Yeast question

Northern Brewer General
1

Getting ready to brew a batch of the Elevenses and I see the following in the recipe:

A FEW DAYS BEFORE BREWING DAY

  1. Remove the liquid Wyeast pack from the refrigerator,
    and “smack” as shown on the back of the yeast package.
    Leave it in a warm place (70–80° F) to incubate until the
    pack begins to inflate. Allow at least 3 hours for inflation;
    some packs may take up to several days to show inflation.

Normally I have been taking the yeast out and warming at room temp for about 4-6 hours and haven’t had any issues. A few days seems excessive?

2

[quote=“Scalded Dog”]
.

Normally I have been taking the yeast out and warming at room temp for about 4-6 hours and haven’t had any issues. [/quote]

6 to 8 hours for me without any issues.

3

A couple to a few days is no problem. The smack pack only feeds the yeast nutrients and proves they are active.

4

The idea is that you;re proofing the yeast to check for viability. You’re not really increasing the cell count. The ROT is that it takes one day for every month past manufacture for it to swell. If you’re not interested in proofing your yeast, you can pitch an unswollen pack. I always make starters for any beer over 1.040 OG, but hey, it’s your beer.