Wyeast Belgian Lambic Blend

Does this smack pack puff up like all the others, or is there any difference? I smacked mine this morning, and it still isn't showing much signs of activity. Normally, my other smack packs are little balloons by now.

Should I just not worry and give it more time?

Ive never gotten much swelling from the lambic packs

how old is it? If its fairly fresh I wouldnt worry and would pitch away

It's from 12/09, so not very old. I'll wait til late tonight and see how it looks then.

Sounds typical from my experience. Unless it's stone-dead after 6-10 hours, just pitch it.

Don't sweat a slow start for a pLambic. I gotta believe the time from the beer hitting the coolship to the start of really active fermentation in a Belgian brewery is much longer than you'll get and they make ok beer, right?

I went through similar frustrations with my first pLambics, now I know to expect slow swelling of WY3278.

"YEAST STRAIN: 3278 | Belgian Lambic Blend™
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Contains a selection of Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces including Belgian-style wheat beer yeast, sherry yeast, two Brettanomyces strains and lactic acid bacteria. While this mixture does not include all possible cultures found in Belgian Lambics, it is representative of the organisms most important for the desirable flavor components of these beers as they are brewed in West Flanders. "

i have a wyeast smack pack from "MFG 15JUN09" i've gotta do something with. i'm guessing that's date it was produced, there is no expiration date, though. to OP, i think that you're kinda at the mercy of wyeast with the smack pack. even if it blows up it's only the Saccharomyces strains propogating that early in the game. my roselare did the same thing (zero activity) and i had no problems in the long run. since it's a blend, a starter will kickstart the sacch yeasts in it, but the brett never really gets goin strong 'til all the other yeasts are already active and toward their near end. practice good sanitation and underpitch like in a lot of brett beers.

Yeah, I figured that the normal yeast is the one producing all the gas in the beginning, and since I had Nottingham in the primary for 2 days prior to pitching 3278, I wasn't terribly worried. It's in there now, locked away for the next 9 months, then the raspberries get added.

As for the date on the package, I believe that Wyeast says you should use the pack within 6 months of that date.