue.  In fact, I've never come across a packet that didn't work.

This is not the OS Coopers Lager can is it? That one used to come with an ale yeast. he yeast is very old and while it may only be a fairly short time over the BB date, it may not be particularly viable. Since you are into washing yeast and keeping some, it may be an idea to make a starter to see what you get. If you overbuild the starter, you can even set some aside for another starter and keep it going that way. Less hassle than harvesting the slurry and washing the yeast. 

[glivo]

No, it is the Thomas Cooper Series Golden Crown Lager, which comes packaged with a lager yeast as explained above, Brown Label.  Not a bad idea. I could probably do a little starter as I have 2 packs. I'm not too worried about it.  I have an "in date" Diamond here I can use if it doesn't kick off.

I've bought plenty of OOD cans and while I usually use a newer yeast or a recent harvest, I've never had any issue with the supplied one being dead or even slow.  I imagine there would need to be a certain amount of tolerance in the dates on the cans.  I can't see a can having good yeast one day and bad the next.  HBS proprietors don't put reduced stock out when it is getting close to "use by date".  They reduce it when it's OOD with caveat emptor.

Edited April 12 by glivo

[Shamus O'Sean]

12 hours ago, glivo said:

My maternal grandfather had a saying when we drove through any town while on day trips or going away on longer family fishing holidays.  "Good beer in that pub", he'd say as we drove through the main street of most any country town.  At one point he was a travelling sales rep so he knew most of them.  His comment would often result in my grandmother suggesting we stop "so the kids can have a break".  She was quite partial to a drop of the amber as well but only drank middies.  They were around in the days when you had to be a "traveller" to buy a beer at the bar on a Sunday, hence the term "Sunday Driver", which had nothing to do with Church attendance.  My Pop's name was Thomas Cooper.  (No, not the same one.)

Anyway, I will soon honour his memory by starting to make Thomas Cooper Golden Crown Lager for the first time.  The nights are growing colder, down to overnight 11'C this week, so time to go the Lager route again.  Just the other day I managed to purchase 2 cans of extract from the local HBS, reduced as they are just OOD by only 6 weeks (8 weeks today).  I was going to use the last pack of Diamond Yeast I have left over, but I've now read that the yeast provided with the extract is a Lager Yeast.  It is marked R3424 and by all accounts it's supposed to be a lager yeast.

The instructions here, are a bit confused (with one obvious error) but it does say, "while your brew ferments try to keep the brew temperature consistent and at the lower end of 13°C-18°C."  This certainly suggests it is in fact a lager yeast.

I will harvest and wash this yeast from the first 2 FVs and reuse it throughout this winter.  If it works out, I may even attempt to freeze some for next year.  I can't find anywhere what this yeast is although I guess it doesn't matter too much.  It's a cold ferment lager yeast so that will do me.

Yeast Expiry:  Batch code = 19521. This gives 170 days in 2021, 365 days in each 2022 and 2023 plus 40 days in 2024.  This is a total of 940 days during which the yeast is "good" and still in date, so surely after just an extra 50 or 60 days it should still be OK.  I've used older yeast without it causing any issue.  In fact, I've never come across a packet that didn't work.

Nice story about your grandfather.

Thomas Coopers Golden Crown Lager definitely has a lager yeast included.  Nobody knows which one it actually is, other than Coopers. 

Given the age of the can, if you have 2 packets of this yeast, I would use both of them.  Lagers prefer more yeast than ales.  Like you suspect, they should still be fine.  Alternatively, as you and @Aussiekraut note, do a starter with one packet.