Smack Pack

I have made several mead batches with Lalvin ec1118, my favorite, and have had very short lag times. Normaly i heat my honey/water to 160 and keep it there for about 30 minutes to kill anything that i dont want in there. Rehydrate dry yeast, and pitch. This time I used a Wyeast sweet mead smack pack. I put the honey into room temp water(15 lbs for a 5 gallon batch) i did not check gravity, never have. I popped the pack, let swell and such then pitched into 6.5 gallon carboy with honey/water mix. It has been about 6 hours and nothing, i am actually getting negative pressure in my air lock. Is this normal for a smack pack/way i prepaired it this time, or is my yeast "stuck"? Sorry for the "freak out", but never had this problem till I tried a liquid yeast.

Relax, it's a slow starter. If it doesn't start, check your ph.

Smack packs do not contain nearly as many yeast cells as the dry yeast packs. So, they lag more before you see activity. Also, the yeast itself might not be a quick starter even with the same number of cells.

Just give it time...

+1...liquid yeasts really need a starter to have adequate cell counts, and even then your lag times may be a bit longer than dry yeast. I'll bet you see activity within 24 hrs from pitching. BTW though...are you using any yeast nutrient?

I used a yeast energizer, its been about 18 hours since pitching and there is some, though very little activity. Thanks for the feed back, looks like it was just a slow starter.