I decided to smack a smackpack to start another IPA today. I hit the bag like I would normally and to my surprise the thing popped! Yeast is messy when it is all over my kitchen! I guess that I had a case of the Hulk or something??? Has amyone ever had this happen???
Only once, I smacked it with the nutrient pack at the bottom. Now I do it at the top, don’t know that it matters though.
I’ve only had it happen once where I smacked it and one of the edges busted open. Not a mess though, just a little gushed oot. Sucks yours exploded! Contact who you got it from and they will likely replace it for you.
When I use a smackpack I gently work the inner pouch to an upper corner and squeeze untill the inner pack splits open; works fine and no chance of busting open the outer pack.
Wonder how it would work placing the Wyeast pack in a 1 gallon zip lock bag then smack it. Never thought of doing that until I read your posts.
I got the pack @ the milwaukee store of Northern Brewer. I have always smacked em on the top. I guess I chalk it up to a hulk moment/human error! I got think I may consider a new method of activating the packs from here on. Next time I go down to Milwaukee I will have to get another 1272 pack
I was showing my mother-in-law how to activate the yeast pack while she was sitting at her computer. The top corner cracked open and yeast sprayed all over her and the computer. It was awesome. It took some time to convince her that it was an accident! :lol:
Great story…The one thing I did figure out is that these smack packs can simply be opened and the nutrient and yeast packets can be cut open with scissors (all sanitized of course). The large foil outer pack simply holds the busted yeast and nutrient packs. It’s good to gauge viability through the swelling, but Wyeast makes a good product. I would recommend using the product as instructed, but you can always just cut the inner packs open and pitch if there is concern about exploding packs.
The nutrient pack isn’t really necessary for pitching the yeast. I still like to smack it though. 
A friend at work just brewed his first beer last weekend. He bought two packs. First one, broke the inner pack, second, broke the outer.
Sprayed all over his chest. He said he wasn’t sure if he broke the first one, so he wailed on the second.
