Foiled smack pack

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dpt222

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Yesterday was my first time using a smack pack and I foiled it. Wyeast 1056.

So I was deceived into thinking I located the inner pack and then smacked it, thinking I broke the inner pouch...wrong! I had to cut open the pouch with scissors and then mix it around. I just did a direct pitch. The fermentation is going today though.

Next time I will give the pack a nice healthy backhand...is it generally better to do this at least 3 hrs in advance as the directions say? It also says can be used for direct pitching. I just want to avoid botching the yeast pitch cuz I'd be pretty po'ed if I had no activity.
 
I've had that happen to me- you think the packet is smacked well, but nope! I almost always make starters for my liquid yeast now, so I know the yeast is ready. My last smack pack took 6-7 hours to swell, though.
 
I make starters now, too.
When I "smack" the smack pack, I locate the little pouch and do my best to isolate it near the bottom of the pack- then, placing that bottom portion in my palm, I smack down very hard with the heel of my other hand. If you hold the pack up to your ear, you should be able to hear fizzing inside, as the yeast begins to chew on the nutrients. No fizz means no rupture.
 
Just feel around good to locate it and move it to where the pack is thin and then smack it, I sometimes just lay it on the counter and just press hard on the little inner nutrient puuch till it breaks.
After you think you have it just feel around again to make sure. after a couple you can do them in your sleep.

[YOUTUBE]lvch26L0_Lw[/YOUTUBE]
 
but the Wyeast smack pack has a fatal flaw. You can't tell for sure whether you have started the activator or not. I am saying this totally objectively, as I am a nOOb, and have no vested interest in yeast, other than what it can do for my beer. As a business person and student of consumer products, this delivery system is flawed...:(
 
The Bone2 said:
but the Wyeast smack pack has a fatal flaw. You can't tell for sure whether you have started the activator or not.
Click to expand...

Doesn't the pack swelling in size tell you that you've started the activator? :confused:
 
don't always swell that much. I think the ambient air temp can cause the smack packs to appear to be inflating, but this is just a theory.

All I know is I have had smack packs that inflated like a balloon, others that inflated very little after the activator was punctured, and ones that I thought were inflating, but subsequently determined the activator had not been activated.....

I am a nOOb, though....
 
The Bone2 said:
but the Wyeast smack pack has a fatal flaw. You can't tell for sure whether you have started the activator or not. I am saying this totally objectively, as I am a nOOb, and have no vested interest in yeast, other than what it can do for my beer. As a business person and student of consumer products, this delivery system is flawed...:(
Click to expand...

It's not like finding a needle in a haystack or rocket science. The inner pack is 25 ml, it must be about 1.5" in diameter and 3/8" or so deep. I have no problems finding it :)

Jamo99 said:
Doesn't the pack swelling in size tell you that you've started the activator? :confused:
Click to expand...

Exactly, thats why they tell you do do it in advance so you know your yeast is viable, Although I have never heard of anyone that had a bad pack that wasnt expired.

Edit: Added 25ml
 
I too, can find the inner pouch. Last time, I found it, pinched it a couple time, felt around again, thought that I had broken it, then set the package down on the counter and banged on it with my fist a few times all over the pack.

When I pitched the yeast, the activator pack still wasn't broken.

PS. IMPORTANT!:p When I opened up the Wyeast pack, it appeared there were actually (2) activator packs which appeared to be attached to each other, and one WAS broken. I assumed this was an extra piece of plastic that got didn't get detached from the activator, but I suppose that it could have been a second pack that I did actually activate.

Anyway, my wheat beer had not shown any visible signs of fermentation after 72 hours, so I pitched a pack of dry yeast on top of the wort and it begin fermenting withing about 3 hours.......
 
After probably 25 smack packs I had a first today. The very first time I used one I was a bit gentle with it and didn’t break the inner pack. Now I beat the crap out of them and have never had a problem until today. The bottom of the pack started to leak.

I soaked the top of the packet in sanitizer along with a jar and carboy cap and poured it in. That was this morning around 8:00. I’ll be away most of the day and plan to brew this evening. Probably pitch around 9:00pm.

Do you think this will be OK? I have bubbles.

