Hello there,
I bought a wyeast smack pack last May and kept it in the fridge until
yesterday. I'm making a Belgian with and read the instructions to start the
incubation process. I 'smacked' the pack last night around 8pm and left it
out on the counter. I was expecting for it to be totally swollen, but it
hasn't changed from last night.
What did I do wrong? I was hoping to brew this afternoon and I don't want to
use dry yeast for my wit.
all I have in the fridge is Safbrew s-33 and Safale S-04.
Can someone please help me?!!!
Thanks

"Roger Grimmond" <rgrimmond@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:da7qb.19689$mB5.704403@news20.bellglobal.com...[color=blue]
> Hello there,
> I bought a wyeast smack pack last May and kept it in the fridge until
> yesterday. I'm making a Belgian with and read the instructions to start[/color]
the[color=blue]
> incubation process. I 'smacked' the pack last night around 8pm and left it
> out on the counter. I was expecting for it to be totally swollen, but it
> hasn't changed from last night.
> What did I do wrong? I was hoping to brew this afternoon and I don't want[/color]
to[color=blue]
> use dry yeast for my wit.
> all I have in the fridge is Safbrew s-33 and Safale S-04.
> Can someone please help me?!!!
> Thanks
>
>[/color]
We did! We did! Sooo... Whatever happened? Roger, are you still with us?
Ken

I'm still here...
I took a couple of days off to celebrate my birthday.
I made a starter and I'm brewing tonight. the starter has been going for
almost two days now.
When the wort is cool should I pitch the whole starter in or should I pour
off the mini wort and just pitch the yeast at the bottom?
"Ken Anderson" <praise@brewdha.net> wrote in message
news:Cgjsb.22746$KN4.1762813@news1.news.adelphia.net...[color=blue]
> "Roger Grimmond" <rgrimmond@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
> news:da7qb.19689$mB5.704403@news20.bellglobal.com...[color=green]
> > Hello there,
> > I bought a wyeast smack pack last May and kept it in the fridge until
> > yesterday. I'm making a Belgian with and read the instructions to start[/color]
> the[color=green]
> > incubation process. I 'smacked' the pack last night around 8pm and left[/color][/color]
it[color=blue][color=green]
> > out on the counter. I was expecting for it to be totally swollen, but it
> > hasn't changed from last night.
> > What did I do wrong? I was hoping to brew this afternoon and I don't[/color][/color]
want[color=blue]
> to[color=green]
> > use dry yeast for my wit.
> > all I have in the fridge is Safbrew s-33 and Safale S-04.
> > Can someone please help me?!!!
> > Thanks
> >
> >[/color]
> We did! We did! Sooo... Whatever happened? Roger, are you still with us?
> Ken
>
>[/color]

> > > Should I wait until Sat to see if it swells?

Maybe it's time to ask your doctor about Viagra...

Jason

> > > > Should I wait until Sat to see if it swells?

If your yeast is so dead that it takes a week or so to swell, then it might
still be usable, but it's not in great shape. When it finally does swell,
be sure to create a yeast starter with it, just to make sure you have enough
yeast to get the job done. Mix a half cup of DME in a cup of water, boil
for a few minutes, then when cool, add the yeast, cover it, and wait until
the yeast colony starts making good amounts of CO2 again. Then you should
have plenty of yeast cells for pitching.

Good luck.

--
Dave
"Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" --
Genesis, 1973-ish

David M. Taylor wrote:
[color=blue][color=green][color=darkred]
>>>>>Should I wait until Sat to see if it swells?[/color][/color]
>
>
> If your yeast is so dead that it takes a week or so to swell, then it might
> still be usable, but it's not in great shape. When it finally does swell,
> be sure to create a yeast starter with it, just to make sure you have enough
> yeast to get the job done. Mix a half cup of DME in a cup of water, boil
> for a few minutes, then when cool, add the yeast, cover it, and wait until
> the yeast colony starts making good amounts of CO2 again. Then you should
> have plenty of yeast cells for pitching.
>
> Good luck.
>[/color]

Er -- 1/2 cup DME in 1 cup of water may be a tad strong for a starter
and weakened yeast. At the most I'd use a 1:4 ratio (1/4 cup DME to 1
cup water) or even less DME.

--
(Replies: cleanse my address of the Mark of the Beast!)

Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web:
[url]http://www.swampgas.com/robotics/rover.html[/url]

Coauthor with Dennis Clark of "Building Robot Drive Trains".
Buy several copies today!

