messed up on first wyeast smack pack

I tried to use a smack pack in my oatmeal stout but after i pitched the yeast i realized the pack on the inside didnt break. I cut it open and pitched it in the fermentor as well. 24 hrs later and no sign of activity. Should i see activity by now or did i screw it all up?

what was your OG? How old was the yeast? You'd need a starter if it was 1.060 or greater. Some say 1.050. That doesn't mean it's not fermenting. It may take a while if you underpitched.

There is nothing wrong here. The inner pack is just nutrient to show that the yeast is still viable.

You have underpitched though. (assuming a 5 gallon batch) The smackpacks hold about a billion cells. And average brew needs a couple billion cells.

Read about making starters on mrmalty.com and yeastcalc.com.

In the mean time the beer will ferment ok. Since it was underpitched the lag time may be increased while the yeast reproduce to cell quantities sufficient to ferment the beer.

It may take a couple to a few days for fermentation to start.

Have a blow off tube installed and keep the wort temperature in the low to mid sixties and in a few weeks you will have a good beer to drink.

It was a 2.5 gallon biab. Og was 1.048.

Yeast was still within its expiration date

You are likely fine, it can take up to 72 hours to show visible signs of fermentation.


My advice is to put it somewhere out of sight, and just check on it very rarely. And in the meantime relax and have a brew

You are probably ok on the amount of yeast and not breaking the inner pouch is of no concern.

There is probably nothing to worry about. I would expect it will be going gangbusters later this evening.

Still nothing closing in on 48 hrs. At what point do i give up and pitch the us05 i have.

I would give it another 24 hours.

Is 72hrs normal lag time? If not what could it be?

bennie1986 said:

Is 72hrs normal lag time? If not what could it be?

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Normal, no. Possible, definitely.

Pitching a wyeast packet without breaking the nutrient packet and not making a starter will increase lag time. However for 2.5 gallons one smack pack would be ideal. Without making a starter, you're just guessing the cells are alive.

Very slowly started last night and not picking up the pace at all

Let it be. It's fine.

Its going now but its the most uneventful fermentation ive ever seen lol

Smells the best ive ever smelled though!