making a starter from a wyeast activator pack

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TEarley

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when making a starter do i smack the pack and let it swell up, then add to the dme wort? or not smack it and just pour the yeast in the dme wort?
 
smacking just releases some nutrient.. it would work either way. and there enought goodness in your starter already. so it really doesn't matter
 
OK I'm doing a Trappist and got the high gravity Trappist pack. I had it in the fridge for 2 months and smacked it Monday. The last two days I've had the pack double I size. Now its fully swelled. I plan to make it tomorrow along with a Belgian dubbel.
 
OK I'm doing a Trappist and got the high gravity Trappist pack. I had it in the fridge for 2 months and smacked it Monday. The last two days I've had the pack double I size. Now its fully swelled. I plan to make it tomorrow along with a Belgian dubbel.

Wait a minute...you DO know that smacking the pack isn't the same as making a starter, right? Are you making a starter or brewing tomorrow?
 
Wait a minute...you DO know that smacking the pack isn't the same as making a starter, right? Are you making a starter or brewing tomorrow?


im brewing tomorrow, i know their nutrients in their thats why it swells, but i wasnt sure if it was the practice. i see videos of people cutting open their smack pack with out activating it. not sure why they would discard the pack of nutrient.
 
I'm still not sure if you are making a starter tomorrow, or just brewing your dubbel tomorrow. You should probably get a starter going today, using the swelled-up Wyeast pack. It will help propagate the yeast from the smack-pak so you'll have an adequate volume to pitch in to the dubbel. If you just pitch the Wyeast pack into the dubbel, you may be underpitching by a bit. It won't be the end of the world, though.
 
im brewing tomorrow, i know their nutrients in their thats why it swells, but i wasnt sure if it was the practice. i see videos of people cutting open their smack pack with out activating it. not sure why they would discard the pack of nutrient.

You need to make a starter for the beer you're brewing. Just opening the pack and pitching it isn't gonna cut it. See ww.mrmalty.com for details. Remember, if your yeast isn't ready you're no more ready to brew than if you didn't have malt or hops. If I was you, I'd put off brewing til next week.
 
^^ +1. I would listen to someone who has a yeast named after him!

We see a lot of threads about "Is my fermentation stuck?" or "Why did it finish so high?"; and I speak from bitter experience on this. It is very hard to fix a stuck fermentation, but it's not that hard to make a good sized starter, and oxygenate well.

Cheers!
 
+1 to Denny and Frazier-spot on, a swollen pack is NOT a starter and you are under pitching and you need to
Make a starter!
 
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