Wow! Dead Yeast…..This has got to be a first….

I have been busy these past 4 days making ferments for what will be my annual supply of Rum. Last year, as many of you in the 5-day Workshops have now tasted, I used a mix of Horse-Feed molasses and cane sugar with the Horse Feed molasses coming from the sugar plant in Taber, Alberta. 10 months in oak made a wonderful sipping Rum at 43% (86 proof). This year I decided to change it up a bit and I used a mix of Fancy Molasses and Cane Sugar. I pitched my White Labs Rum yeast into my first 2 batches last Friday. After several hours, I could see no discernable signs of activity. I added more Nutrient and stirred the fermenter pails vigorously. Still nothing…. In a moment of panic, I rummaged through my fridge and found a package of Lallemand SR yeast that I had picked up a year ago at a conference in London. I added 15 grams to the fermenters and vavoom !! – within 2 hours a faint hissing sound could be detected. The sweet sound of fermentation! The next day, I measured out some brown sugar and water in a small cup and added some White Labs Rum Yeast. 9 hours later – nothing. Absolutely dead. In 30 years of brewing, I have never seen a package of yeast that was dead. Not sure what happened to this yeast, but I intend to have a discussion with White Labs to learn more. I will be sure to share the information I learn in a future Post on this site.