Commercial Pitch Near Best Before Date - Still Use It?

[petskullbrewing]

I am opening a 2 bbl brewery and went ahead and bought my first few commercial pitches from White Labs way back in March. My intention was to begin production right then and there, but encountered some mechanical issues in my first batch and it shut me down for a few months. Now I'm back and ready to begin production, but the commercial pitches are now getting near their Best Before date (for example, the release date was 3/22 and the Best Before date is 7/20).

When I would brew at home, I'd simply make a starter to increase my cell count for an older vial. Is that possible on a commercial level? The starter would be intense with a lot of stepping, obviously. I believe I could do a 5 gallon starter....let it work....crash cool....decant....do another 5 gallon starter....and then I would be near my appropriate pitch count.

I realize I sound like a hack....but I'm new to this level of production and I have a lot of $$ invested in these commercial pitches. Any advice?

Thanks much

[Junkyard]

let the lab do the propogation, order another pitch, a best by date of 3 months for yeast is rediculous.

It's tough to spend the dough, but shit happens. You want your first batches to be good ones.