I am about to make my first AG Oktoberfest. The recipe I chose calls for Wyeast Bavarian lager yeast. Today is Thursday and I would like to brew this batch next Saturday. Everyone is recommending I do a 2 stage starter. So I smacked the smack pack last night to get it started and I would make the starter before I left for work today but the pack never expanded at all by this morning. Dead. Oh well, it happens. Anyways everyone is telling me it would take 10 days to do a starter. That means if I run out and get more yeast today, smack it, make the starter tomorrow morning that leaves me only 8 days instead of 10. I am going to brew next Saturday one way or another. So my question is will 8 days be enough time for a 2 stage starter? Could I possibly use a Safale yeast and just simply pitch it on the beer next Saturday with no starter? What ideas would you all suggest?
Eight days should be plenty of time.
What is the date on the smack pack? They rarely all die and perhaps if making a starter it would still take off?
I don’t know but it has been in my fridge for 3-4 weeks so I am sure the date is at least a few weeks before that. I even smacked it again and made extra extra sure I broke the inner packet. It has been smacked for over 15 hours now
