Yeast came pre-acrivated!

[Houdini]

I just received a new extract kit from NB and I noticed the wyeast 1056 was already activated. I started the brewing process as soon as the kit arrived and just noticed it was pre-activated when I started steeping the grains.

I'm worried that this may have been activated during the whole 4 day shipping process. Are the yeasties viable or should I just RDWHAHB?

 

[leolee86]

If you have the means for a starter I would try that

 

[Houdini]

Unfortunately I haven't saved any yeast from other batches...

 

[Quaker]

I've had that occur and in a lowish gravity wort it was still fine. But as said prior, if you have some DME on hand to make a small starter to give it a few hours warm-up, it wouldn't hurt. I would be more concerned with what the temp was during shipping than the fact that it was already active.

 

[static]

I would think that they would be viable. All the smack pack does is release the yeast nutrient into the slurry. DME starter if you can. I would still pitch it though.

 

[Houdini]

Ah, I see, I've never made a starter before. I don't have any DME, but I do have some priming sugar if that would work...

I'm slightly worried about temps too, as the ice pack wasn't remotely cool when I felt it, and we've had 90 degree weather over the weekend when it was shipping. On the plus side the ice pack wasn't warm either... Felt room temp, and I opened the package as soon as it arrived.

 

[Accidic]

I suppose you could use a sugar starter under the circumstances but it's not really my preference.

In a pinch you can get a bottle of Malta (usually found in the Mexican foods area), heat to get the carbonation out (you can boil if you want) and cool down to roughly the same temp as the yeast and throw it in. If it's well active (which it probably is) it'll probably be rarin' to go within 2 hours (and you could bump up your cells a bit by leaving it 4-8). I've poured it in without decanting in a dark beer with little to no problems although if it's light you might want to cool it in the fridge for a little bit and pour off the excess liquid. I've done this to pretty good effect in a similar pinch with no problem and since I wasn't using a chiller, I didn't really notice much difference.

 

[jbsengineer]

Ah, I see, I've never made a starter before. I don't have any DME, but I do have some priming sugar if that would work...

I'm slightly worried about temps too, as the ice pack wasn't remotely cool when I felt it, and we've had 90 degree weather over the weekend when it was shipping. On the plus side the ice pack wasn't warm either... Felt room temp, and I opened the package as soon as it arrived.

Had this exact thing happen to me. Everything turned out just fine. It doesn't take much for the yeast to blow up the activator.

I do starters now for the extra confidence and prevision.

 

[Accidic]

If you were going to try and go the sugar route, you could boil some bread yeast for yeast chow and match it to the sugar but it's not ideal. I would boil it for no less than 5 minutes though but that may partially be cause I'm superstitious.

 

[OldBunny]

Do you have some dry yeast? Absent a starter, my inclination would be to pitch the Wyeast and, if there's no activity after 24 hours, pitch a packet of dry yeast as well.

I've had at least one Wyeast pack where I couldn't feel the activator, and it totally fizzled in the starter: after 12 hours on a magnetic stir plate the yeast had flocculated and formed a dense cake on the bottom of the flask. DEAD!

 

[Houdini]

Thanks to all the replies... I do have a packet of dry yeast that I had completely forgot about (probably about 4 months old). I'd much rather stick with the recommended yeast for this kit however.

I think I'll just pitch the pre-activated yeast as usual and if I dont get any activity in 24 hours (I always get activity under 24 hours) I'll pitch the dry yeast and hope the taste comes out as expected.

Thanks all for the advice!

 

[SFbrewdoc]

The same thing happened to me one time. I think it just got warm during shipping, as the ice pack was room temperature when it arrived. The activator pack was not broken. I made a starter and the yeast did fine.

 

[bradjoiner]

just pitch it if it is still swollen you should be fine i have had it happen to me before and as was said i think they tend to puff up when warm. i stopped buying yeast through mail and tend to stock up when at the lhbs

 

[WoolyBooger]

The same thing happened to me one time. I think it just got warm during shipping, as the ice pack was room temperature when it arrived. The activator pack was not broken. I made a starter and the yeast did fine.

+1 the pack was swollen tight when it arrived, but the nutrient pack was fully intact inside. The yeast was just really fresh (packaged like 3 days before it shipped) and was somewhat active still. I was able to break the nutrient pack and pitched it with excellent results.

 

[Houdini]

Thought I'd give a quick update. I pitched the yeast as is, but took a look at the inner package that hold the nutrients... And there were TWO nutrient packets inside it, each attached to each other.

One was unbroken, and the other was broken with the entire side completely missing. It didn't look like it burst, but instead looked as if whatever machine cuts the packets accidentally cut too far over and let the nutrients leak out?

Anyways I've only used direct pitch activators 3 times before but it's pretty obvious when it's been activated compared to unactivated so one of the nutrient packets must have activated.

So I just broke the nutrient package and dumped it and stirred. No clue if the yeast will flourish but I guess I'll find out.

 

[Houdini]

After 12 hours of fermenting I'm getting bubbles out of my blow-off tube, about 10 seconds apart. Looks like the yeast took!

 

[themack22]

Nice!

Same thing happened to me. Room temp ice pack, swollen smack pack. Broke the nutrient pouch and the smack pack swelled like a mug. Making a starter now.