Evan

Recipes 

so i get some yeast in the mail today, i plan on brewing in a few days, so i smack my pack of yeast,and its slowly expanding. well i have to leave in an hour, i normally wait 3 hours before putting into my starter. i probably wont be back for another 4 hours, so it'll be sitting 5 hours total. did i just mess up bad or what? would it be cool to go ahead and get my starter ready when i get home tonight and once its cool pitch?

Scimmia

Recipes 

you can leave it out that long, it won't hurt anything at all. Otherwise, you can go ahead and pitch it into your starter, the smack pack is just there to get the yeast active, it can do that in the starter just as easily.

SuperiorBrew

Recipes 

It's all good. if you are doing a starter you really dont even have to smack it, although you may as well get the extra nutrients as you paid for them. You can even smack it and pitch in in your starter right away.

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Rich

Bitter Creek Homebrew Supply

rabidgerbil

Recipes 

+1

This is what I do, I just smack it and dump it straight into my starter, and I have never had a problem.

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nitrousjunkie

Recipes 

with my last smack pack everything worked out great. i pulled it outa the fridge and let it warm up for a few hours. then burst the inner packet and let it sit over night, around 18 hours or so. well needless to say, the pack looked as if it was about to burst, and when pitched started to bubble in a couple of hours.

SuperiorBrew

Recipes 

Check your cabinet above your fridge, they are usually 10º to 15º warmer than the kitchen, I smack mine and it only takes an hour or so in there.

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Rich

Bitter Creek Homebrew Supply

Southwood

Recipes 

+ 1 for smack & pour immediately into starter. Let everything happen in the starter.

Cheers

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Primaries: Centennial IPA
Conditioning: Duseldorf Altbier, '07 Barleywine
On-tap: Dunkelweizen
Also pouring: Weizen-bock, Solstice Ale '06