Yeast and Hops

I purchased a Wyeast smack pack and some whole leaf hops for my upcoming brew and when the box arrived my wife put it in another box and I didn't see it for 3 or 4 days.

Will it affect the yeast or hops? Should they be stored in the fridge?

Also when using a smack pack is it necessary to make a starter?

Your hops will be OK after being warm for such a short amount of time, but it is recommended that you store them in a freezer. The yeast is a different story. Storing yeast at room temp will certainly lower its viability, as the yeast are effectively starving because at room temp they want to metabolize. I'd pop the smack pack and see if it swells, and even if it doesn't I'd make a starter and see if the yeast are growing. You should probably be making a starter anyhow. IMO any 5 gallon batch with an OG above 1.050 should get a starter. Look at mrmalty.com or yeastcalc.com to see the cell counts that are recommended to determine if you need to make a starter.

Oh, and yeast smack packs should always be stored in the fridge, but not frozen.

Yes make a starter for the yeast. It may take longer than normal to get going (depends on how long ago it was manufactured by WY).

Definitely a starter, use a 2L starter with 200g of DME...you might consider 5-6g of FermAid K yeast nutrient also.

Thanks!

How long before your brew day should you make your starter?

My normal routine:
1. Make starter 3 days before brew day (i.e. if brewing Sat make on Wed).
2. 24-36 hours later - starter has finished yeast growth stage, put starter into fridge.
3. Brew day - take crash cooled starter out of fridge ~3 hour before pitching. Decant the wort on top of the yeast. Leave a little bit of wort in the flask for swirling the yeast into solution. Leave the starter out of the fridge to warm up to pitching temp.
4. Pitch the yeast: sterilize the neck/top of you starter container with either flame or alcohol wipe. Swirl yeast into solution and pitch into the cooled batch to ferment.

Done.

Should you still make a starter if you don't have a stirplate?

Yes. Just stir it by swirling the flask every once in a while. Put the flask somewhere that you walk by all the time and just swirl it every time you go by. You will not get as much yeast growth as with a stir plate, but you will still get significant growth.

helibrewer said:

Definitely a starter, use a 2L starter with 200g of DME...you might consider 5-6g of FermAid K yeast nutrient also.

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Not to hijack the thread but I understand the importance of making a large starter, especially for higher grav beers, but what type of vessel do you use for a 2L starter? The biggest flask I can get is a 2L.

I use a 1 gallon wine jug. Works like a charm.

Or do a 1L starter, cold crash, decant, pour off 3/4 of the slurry into a sanitized cooled jar and then re step the starter with fresh wort. I have a 2L flask and can only do 1L starters safely.