what do I do

[mwmoose152]

I brewed a killians clone on monday and the kit came with a american lager yeast strain. I used it and waited a couple of days until I didn't see any activity. the wife and I went over to the brew shop to pick up a wine kit for her to make. I talk to the guy behind the counter and told him that my beer was not fermenting. he told me that the white labs american yeast strain sometimes didn't work and that I should add a california yeast stream to my beer.
I smack the pack and let it activate and a pond going downstairs to check on the beer it started fermenting.
what should I do should I waste the new snack pack or should I open up the beer and put it in?
next time I'm going to wait four days until the beer doesn't start fermenting

 

[Yooper]

Stick the extra package of yeast in the fridge to use for another beer.

Always make a starter with liquid yeast, so that you know you have enough viable yeast before pitching. With a lager, you'd need about four vials of yeast to start with, without a starter, so that's probably why it took so long to start.

 

[mwmoose152]

how long of a shelf life do you think the already slapped package of yeast will have

 

[topend]

You could use it to make a starter, let the yeast go through a complete grow / reproduction cycle, put it in the fridge, decant off the wort, and put it back in the fridge until you are ready to use it again. This will get it out of that pressurized smack pack and grow up plenty of yeast for a batch or two.

 

[Yooper]

how long of a shelf life do you think the already slapped package of yeast will have

6 months or so? Whatever the date is on the package. Smacking the package to activate it doesn't do a thing to the lifespan of the yeast.

It's still always recommended to make a starter with liquid yeast whether the package was smacked or not. You don't get yeast reproduction with the smack pack, so it's not a starter. Put the package in the fridge and use it when you need that yeast strain.

 

[mwmoose152]

so I don't have to worry about that packet exploding? thank you guys for the quick responses

 

[Yooper]

so I don't have to worry about that packet exploding? thank you guys for the quick responses

No, it won't explode! It's sort of big, but it won't get any bigger.