Leaderboard

Don't go by how long you have stored the yeast (assuming that was what you meant by "a year old"), use the packet date code. You can check the Mr Beer yeast by the packaging date code on the packet day and year, formatted DDDYY. My last Churchill NB Ale end of life can had a 2016 dated yeast. I did substitute a different yeast (London ESB). I did throw the can yeast in the boil. However, you have to figure that Mr Beer would package yeast that would still be viable enough by the HME best-by date. You also have to consider though if it has a viable low number of yeast cells, then it will be in growth phase longer and will make much more flavoring which may not be what you want. As mentioned above, if you do use the can yeast and get no action in a day or 2 you can put a newer yeast in as well.

Id just stick it in boiling water for a minute or five. Then wait for it to cool obviously eh?

what @Shrike is saying is correct. porter is an ale, and if you have an inkbird, i would turn the temp down a bit.

that's the info i needed. i've made 4 batches of mrb extract, and a few using extract and grain. i still use an ice chest and frozen bottles for temp control. i've been very happy with the beer so far. thanks So much for your input....i hope the yeast works... i'll know tomorrow.

I ferment my beers for 18 days typically at 64-65F temperature controlled. I'll either bottle at 18 days or cold crash for an additional 3 days then bottle. Temp control is very important. I use a mini fridge and ink bird now, but when I started out I used a frozen pint of bottled water in a cooler with an LBK to maintain a 64F temp. With an LBK you'd want to tape a kitchen sponge to the flat end of the keg and put a temp probe below the waterline to get an accurate reading of the wort temp and not ambient temp as the two can differ considerably during the first 3-5 days of krausen, when the yeast is most active.

I think you're confusing fermentation time with conditioning time.

I think Briess aromatic malt is 20L Munich

Ritebrew has it. They dont have everything, but they had that. I had to sub liberty for mt hood for example.

Gotta love Schell's!

Wyeast california lager yeast is also good. You can make a nice "steam" version with it or S-23 if you can't keep lower fermentation temps. It may not be to "style" but it's good.