wyeast activator packet DUD

Man i smacked it and it did NOTHING, been 20 hours and NO ACTION in the carboy, no visible change at all and no bubbling... it had been in the fridge for 5 weeks, could t have all just died in that time?

Did you break the inner pack when smacking it? What yeast did you use? What temp is the fermenter?

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

I'm gonna go with two possibilities:
1. You didn't smack the inner pack hard enough to mix the two.
2. The fermentation hasn't taken off yet. I've had quite a few brews that didn't take off immediately, some even took 3-4 days. Once I started making starters, the beers took off within hours.

I used my first smack pack today and I must have hit the thing 5 times without breaking the inner pack. Finally, I shuffled the inner pack into a corner and squeezed with two hands until it finally broke. So my advice to you is make sure you broke the inner pack and make sure you have a back-up. Mine is a dry yeast pack that is always in the fridge (Nottingham).

The Activator I threw on my hefeweizen today (the Weihenstephan) was off and running in 4 hours.....maybe a record for the Activator, which I use regularly. More comonly, 12-16 hours, although I've had one take a full day to show signs of life. Follow directions, have patience before pitching a backup. If no airlock action by the end of 48 hours, I'd probably pitch the backup......

I had one take 3 days once - just wait a bit more. Happens

took off in 22 hours, which seems long, i have had dry yeast take off quicker, temp was good it is the british II strain. It is a choc stout with 16oz of coco so maybe that delayed it, once i opened the thing i found i had only broken 1 of the inner packets (there looked like 2 joined together) so i opened it, mixed it all in and then pitched... its goging strong now i guess i just expected it to be ALOT quicker since it is a mini starter..

Anthony_Lopez said:

2. The fermentation hasn't taken off yet. I've had quite a few brews that didn't take off immediately, some even took 3-4 days. Once I started making starters, the beers took off within hours.

Click to expand...

+1. Make starters. Huge difference in lag time.