Hopefully not the typical no activity question

Please don't crucify me or give me the links to the wait 72 hrs posts, but I have a related question. I brewed this weekend and pitched what seemed to be an inflating smack pack, but it may have just been swelling slightly due to warming up. When it arrived it was quite warm, but I stuck it in the fridge and thought it would be ok. Anyway, over 48 hrs in and no activity, airlock or gravity reading. I am going to be patient, but since I don't have a LHBS or reserve yeast (stupid) I am having my online place send me some and it will be here Thursday just in case I need to repitch. That will be 4 days in the bucket without any yeast activity IF in fact that is how the story works out. Can the wort survive that long in the bucket without picking up some sort of infection???

if everything was properly sanitized, and the bucket is sealed you shouldn't have an issue. you could refrigerate it if you are worried.

Thanks. Everything was sanitized with star san. I did take the one gravity reading so it was very briefly exposed, but hopefully that won't really make a difference.

OK, you saved yourself from the "wait longer you dufus" replies because you confirmed your suspicions with a hydro. Good job and kudos to you.
You should be fine, but get some yeast in there as soon as you can. Let us know how it goes.

OK, I have to admit that I was probably more nervous than I should have been but I have to tell the rest of the story here to hopefully benefit some future brewers. I went to the basement this morning to do a gravity reading so I would know if I should repitch and what did I find??? The airlock bubbling away....even though we've learned to trust the hydro and not the airlock, those sweet, sweet bubbles made me happy this morning. Bottom line: The yeast is tough and it worked.

borealis said:

OK, I have to admit that I was probably more nervous than I should have been but I have to tell the rest of the story here to hopefully benefit some future brewers. I went to the basement this morning to do a gravity reading so I would know if I should repitch and what did I find??? The airlock bubbling away....even though we've learned to trust the hydro and not the airlock, those sweet, sweet bubbles made me happy this morning. Bottom line: The yeast is tough and it worked.

Click to expand...

That's why we DO provide the links about waiting....because we KNOW the yeast is better than most new brewers believe.

If you had made a starter you would have already confirmed that the yeast was alive and viable. But also something to remember about smack packs, it doesn't matter if they inflate or not.

From the horse's mouth.

From the Wyeast FAQ website:

3. Does the package need to be fully swollen before pitching?

No, The package can be pitched before activating, or at anytime during the activation process. The activation process "jump starts" the culture's metabolism, minimizing the lag phase.

Click to expand...

So remember that for next time.

borealis said:

OK, I have to admit that I was probably more nervous than I should have been but I have to tell the rest of the story here to hopefully benefit some future brewers. I went to the basement this morning to do a gravity reading so I would know if I should repitch and what did I find??? The airlock bubbling away....even though we've learned to trust the hydro and not the airlock, those sweet, sweet bubbles made me happy this morning. Bottom line: The yeast is tough and it worked.

Click to expand...

Heh

borealis said:

Please don't crucify me or give me the links to the wait 72 hrs posts, but I have a related question.

Click to expand...

Does it count if you crucify yourself?!?

Seriously though, Good news!

I know. I made myself look stupid, but that's nothing a little homebrew can't fix and I figured it was worth it to help someone out.

borealis said:

I know. I made myself look stupid, but that's nothing a little homebrew can't fix and I figured it was worth it to help someone out.

Click to expand...

Self sacrifice - Yet another great trait of this home brew community!

borealis said:

I know. I made myself look stupid, but that's nothing a little homebrew can't fix and I figured it was worth it to help someone out.

Click to expand...

It's common, despite all the info we put out here, every new brewer thinks their situation/beer is unique. But that's rarely the case. No matter what YOU think might be different the basic rules are the same.

Wait 72 hours, take a hydro reading, THEN deal with the outcome. Which is usually slap your self silly for not giving the yeast the props it deserves.

I can't think of any situation where that basic premise would be change. It's a simple matter or ruling out the normal first it's the same with bottle carbing/conditioning, and why we tell people to wait a minimum of 3 weeks @ 70 degrees, before being concerned. In both cases you have to pass a window of the normal behavior time of living microorganisms.

And rarely, like .001% of the time does the yeast not do their job in that timeframe.

The idea of yeast "dying" or there being "bad" yeast is another one of those holdovers from bygone days (like before 1978 when it was legalizied in the states), when yeast was in cake form, of undetermined origin and traveled in the hot cargo hold of ships for months, and sat on grocer's shelves for god knows how long.

Then Charlie Papazian, and other authors wrote about yeast being "finnicky."

Which of course sews seeds of doubt in many a nervous new brewer.

But nowadays modern yeast rarely lets us down. It doesn't just "die" unless you dumped it in boiling wort and killed it.

I had an identical post a few weeks ago with my first try at liquid yeast- I had no activity for 4 whole days. They were the longest days of my life.

Now it's been bubbling away for 2 weeks now. :rockin: