I have never used this style of yeast before (This is only my second batch)
I purchased the Honey Weizen kit and the wheat smack pack yeast.
The kit directions say to smack the yeast pack a few days before brewing which I did tonight. But on the pack it sounds like I should have done it 3 hours before brewing.
Have I ruined the yeast? Should I keep it at room temp until ready to brew?
Any help would be great thanks.
I’ve always “smacked” the morning of using. I’ve also noticed the directions that say “a few days before”. Wyeast is good about answering questions on their 800 number.
Most mail order kits have instructions to check the yeast to ensure they are healthy a couple days in advance. I would hate to find out the day of brewing that I have an army of dead yeast going in to battle. Once the package swells up, you should put the package back in the fridge until the day of brewing.
I smack it the morning of… so the morning I plan to brew or make a starter. Don’t get caught up in how much it swells. Some packs will swell more than others. Sometimes not very much at all. Sometimes you’ll think the pack is about to bust open. Whether it swells or not, there’s yeast in there. All the ‘smacking’ does is release a little bit of nutrient to wake the yeast up. If you forgot to smack it and just opened the pack and poured the yeast in your wort, that would be fine too.
The ROT is that it will take one day to swell for each month past the manufacture date. But smacking it sooner, or not smacking it at all, doesn’t really make much difference. You get very little actual cell grwoth from smacking it. It’s just a way to show the viability of the yeast.
I always follow the ROT in Denny’s post. If the yeast is old (as it always is by the time it gets to me) I want to make sure it is still viable well ahead of time.
But don’t worry, you haven’t ruined the yeast.
ive made the same kit several times and if your primary is a 6.5 gallon carboy you mite want to get your blowoff tube ready.
I’m not understanding ROT…(help meeeee)
I’ve had one smack pack that swelled in the fridge before I smacked it. It was so swollen that I could not get the nutrient pack to break.
I called the Wyeast 800 # and they said not to worry, just dump it in and cut the nutrient pack and dump it in also.
It worked out fine (t was 1084 Irish Ale yeast)
ROT: rule of thumb?
D’OH!
I had to look it up. :oops:
Thanks all for the help. I pitched the yeast to my wort last night and 9 hours later she was at steadily bubbling. I did have a boil over when adding the hops. So I probably will dry hop in the secondary mabey 1/2 oz or 3/4oz.
Troythebrewer