Did I start too early?

I'm getting ready to brew my first batch tomorrow, so I pulled my liquid yeast pack out last night before going to bed and activated it.

When I woke up, it was already swollen to about 2 inches thick. I was under the impression it would take a few days to get to that point.

Will it be ok to keep out until I need it tomorrow afternoon, or should I just go buy a new one?

You'll be alright. Good fresh yeast I might add. You should go ahead and make a starter with it .

Starter:
Boil 4 cups of water and then add 8 oz of DME and boil for 10 min. Cool it in an ice bath with the lid on the sauce pan . If you don't have a 22oz beer bottle you can always put it in a large sanitized jar with foil over the top. I 've
done this numerous times. I put the foil on the jar and put it in a 300F oven for 15 Min. Let it cool add your starter and yeast. By tomorrow you'll have a great start on the yeast..

Thanks for the reply.

I had to leave for work in a rush this morning, so I didn't get a chance to get a starter going. I thought about putting it back in the fridge, but I didn't know if that would shock the yeast. I left it out, so hopefully i don't come home to an explosive mess.

I'll probably pick up another yeast pack today, just in case I need it.

I've never seen a smackpack explode. You should be in good shape. Make a starter as mentioned above, and you'll have a huge army of hungry yeast ready to make beer for you.

Well, no explosions.

I got my batch going yesterday. I managed to get some hops into the fermenter though, but hopefully it won't be a big deal.

When I woke up this morning, it was fermenting away. I didn't expect this much activity.

That looks perfect. Nice setup too. You're going to have a lot of friends soon.

Sorry, more n00b questions..

It's been about 48hr since I pitched the yeast. The krausen appears to have subsided already, but it never blew out the tube, like I thought it would.
There's still some hops in there from a strainer 'incident' when pouring the wort into the fermenter. Will it affect the flavor at all? Should I try to get it out, or will it eventually settle?

Should I put the regular fermentation lock on yet, or wait for this magical blowout to happen first?

Blowoffs don't always happen. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It's not something you should expect, but something that you should be prepared for.

I had one go nuts in my primary bucket, and blew the lid off it twice. That prompted me to upgrade to a 6.5 gal carboy, and I use a blowoff every time. Haven't had one blow off yet. But I'm prepared, and it's as easy (maybe easier) than using an airlock.

Just leave it the way it is....your blowoff setup is just a big airlock, anyway. BTW, your blowoff seup is much neater/cooler looking than mine! Now get that beer out of the light and have a beer.

Thanks. I guess I just need to drink more to counter-act the worrying.

I got the blowoff tube from www.heartshomebrew.com

It looked a lot easier to clean than a plastic tube. lol