smack pack didn't break - 24hrs no activity

[wrestleb]

I brewed a hoppy wheat beer last night. smacked the yeast pack early as I always do noticed the package wasn't swelling, smacked again but it still didn't really swell. When I opened it to pitch I saw that the nutrition pack never broke, I cut it open, swirled it around and pitched the yeast. I am now 24 hrs in and I don't see any activity, there is something on the bottom that appears to be trub but that can't be right this soon can it?

Every other wheat beer I have brewed has fermented fast and furious so the fact this isn't doing anything is very concerning. What should I do?

 

[MrPowers]

What yeast is it?

 

[wrestleb]

WY 1335

 

[wrestleb]

Pic of trub?

 

[day_trippr]

Definitely trub. And I would expect a much more opaque look to an actively fermenting wort as it churned up some of that trub.
That wort looks nearly clear, which suggests the yeast have yet to take off in any substantial manner.

What's the OG of that wort, and do you remember what the date on the yeast pack was? If the OG is high enough and the yeast old enough it could explain the long-ish delay on seeing evident activity as the yeast population is still ramping up.

As for the nutrient pack, I wouldn't worry about not breaking it open. Lots of folks have had the same thing happen and still got a successful beer out of the yeast...

Cheers!

 

[wrestleb]

OG 1.051, date was November 2017

Should I do anything or just give it time?

 

[BrewZer]

OG 1.051, date was November 2017

Should I do anything or just give it time?

Wow... your yeast was 7 months old and you pitched it without refreshing it... if it were me, I'd go get another, fresher pack of yeast, smack it (and confirm the "pillow" is flat), let it swell and repitch.

 

[wrestleb]

Wow... your yeast was 7 months old and you pitched it without refreshing it... if it were me, I'd go get another, fresher pack of yeast, smack it (and confirm the "pillow" is flat), let it swell and repitch.

I Never made a starter before, not really sure how. Is 7 months old? What is the normal shelf life?

 

[day_trippr]

There really isn't a "normal shelf life" per se. What there is is a steady loss of vitality from the point of manufacture. There are calculators that will incorporate the age of the yeast in determining the remaining, viable cell count, and compare that against the volume and gravity of the wort you intend to innoculate. If the viable cell count is insufficient for the task, the calculators will guide you through "stepping up" the count to reach an adequate pitch.

For one example, there is this Brewer's Friend calculator. It is one of the easiest to use, imo. I'll tell you right now it thinks your yeast pack had zero viability, which might encourage you to follow @BrewZer's advise to pick up another pack...

Cheers!

 

[MrPowers]

I'd definitely repitch this one ASAP.

 

[wrestleb]

There really isn't a "normal shelf life" per se. What there is is a steady loss of vitality from the point of manufacture. There are calculators that will incorporate the age of the yeast in determining the remaining, viable cell count, and compare that against the volume and gravity of the wort you intend to innoculate. If the viable cell count is insufficient for the task, the calculators will guide you through "stepping up" the count to reach an adequate pitch.

For one example, there is this Brewer's Friend calculator. It is one of the easiest to use, imo. I'll tell you right now it thinks your yeast pack had zero viability, which might encourage you to follow @BrewZer's advise to pick up another pack...

Cheers!

Called my LHBS they suggested adding US-05, luckily had another kit in house with that yeast. Just pitched, fingers crossed.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[passedpawn]

repitch asap. 7 month old liquid yeast is probably an issue.

My LHBS gave me some 6 month old pouches. They did not expand after smacking/breaking nutrient pouch. I pitched 2 per carboy, gave it 3 days, and repitched. There just weren't any/many live cells in there.

I don't mess with questionable yeast anymore, never. It's the one part of your process you don't want to screw around with. Keep a variety of dry yeast in your fridge (it'll last many years in there) just in case you have this sort of situation and can't get more liquid yeast.

 

[eadavis80]

I've had non-swelling packs make some of my best beers and I even had my smack pack accidentally frozen, I made a starter with it and it fermented the starter. I did not use it as I feared the frozen yeast would have weak/bad health, but it did ferment the starter. I bet if you gave it another day or two you would have seen a fine fermentation, but it's easy to stress about yeast not showing signs of life right away. Adding the 05 shouldn't hurt anything, but it probably will not create the beer's flavor your original yeast intended.

 

[flars]

I Never made a starter before, not really sure how. Is 7 months old? What is the normal shelf life?

A starter is just a small volume of beer made with DME, yeast and no hops. Calculators will definitely demonstrate how it is done. Check out the BF calculator in the @day_trippr post. Remember sanitation is just as important for a starter as it is five gallons of beer.

 

[eadavis80]

 

[BrewZer]

I Never made a starter before, not really sure how. Is 7 months old? What is the normal shelf life?

Old to me is six months. For point of reference, recent packs I've smacked included one that was a month old and one that was 3 months old.

The one month old pack swelled to 2 inches within three hours. Almost popped by itself. Took off immediately in the wort, and I had kreusen forming before I went to bed.

The three month old pack swelled to an inch in three hours. I still got a good start in the wort after it pitched, but it was slower to get cranking. There was kreusen overnight.

The older the liquid yeast, the longer it will take to get it roused, and anything beyond 3 months, I'd definitely do a starter.

 

[kh54s10]

Old to me is six months. For point of reference, recent packs I've smacked included one that was a month old and one that was 3 months old.

The one month old pack swelled to 2 inches within three hours. Almost popped by itself. Took off immediately in the wort, and I had kreusen forming before I went to bed.

The three month old pack swelled to an inch in three hours. I still got a good start in the wort after it pitched, but it was slower to get cranking. There was kreusen overnight.

The older the liquid yeast, the longer it will take to get it roused, and anything beyond 3 months, I'd definitely do a starter.

An average ale should be pitched with almost 200 billion cells. A pack of Wyeast has about 100 to 120 billion cells on the day it is packaged. Viability starts decreasing right away. A 7 month old pack stored well has about 14% viability so that would be only about 14 billion cells.

A starter should be made when using liquid yeast almost every time.

 

[BrewZer]

An average ale should be pitched with almost 200 billion cells. A pack of Wyeast has about 100 to 120 billion cells on the day it is packaged. Viability starts decreasing right away. A 7 month old pack stored well has about 14% viability so that would be only about 14 billion cells.

A starter should be made when using liquid yeast almost every time.

Thanks for the advice -- I've never had an issue using yeast right out of the bag, except on a very high gravity Tripel, where I used 2 packages... but I guess I've been underpitching by that measure.

 

[kh54s10]

Only a few cells might be able to ferment a beer, but they first have to reproduce to cell counts sufficient to do the job. This causes lag where an infection can take hold first. And this is a phase that you can eliminate that is said to cause off flavors. How bad those off flavor are is debatable and variable depending on how severe and underpitch.

 

[eadavis80]

And some styles - depending on your tastes/goals - might be better with a slight underpitch. Some people deliberately underpitch on their wheats and Belgians to get a less clean profile from those yeasts and get more esters deliberately. It all depends on what your goals are.