"The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty" <mikey666@swamp666gas.com> wrote
in message news:10gg97mp99308b0@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> David M. Taylor wrote:
>
> Er -- 1/2 cup DME in 1 cup of water may be a tad strong for a starter
> and weakened yeast. At the most I'd use a 1:4 ratio (1/4 cup DME to 1
> cup water) or even less DME.[/color]

Well, something like that anyway. I never actually measure it, I just dump
some together, boil it, cool it, and you're good to go. I've never had any
problems. But you're right, 1/4 cup DME to a cup H2O should be plenty.
Actually, if you want to get all scientific about it, you could use all the
good old equations to figure out the exact gravity to match the OG of your
brew.... but that seems to be overkill.

--
Dave
"Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" --
Genesis, 1973-ish

"David M. Taylor" <dmtaylor@SPAM.geocities.SUCKS.com> wrote in message
news:10ggap5ie9s5ne7@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> "The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty" <mikey666@swamp666gas.com>[/color]
wrote[color=blue]
> in message news:10gg97mp99308b0@corp.supernews.com...[color=green]
> > David M. Taylor wrote:
> >
> > Er -- 1/2 cup DME in 1 cup of water may be a tad strong for a starter
> > and weakened yeast. At the most I'd use a 1:4 ratio (1/4 cup DME to 1
> > cup water) or even less DME.[/color]
>
> Well, something like that anyway. I never actually measure it, I just[/color]
dump[color=blue]
> some together, boil it, cool it, and you're good to go. I've never had[/color]
any[color=blue]
> problems. But you're right, 1/4 cup DME to a cup H2O should be plenty.
> Actually, if you want to get all scientific about it, you could use all[/color]
the[color=blue]
> good old equations to figure out the exact gravity to match the OG of your
> brew.... but that seems to be overkill.
>
>[/color]

Actually, it's not that hard - provided you're measuring in metric! For a
1.040 starter, assuming 45ppg DME, you just need 1 gram DME for each 10mL of
starter. So, for example, a 250mL starter needs 25g, a 2L starter needs
200g, and so on. I make my starters in Erlenmeyer flasks which are marked in
mL, and my electronic scales can read in grams, so it's easy.

Cheers,
Rowan

Rowan Malin wrote:
[color=blue]
> "David M. Taylor" <dmtaylor@SPAM.geocities.SUCKS.com> wrote in message
> news:10ggap5ie9s5ne7@corp.supernews.com...
>[color=green]
>>"The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty" <mikey666@swamp666gas.com>[/color]
>
> wrote
>[color=green]
>>in message news:10gg97mp99308b0@corp.supernews.com...
>>[color=darkred]
>>>David M. Taylor wrote:
>>>
>>>Er -- 1/2 cup DME in 1 cup of water may be a tad strong for a starter
>>>and weakened yeast. At the most I'd use a 1:4 ratio (1/4 cup DME to 1
>>>cup water) or even less DME.[/color]
>>
>>Well, something like that anyway. I never actually measure it, I just[/color]
>
> dump
>[color=green]
>>some together, boil it, cool it, and you're good to go. I've never had[/color]
>
> any
>[color=green]
>>problems. But you're right, 1/4 cup DME to a cup H2O should be plenty.
>>Actually, if you want to get all scientific about it, you could use all[/color]
>
> the
>[color=green]
>>good old equations to figure out the exact gravity to match the OG of your
>>brew.... but that seems to be overkill.
>>
>>[/color]
>
>
> Actually, it's not that hard - provided you're measuring in metric! For a
> 1.040 starter, assuming 45ppg DME, you just need 1 gram DME for each 10mL of
> starter. So, for example, a 250mL starter needs 25g, a 2L starter needs
> 200g, and so on. I make my starters in Erlenmeyer flasks which are marked in
> mL, and my electronic scales can read in grams, so it's easy.
>
> Cheers,
> Rowan
>
>[/color]
AND aerate the starter. I was told yeast multiply most efficiently and
rapidly under aerobic conditions. I normally have say a litre of starter
in a sterile 2.5 litre container and shake the cr*p out of it.

[url]http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.3/kingtable.html[/url]

"David M. Taylor" wrote:
[color=blue]
> Well, something like that anyway. I never actually measure it, I just dump
> some together, boil it, cool it, and you're good to go. I've never had any
> problems. But you're right, 1/4 cup DME to a cup H2O should be plenty.
> Actually, if you want to get all scientific about it, you could use all the
> good old equations to figure out the exact gravity to match the OG of your
> brew.... but that seems to be overkill.[/color]

Weigh it! 1 oz. DME per 1 cup water will give you an OG of about
1.040-1.045.

-------->Denny
--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.

Reply to denny_at_projectoneaudio_dot_com