Cranberry wine and yeast.

[WineYooper]

Picked up 55# of cranberries at the marsh in Stone Lake for a buck a pound two weeks ago. Pressed 23# and have a 6 gallon batch just starting ferment tonight. My first 1118 starter must not have been going well enough last night when I pitched so made another tonight and added some must to it twice and after pitching I started to see action 25 minute later. The first yeast I had bought in July and kept it refrigerated but I wonder if it was not good or if I just was in to much of a hurry to add instead of adding some must to it to acclimate it, The second I picked up in Sept. and like I said it is going well now. 1118 has worked well on Cranberry for me before.
I've had some issues with yeast that has been in my frig for awhile and am wondering does it have a freshness factor? I tend to keep different varieties since I am a good distance to the supply house. Would I be better off buying fresh and using sooner?

 

[oldwhiskers]

I have been keeping mine in the freezer until I need it without any problems. I started a batch of Ocean Spray Cranberry juice wine Saturday and the yeast I pitched was purchased in April of this year. I have been dating the packages when I buy them to make sure I always use the oldest first. I mostly use K1-V1116.