So I just received my grain and yeast order... My 1056 smack pack must have got smacked at some point cuz its already swelled a little bit.... About half way... I thru it in the fridge and plan on making my starter in about 4 or 5 days before my brew day... Is this Pack gonna be worthless??
Yup, should be fine. Just brewed a batch of beer with the same smack pack issue. Just poured in the yeast and smacked the pack afterwards and added in to the carboy, active fermentation within 10 hours.
The smack pack is really there to "proof" the yeast. To prove to you that it's viable and good to go. No worries, also, getting warm will let it puff up a bit as well too.
I've gotten them swelled but with the nutrient pack intact as a result of warm shipping a few times. Putting it in the refrigerator overnight usually swells it down enough to be able to break the smack pack. They worked fine.
to piggy-back on this.. I smacked my pack and had no swelling at all. (yes, the inside pack with the nutrient was broken, I checked) . I still pitched because I thought it would be fine, but as of 30hrs, no airlock activity.. Am I screwed with this one?
Not promising at all to say the least. I would ride it to 48 hours, then repitch a healthy amount of dry yeast, as that is simpler than stepping up a smack pack in a short period of time.
If it didn't puff up with around 3-4 hours of sitting at room temp, then I'd be suspect of it. Rare that it wouldn't generate co2 from the yeast eating up the nutrient. Like I said, it's a way to proof the yeast. If it puffs up, it's viable and active and ready to eat. If it's not doing shit, in some cases, it's not going to do shit in your wort. Wait it out and see, if not so as kjyost said, fire up a dry pack of yeast and get it going.
It really pays to pay attention to the packaging date on the smack packs. As the packs age the amount of viable yeast decreases. Older packs may take several days to swell. The yeast can still be used, but a good fermentation will require a starter to build the number of cell back up.
Good point, also calculators such as http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html & http://www.yeastcalc.com can really help you get your pitching rate right.
I am always a bit nervous about purchasing liquid yeast during the summertime; I am worried that the yeast could get damaged by too high a heat during transport. I purchase most of my homebrewing ingredients from online vendors (e.g., Northern Brewer) but I refuse to order liquid yeast from them during the warm times of the year. There has been past threads asking whether folks prefer Wyeast yeasts vs. White Labs yeasts. I personally prefer Wyeast since the smack pack provides assurance of the viability of the yeast through the package swelling. If I smacked a smack pack and it didn’t swell in an appropriate period of time I would not pitch it in my wort. I might pitch it in a yeast starter but I would carefully monitor the yeast starter before pitching it in my wort to make sure that yeast growth occurred. Cheers!
Yeah if it doesn't swell call them and they should ship you a new pack free. You can always make a yeast starter first too as an additional safety net.
I'd say your fears are pretty well-founded. I just received a shipment from Northern Brewer two weeks ago. I put the yeast in the fridge when it came, but I was apparently too late. I went to go smack the pack on Thursday afternoon (around 2). Practically no swelling. Pitched into a DME starter at 6pm. Zero activity. Luckily, I had a 1056 cake to pitch onto or else I would have been skroooooooood. Live and learn... no more ordering liquid yeast through the mail for me... at least not in July.
When you order, do you get the ice pack that I've noticed most of the online places offer? I know it won't stay frozen during dead of summer, but it might take enough of the edge off to make it. I got a shipment from Austin Homebrtew earlier this summer that included Irish Ale yeast that came through fine, even with close to a week in transit.
Mine did have an ice pack - but it didn't do very much, going from wherever Northern Brewer is, to Washington DC.
I just had an issue with a Wyeast Scottish Ale Activator pack. Manufacture date was March 2012, but I purchased in mid-July. I didn't think much of checking the date, but went to brew this past Sunday (08/05) and smacked the pack in early afternoon. By 6PM, there really wasn't any noticable swelling, but went ahead and pitched anyway, feeling that lonely feeling like when you know its not going to work. Here it is Wednesday and there was still no activity in the fermenter (airlock bubbler is still sitting in the same position as I left it Sunday night). Was going to have my wife pick up another smack pack today (homebrew shop is supposed to have them back in stock today) but wonder whether you guys thinik a dry yeast might be a better option at this point, and how much? Furthermore, is there any harm in having the wort sit in the fermenter without beginning fermentation for extended periods like this. FYI, basement temp (where the brewery is located) is cool - usually between 65-68F.
“Furthermore, is there any harm in having the wort sit in the fermenter without beginning fermentation for extended periods like this.” This is highly dependent on how well you practiced sanitation. Bacteria and other microorganisms like to ‘eat’ wort just like brewer’s yeast. At this point in time (3 days after brewing) it is your choice on whether to go the ’replacement’ smack pack vs. dry yeast route. The benefit of pitching dry yeast is more yeast cells to get the fermentation going. The benefit of the smack pack is you get to ‘choose’ Scottish Ale strain. One of the ‘benefits’ of using Wyeast over White Labs is that the smacking/swelling is a means to assure that you have healthy yeast. Next time you shouldn’t pitch unless you see activity. Cheers! P.S. The other thing I do is always have an ‘extra’ package of dry yeast in my refrigerator (e.g., US-05). If I experience any hiccups during the brewing process I have this yeast available as a ‘back up’.
Yeah, I got a little carried away by the fact that I was actually able to brew, having moved into a new house about a month ago (with basment kitchen that can serve as dedicated brewing space!) so wasn't paying attention to some of the things I usually would have. I'm usually obsessive about sanitisation, so I'm not too worried about contamination. I know thats no sure thing, but I haven't had any problems in my previous 5 years of homebrewing.
