Help! What to do with yeast

So some circumstances have come up and I can no longer brew tonight, but I already broke the nutrient pack in the Wyeast smack pack. I will be brewing in two days however. What should I do with the yeast? Is it wasted?

 

Make a starter.

Or, if you don't have any DME/LME on hand, you could sterilize a jar and dump the yeast in the jar. Fill the remainder of the jar with boiled/cooled water and keep in the fridge until brew day.

 

I agree with the starter idea. Take cooled, boiled water, dissolve some sugar in it and dump in the yeast. Voila!

Honestly, I've never tried it myself, but if you have yeast, sugar, and water...only one thing can happen.

 

I would stick it back in the fridge..... pitch it in a couple days.

 

I would make a starter. If that's not a option then just put the unopened yeast back in the fridge.. Am I wrong in thinking that's best?

 

It's usual to use DME or LME in a starter for liquid yeast. I suppose sugar might do in a pinch...

 

Sugar is a bad idea. Only use DME or LME.

If you can make a starter do it, but if you can't, stick it back in the fridge. The pouch only contains nutrient that confirms that the yeast is viable. You can actually pitch Wyeast packs without smacking them.


From the Wyeast website...

 

Awesome, thanks everyone

 

So I don't have a stir plate and am out of the house 10 hours per day. Is it ok for it to just sit? I'll swish it around whenever I'm around it though

 

So I attempted my first starter, I know how to do it better next time. Probably a tad early to worry, but I checked on it this morning, bout 6 hours after I made it, and there was no real sign of fermentation going on. I don't have a stir plate so I did swirl it around. It appears to be clearly carbonated as it foamed up like a shaken beer would do, but no real signs of fermenting. Just too early? I think the yeast is fine, it is fresh and swelled the smack pack all the way. I used 5 oz of DME and 2ish liters of water. I did not add nutrient as I thought maybe what was in the smack pack would suffice.

 

Sounds perfect. If you swirl it enough, it will never get a head or krausen, but it will probably foam every time. At least that's my experience.

 

You did fine. One thing to pay attention to next time is to aerate the starter wort as much as possible before you add the yeast to it. The yeast really need the extra oxygen to get going.

 

Awesome, thanks guys. I tried to oxygenate as best I could, but I know a better way to make it next time. Hopefully I'll have a stirplate ready to go as well.