WYEAST smack pack 1056

For the future, pick up a pkt of US-05 to have on hand for just those conditions where maybe the yeast hasn’t taken off like you think it should. Or those times you don’t have enough time to make a starter. In other words, Insurance.

Well, you wouldn’t see any yeast activity. Usually you’ll have some krausen in your starter… if you don’t get anything, and the gravity of the starter doesn’t drop after a few days, the yeast are probably toast.

I’ve only had two yeast vials fail over the past several years. One was frozen solid when it arrived, and the other sat in a ups truck over Independence Day weekend. It’s enough to make you double check the yeast before pitching.

Update… well as soon as I started reachin out to folks in a panic, the yeast kicked into gear! So the lag phase was 25 hours and I’ll see how active it is tomorrow. Being that I only pitched 100 billion cells from the pack for a 1.065 gravity beer, I’m going to dump in 1/2 of the starter I made this morning tomorrow and keep the rest on the stir plate for one more day… then crash it in the fridge for my next batch. I’ll just do a 2nd starter with that when the time comes.

Now that’s the plan… anyone have any pointers on that or does that seem okay?

Good plan. You can also harvest yeast from this current brew. I harvest yeast in two pint jars. If one would happen to get infected there is the second jar. I also over build starters to save some fresh yeast for the next starter. The harvested yeast from an IPA has a very nice hoppy aroma from the dry hop when opened later. All this yeast saving does mean throwing out some of the yeast in 4 to 6 months.

I will use yeast harvested from an IPA in any beer recipe that uses a somewhat similar hop.

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Even with a smackpack. Do make a starter. Just in case.

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So do you top crop your yeast or just wait until you empty the carboy, then wash it out of the trub?

Most of the yeasts I use aren’t suitable for top cropping. I pour the yeast out of the fermentor after bottling. I don’t rinse/wash the yeast anymore. Tried it about 8 years ago. Lost more yeast than harvested, timing consuming, and infection risk. Some of my technique here:

I pour from the boil kettle into the fermentor through a fine mesh bag to remove hop material. This is my new technique for doing the pour solo:

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That’s a good idea with the bucket and mesh bags! I’m going to start doing that…haha thanks

Wyeast Activator packs should be enough to inoculate wort up to 1.060 so your 1.065 is close but not too big IMHO.

The obvious answer is to smack it and give it a couple of days to blow up. I have used packets that were pretty old and had to wait longer for them to blow up. My LHBS gave me one that was months old because it was the only one he had of the strain I was after. It did blow up eventually but I made a starter just in case. Put my brew day off until the next weekend.

With life and work and family going on it’s tough when you are planning a brew day and your stuff arrives late.

Having a packet of dry US-05 on hand is very good advice BTW

Thanks! Yeah it ended up taking off, but I went ahead and pitched 1/2 a 2000ml starter into it just for safe measure. I saved the other half in the fridge for another beer. It’s World War III up in that carboy now!

Fermentation temperature controlled??

Yup. Holding steady at 65DF in my chest freezer with an inkbird dual temp controller. Should be good now… now that I’m done panicking…ha!

I don’t want to sound like a know-it-all but I just feel impish this afternoon. The degree symbol is:
Hold the ALT key and enter 248.

Haha I wish there was an alt key on my iPhone

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Same :grinning:

On Apple you hold the 0 key.

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Degrees° Awesome it worked

Supercalifragilistic.

Liars°

0, nope. ø nope, ł, nope, ž, nope, but cool! ))))))))))))))))))) nope.ººººººººººººººººººººº……ººººººººººº……ºººººººººº, Way cool!! Sneezles61

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