Who uses Wyeast a lot?

I have always used white labs yeast until now. I plan to make a starter, is there any need to "smack" this and wait for it to swell. It's my understanding it has a small nutrient pack in it, will this benefit the starter?

 

I always do. It doesn't increase the yeast count any but kind of just "wakes" then up and gets them ready to do their thing.

 

From the horse's mouth.

 

I kinda figured as much. One more thing to wait on.

Thanks Rev. I'm going to smack it now and pitch tonight regardless of swelling.

 

Revvy beat me to posting that from their page.

I make starters all the time without smacking the pack. Both my LHBS only have Wyeast. I only worry about the inner pack being broken if I am going to pitch directly.
Cheers!

 

That sounds incredibly dirty.

 

Its also a good indicator of yeast health, if you smack it and it takes a long time to start swelling you have a problem.

 

I respectfully disagree.
If it swells at all, you've got no problem. That being said, you should still be making a starter...even with smack packs.

 

Yup, We have had some crazy swelling smack packs and some almost to no swelling smack packs, We have hit all of our F.G's with all 7 wyeast liquid yeasts we have used.

The only way to tell is to pitch it and get a reading. When we were new to home brewing we thought we got bad yeast, it was just bad advice once we talked to the store owner where we bought the wyeast. He also said always check the date stamped on it to ensure your getting a fresh pack and there should not be any problems with them.

 

All I have available is Wyeast. I like the smack pack because it proofs the yeast.
I always make a big starter anyhow.

Been washing and saving the yeast in small canning jars, so I only need to buy yeast now and then.

David

 

For what it is worth, the folks at my LHBS suggest smaking it the night before they brew and leave it out at room temperature.

Has anyone had one of the packs explode after smaking it and leaving it out? It sure looks like it might at sometimes.

 

whats exactly in the pack? sugar?

 

I bought 2 smackpacks from Rebel Brewer last week. I was worried they might freeze during shipping but they both inflated OK. One of them (3655) was Jan 2010 and it swelled up very fast. The other (3522) was dated Oct 09 and it was reluctant. I left them both on top of the fridge overnight. The Jan one looked like it wanted to burst but the Oct was only half inflated. I put the Oct one into a 800ml 1030 DME starter and it is all good.

 

I simply smack the pack just before pitching it into a starter. I figure the nutrient in the pack will help during the starter.

 

If I'm making a starter, I never wait for it to expand. But I definitely smack it, and I kinda consider the nutrient pack to replace any nutrients that I would have added to the starter.