Starter01.jpg
 
The Bone2 said:
I too, can find the inner pouch. Last time, I found it, pinched it a couple time, felt around again, thought that I had broken it, then set the package down on the counter and banged on it with my fist a few times all over the pack.

When I pitched the yeast, the activator pack still wasn't broken.

PS. IMPORTANT!:p When I opened up the Wyeast pack, it appeared there were actually (2) activator packs which appeared to be attached to each other, and one WAS broken. I assumed this was an extra piece of plastic that got didn't get detached from the activator, but I suppose that it could have been a second pack that I did actually activate.

Anyway, my wheat beer had not shown any visible signs of fermentation after 72 hours, so I pitched a pack of dry yeast on top of the wort and it begin fermenting withing about 3 hours.......
Click to expand...


Thats wierd, even if you discard the inner liquid nutrient pouch without ever breaking it it should not matter, you are still pitching 100ml of yeast slurry.
That nutrient pouch is basicaly just a tool to be used in determining viability,
and for initiating the yeasts metabolism to help with faster fermentation starts.

I like wheat fermentations, lots of activity and usually blowoff :D
 
anoldur said:
After probably 25 smack packs I had a first today. The very first time I used one I was a bit gentle with it and didn’t break the inner pack. Now I beat the crap out of them and have never had a problem until today. The bottom of the pack started to leak.

I soaked the top of the packet in sanitizer along with a jar and carboy cap and poured it in. That was this morning around 8:00. I’ll be away most of the day and plan to brew this evening. Probably pitch around 9:00pm.

Do you think this will be OK? I have bubbles.
Click to expand...

You will be fine.
 
The Bone2 said:
don't always swell that much. I think the ambient air temp can cause the smack packs to appear to be inflating, but this is just a theory.

All I know is I have had smack packs that inflated like a balloon, others that inflated very little after the activator was punctured, and ones that I thought were inflating, but subsequently determined the activator had not been activated.....

I am a nOOb, though....
Click to expand...


How good is your hearing? When I smack mine, I hold the pack up to my ear- if there's a fizzing sound, the inner pouch is broken. This method probably wouldn't work for those folks who are hard of hearing, however.
 
One thing that happened to me that you may want to watch out for. I tend to lay my smack pack on the counter and locate the nutrient pack, then apply pressure until I feel it burst, then shake it up a bit - I must've done this about 8 times or so. But the last time I did it, and thought the pack was burst, I noticed the pack was inflating a bit less than usual. I thought nothing of it and pitched it when the time came and saw that there are two divisions to the nutrient pouch and one had not burst! As a result, I had to sanitize a pair of scissors and cut the second compartment and dump that into the carboy as well. Just so you know. I had no idea. : /
 
I'm sure it's a classic noob mistake, but I used one for my first batch and ended up dumping the plastic packet inside the pack right into my wort... I was very glad to see that video and watched to see how not to do that again :eek:
 
EinGutesBier said:
One thing that happened to me that you may want to watch out for. I tend to lay my smack pack on the counter and locate the nutrient pack, then apply pressure until I feel it burst, then shake it up a bit - I must've done this about 8 times or so. But the last time I did it, and thought the pack was burst, I noticed the pack was inflating a bit less than usual. I thought nothing of it and pitched it when the time came and saw that there are two divisions to the nutrient pouch and one had not burst! As a result, I had to sanitize a pair of scissors and cut the second compartment and dump that into the carboy as well. Just so you know. I had no idea. : /
Click to expand...

If it ever happens again, you dont need to bother cutting it open and pitching it with the yeast. The liquid nutrient pouch just initiates metabolism which generates CO2 for swelling of the pouch, indicating the yeast is healthy. It does not provide enough nutrients to cause cell growth or increase cell count.
When the inner pouch is ruptured a few hours in advance of use it also prepares the yeast for fermentation & may help shorten lag times at the beginning of your fermentation.
So although beneficial, the inner pouch does not really need to be activated prior to or even added to your wort.
 
I'm sure it's a classic noob mistake, but I used one for my first batch and ended up dumping the plastic packet inside the pack right into my wort... I was very glad to see that video and watched to see how not to do that again
Click to expand...

