Yeast Question

So I'm going to start brewing my second batch of beer this weekend after I keg the first one & I'm wondering how soon I should start the yeast. I have a bag of Wyeast in the fridge I was going to pop the inner bag the day before. Should I leave the bag in the fridge during this time or should it be out on the counter?

TIA!

You should pop it a day or two before brewing to make sure it's good.

Leave it out on the counter at room temp.

Thanks for the quick response Bill. I'll do that

Eric

You're welcome.

With the activators, take the yeast out of the fridge and let it warm to room temp on brewing day. Then pop the nutrient pack right as you're getting started. It usually takes a little time to clean and sanitize all the equipment, brewing, cooling, etc; plus the yeast addition is pretty much the last step (well, I guess you still have cleanup). Fresh packs will expand quite nicely within a few hours. I would recommend popping the nutrient pack at room temp though. I once tried popping it right out of the fridge and it was a little slow to respond (but the beer still turned out great).
Homebrewer_99 comment does make sense though just in case you have an old pack and need to quickly drive to homebrew store to get another yeast pack.

Marc.

Because I'm a paranoid type, I put the pack in a ziplock bag when I'm leaving it out. I've had more than one puff up to the point that it ruptured a seal and is hissing so I'm afraid that one day one is going to ruputre more dramatically and spew yeast all ove rhte kitchen. : )

Never heard of that before, but if you want to be cautious I'm all for it.

It all depends upon how fresh the yeat pack is. Wyeast say 1 to 3 hours. I've had fresh packs fully "inflate" in 30 minutes. If it is a couple months old the day before is better.


One idea is smack the pack a day before. If after a couple hours it is fully inflated make a yeast starter out of it.


what I usually do is take it out of the fridge and put it on the counter the morning I plan on brewing. Later in the day when I am ready to brew I samk the yeast pack. then i get all my equipment cleaned. I make my wort. I let it cool (takes a while, I have no wort chiller). If at this time your yeast isn't ready, you probably don't have good yeast.