Beer Forum

Hey guys,

Steve and I are brewing as I type - and listening to the Terrapin Show - we're doing an american wheat, 1.052SG - Saaz, Styrian, and a few Amarillo; malt 50/50 pale and wheat, some rye, some aromatic and some v.light crystal....


anyhow...

1010?? we have smacked 2 wyeast sachet and neither have appeared Live?
is this a slow one?

any advice warmly welcomed?

What is the manufacture dates and how long ago did you smack them?

smacked 4 hours ago, perhaps even 5 hours ago.

mfcr: 23/2/08.

looking around the web it can be a slow starter??

Rule of thumb is that it will take one day to swell for every month after manufacturing, so you are looking at up to 3 days to get it fully swelled. Most seem to go faster than that, though, and I have had some that swelled to the point of popping in 8 hours.

I've not heard of that strain being particularly slow.

DannyW wrote:Rule of thumb is that it will take one day to swell for every month after manufacturing, so you are looking at up to 3 days to get it fully swelled. Most seem to go faster than that, though, and I have had some that swelled to the point of popping in 8 hours.

Nothing more reliable than a starter with a vial of White Labs yeast pitched into it. Worrying about whether a smack pack is going to work or not? Fuck that shit.

Thanks.

It was just so slow starting - I just wish we could get whitelabs here...

even getting the normal wyeasts can be a chore - don't even go looking for the unusual strains.

Pitched now - so fingers crossed.

Thanks for all the advice chaps.

P.

BeerPal wrote:Nothing more reliable than a starter with a vial of White Labs yeast pitched into it. Worrying about whether a smack pack is going to work or not? Fuck that shit.

Sorry BeerPal I have the opposite opinion. Why go through all of the work of making a starter and pitching you WL vial just to find out it's shot. I would rather smack a pack a day before I make my starter and know that I have viable yeast.

Don't get me wrong I love WL but I often go with Wyeast when ordering by mail order in the heat of the summer.

Wild Bill wrote:Sorry BeerPal I have the opposite opinion. Why go through all of the work of making a starter and pitching you WL vial just to find out it's shot.

An issue, I suppose, for those who have to mail-order yeast. I am spoiled, I guess, in that I live about 10 minutes away from the MoreBeer showroom and buy yeast right out of their walk-in cooler.