unique situation involving yeast...what do you think?

So heres the deal, I did a specialty grain brew with LME and pellet hops. I brewed last night. I added the yeast packet(safale us-05 american ale) to warm water(75 degrees), stirred it in, added the sugar water at same temp to a large sanitized cup and covered. I let it sit there for 20 minutes and it did nothing. The last time I brewed(the first time), the yeast was almost instantly activated and working. I didn't know if I should add it or not but I did. That was around midnight last night. This morning, I got up for church and left around 9am and I checked the airlock before I left and it was doing nothing. So after church, I went to the brew store to get some more yeast. It was a different brew store because the one I go to is closed on sunday. They didn't have the same kind. So I got Wyeast activator smack pack of american ale yeast. I got home, smacked the pack before looking at the airlock. HUGE MISTAKE! The airlock was no active. The pack was already activated. I didnt want to waste my money and throw it out so after some contemplation, I added it to the wort. Do you think that was the right thing to do? Do you think it'll mess anything up? Any concerns you have about it? Thanks for your help. Sorry for the length.

Cbarber said:

HUGE MISTAKE! The airlock was no active. The pack was already activated. I didnt want to waste my money and throw it out so after some contemplation, I added it to the wort. Do you think that was the right thing to do?

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That's what I would have done.

Do you think it'll mess anything up?

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No.

Any concerns you have about it?

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The dry yeast now has a running start so the Wyeast culture will not make as much difference as it could have.

You mean the airlock was NOW active? And you pitched the activator anyway?

Wyeast 1056 American Ale is a very similar (if not identical) strain of yeast to US-05. It won't hurt anything, just a waste of about $8. You could have refrigerated the wyeast packet and used it on your next brew, even if activated.

Yeah, the airlock was active(very slightly) and I pitched yeast anyways because I didnt want the yeast to go bad. I had already activated the packet and thought that the yeast would either run out of nurtients and die or the pack would swell too much and burst in my fridge. So yeah...I'm glad its about the same yeast. I dont mind wasting $5 to save a batch, or so I thought when I bought it.

Your batch more than likely didn't need saving....

Your biggest mistake was using airlock activity as a sign of anything...
Second mistake...not waiting 72 hours to give the yeast a chance to take off on it's own before trying to fix something that may or not be a problem.
Third mistake, comparing one fermentation with another...You can't, you are dealing with mother nature and living microorganisms, that means there's a wild card in their...Think of yeasties as being like teenagers and Swmbos they have their own agendas.

Your beer is fine, but you probably wasted your money buy buying a smack pack to "fix" what was probably NOT a problem to begin with.

Here's some things for your reading, for future reference before you jump the gun and consider repitching...

http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/1065801-post7.html

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-start-43635/

Next time...Act wisely instead of reacting....

By the way, foaming when re-hydrating dry yeast is no indication of activity.

david_42 said:

By the way, foaming when re-hydrating dry yeast is no indication of activity.

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That's funny, because I thought that proofing yeast was essentially adding it to water before using, and seeing if it foamed up a bit.

But, I wonder why add sugar to the mix. Many people rehydrate their yeast, but suggest water only, as it will revive the yeast and get their cells filled with water before the sugar has a chance to invade the cell. I believe this helps to keep the number of good yeast as high as possible.

Homercidal said:

That's funny, because I thought that proofing yeast was essentially adding it to water before using, and seeing if it foamed up a bit.

But, I wonder why add sugar to the mix. Many people rehydrate their yeast, but suggest water only, as it will revive the yeast and get their cells filled with water before the sugar has a chance to invade the cell. I believe this helps to keep the number of good yeast as high as possible.

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Some older books, and "common wisdom" from the bad old days suggest doing it in sugar water...but my understanding on that is if you rehydrate with white sugar water, you train the yeast to lean towards that type of sugar and they won't tend to eat our wort as good as if we just rehydrated in water...but I'm not sure where I read that tid-bit.

Revvy said:

Your batch more than likely didn't need saving....

Your biggest mistake was using airlock activity as a sign of anything...
Second mistake...not waiting 72 hours to give the yeast a chance to take off on it's own before trying to fix something that may or not be a problem.
Third mistake, comparing one fermentation with another...You can't, you are dealing with mother nature and living microorganisms, that means there's a wild card in their...Think of yeasties as being like teenagers and Swmbos they have their own agendas.

Your beer is fine, but you probably wasted your money buy buying a smack pack to "fix" what was probably NOT a problem to begin with.

Here's some things for your reading, for future reference before you jump the gun and consider repitching...

http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/1065801-post7.html

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-start-43635/

Next time...Act wisely instead of reacting....

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thanks but if that was my "biggest mistake" then I'm doing fine.

Cbarber said:

thanks but if that was my "biggest mistake" then I'm doing fine.

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Yeah, it'll be fine. I reckon you can RDWHAHB

Revvy said:

...my understanding on that is if you rehydrate with white sugar water, you train the yeast to lean towards that type of sugar and they won't tend to eat our wort as good as if we just rehydrated in water...but I'm not sure where I read that tid-bit.

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I'm not sure where I heard that, but I definitely heard it too. So it must be true!

just wanted to let you guys know that I racked the beer into a secondary today to let it clear up for a week. I tried a little bit, then a little more. I think I had two glasses. Its SO good! I cant wait to bottle it!