Actually the video showed the whole top being peeled back. What I do is snip the corner with sanitized scissors so that there is only about a ¼” diameter hole for the yeast to get out of. It acts like a funnel making the pour into the carboy easy.
 
dpt222 said:
Yesterday was my first time using a smack pack and I foiled it. Wyeast 1056.

So I was deceived into thinking I located the inner pack and then smacked it, thinking I broke the inner pouch...wrong! I had to cut open the pouch with scissors and then mix it around. I just did a direct pitch. The fermentation is going today though.

Next time I will give the pack a nice healthy backhand...is it generally better to do this at least 3 hrs in advance as the directions say? It also says can be used for direct pitching. I just want to avoid botching the yeast pitch cuz I'd be pretty po'ed if I had no activity.
Click to expand...
I just started using the activator smack packs. I used to always use the old style which did require a starter. You can feel the nutrient pak in the pouch. I locate the pouch and will then smack it hard to activate. After smacking the pack feel around and make sure the nutrient pack was poped. I usually smack the pack in the morning before brewing it is swelled good 6 hours later when I pitch it in the beer. I love the fact that I don't need to make a starter.

I just started washing my yeast to re pitch for other batches. I do make a starter when using the washed yeast. I find it gets fermenting with in about 3 to 4 hours when I do that.
 
I always had trouble telling when the pouch was broken until I saw the video on the website. They show a technique with "walking" your fingers across the bag. After that, its pretty simple.

Though I've never had luck with the proper breaking method. Always seems to bob around. So I'll first push into a corner, then push pressure on a corner of the packet, and slam with my fist.

nick
 
Sometimes the pouches won't swell if you just leave them sitting there. After a few hours, I give it a good shaking and it usually releases all the CO2 in solution and the pouch swells almost instantly.
 
Argh! This thread jinxed me!
I had my first bad smackpack today. Nada.
I laughed after about 2 hours of no swell, thinking about this thread.
That was at 12:30 today.

Here we are at 10pm, no swelling at all. :(
 
anoldur said:
After probably 25 smack packs I had a first today. The very first time I used one I was a bit gentle with it and didn’t break the inner pack. Now I beat the crap out of them and have never had a problem until today. The bottom of the pack started to leak.

I soaked the top of the packet in sanitizer along with a jar and carboy cap and poured it in. That was this morning around 8:00. I’ll be away most of the day and plan to brew this evening. Probably pitch around 9:00pm.

Do you think this will be OK? I have bubbles.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem yesterday. First time ever I've had a little leak from the bottom of the pack. I ended up just cutting it open and making a small starter on the fly. Lag time was almost 20 hours, but the blowoff is bubbling away nicely now. I was a little nervous when it wasn't yet bubbling this morning.
 
I find the activator pouch impossible to find.....so I just smack the hell out of the whole thing several times. It's worked well on my last 2.
 
Jvh261 wrote:
I had the same problem yesterday. First time ever I've had a little leak from the bottom of the pack. I ended up just cutting it open and making a small starter on the fly. Lag time was almost 20 hours, but the blowoff is bubbling away nicely now. I was a little nervous when it wasn't yet bubbling this morning.
Click to expand...

This has made me wonder if there may have been a bad batch of smack packs. My weekend sale order from Austin Homebrew Supply should be here soon. It includes another packet of yeast. Do I beat it again or take it easy? (rhetorical question)

Congratulations on a successful brew day. Mine lagged a bit also, but is now doing fine. From your signature, it looks like we both made IPA’s. The long wait for the high gravity beers is agonizing, but it looks like you have plenty on hand to hold you over. Enjoy!
 
I had some difficulty with a Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast (right #). It was shipped via UPS and didn't get deliver by Friday so sat on the truck or whereever for the weekend. By the time I got it, the pack had swollen slightly already. The nutrient pack inside had not broken yet so I decided to try it anyway. However, due to the pack being slightly swollen I could not get the nutrient pack to break no matter how hard I hit the dumb thing. At one point I was afraid I was going to hit it too hard and pop the whole Wyeast bag. Either way though, I went ahead and pitched the yeast without the nutrient pack and had my most violent fermentation to date. Who says you need it?
 

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