Wyeast 3787 issue

I smacked the pack yesterday, it’s been about 16 hours now and the pack has not swollen like most have done in the past. House temp ranges between 71-73, Mfg. date was July 2011. It has inflated some today but not much. And yes I verified inside packet had broken. Still trying to find a backup pack local but one place that normally carries it is out. The packet says it may not swell much but I am still concerned about using it. Should I use it or get another? I never thought to get a dry backup for this yeast.

Did you store it in the fridge before smacking it? If you can, make up a starter to test it’s viability. What yeast is it? Maybe there is a dry yeast sub.

Yeah it was stored in fridge. It is the trappist.

I assume you were going to make a starter with it. In that case, there’s no need for it to swell first. And the ROT for smack packs is to give them one day to swell for every month past manufacture.

Definitely use it but definitely make a starter.

I did not plan to use it as a starter as I have not progressed into making my own starters yet. Now I guess I need to find some info making starters. The only local shop that had a smack pack had the same mfg date as mine.

what kind of beer are you brewing? i’d say if the OG is expected to be over about 1.050, you should pitch 2 packs of yeast if you can’t make a starter. You can get more scientific about it. Another thing you can do is use 1 smack pack in a low OG beer (1.040) and then harvest the yeast from that to pitch into a larger beer.

Belgian Tripel extract kit. OG is supposed to be around 1.073.

Even a fresh new pack wouldn’t be enough yeast for that beer. I would hold off brewing until I could make a large starter or buy two new fresh packs. :cheers:

Preferably three fresh packs, for that OG.

What do you all define as a fresh pack? I can get 2 more packets local but they were dated Jul 13 2011.

Probably no more than a month old.

To me fresh is less than two weeks old. You do indeed need closer to three packs, but I was trying not to scare you off. 18 bucks is a lot of fun tickets for one batch of beer. I figured two fresh packs and one old one would get you somewhat close.

Ok just spent some time browsing the forums. I thinkI will pick up a couple more packs. When it is time to bottle should I add more dry yeast along with the priming sugar? If so which type? I see refernece to t-58 and nottingham danstar already in the fridge.

How concerned should I be with blow off for that much yeast? Should I use my blow off set up or be ok with one of my airlocks I have two different styles.

The monks add yeast because they near freezing lager and/or centrifuge the old out.
And they are on a turnaround schedule because beer has to get out so $ gets in.
If you get this into bottles in a month or less (without lagering or spinning),
Just bottle as usual and keep them somewhere you are sure its 70* + constantly.
You’ll have full carb in about 2 weeks.

I plan to secondary for about 2 months before bottling.

Personally, I see no reason to age a tripel that long. A few weeks in the fermenter, then bottle.

See, I think a tripel really benefits from aging. Now of course, you can age in the bottle. I keg my beers and I usually give a tripel a good 8 weeks or so.

At a 1.073 OG, you won’t need any more yeast for bottling. I don’t even think about it til the gravity is well into the 90s.