Smack pack not inflated

[BREWERS DROOP]

This Wyeast smack pack I slapped yesterday has failed to swell up,date on it is March 17, and my brew is done??

 

[MyQul]

I've only ever bought one smack pack and no matter how hard I hit it couldnt burst the nutrient pouch (I seem to remember hitting it with a hammer in desperation, but it still didnt work). So I cut the pack open (the nutrient pouch too) and put them both in a starter. The yeast worked fine.

 

[trueblue]

Love the Wyeast yeast, hate the smack packs, that's why I use whitelabs.

 

[Brew_DD2]

I've only ever bought one smack pack and no matter how hard I hit it couldnt burst the nutrient pouch (I seem to remember hitting it with a hammer in desperation, but it still didnt work). So I cut the pack open (the nutrient pouch too) and put them both in a starter. The yeast worked fine.

I'm glad it wasn't just me. Stupid design.

 

[Pawlo7671]

Had no problems with the smack pack, it helps if you work the nutrient pouch in to a corner and trap it, then give it a good wack with your fist.

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

The pouch inside has definitely burst,will see what it's like tomorrow,as I have just finished my brew so will leave it until morning,don't want to pitch crap yeast,back to dried Notts yeast I think.

 

[Fil]

give it a few days, especially if recently removed from the cool,

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

It's been at 21 degrees all day today and still no action.

 

[Litmus]

yeah, I have done two smack packs in the past and neither worked.

One brew ended up with bakers yeast as it was a Sunday and I didn't have a no chill cube back then. The other I brought a back up dried yeast because of the aforementioned incident. I have have never used them since.

 

[Cwrw666]

Only ever used one once - and yes, I had to beat it half to death to get the inner watsit to burst. Worse still was that it cost an arm and a leg. Only bought it because I couldn't find a French Saison yeast anywhere else, but at least I got 2 brews out of it and could have had more but after 80 bottles of Bierre de Garde I was sick of the stuff.

 

[Fil]

contact the seller and include a link to this thread, i would ask for a refund as in all likelihood any replacement may have suffered the same conditions that reduced the viability of your initial failing pack.

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

Emailed them today,waiting for a reply.

 

[DoctorMick]

If the yeast is from March you'd need a starter anyway as the viability would be quite low. I'd imagine that'd be the reason it didn't swell.

 

[The Idiot]

As Dr Mick says, you should always make a starter with out of date yeasts. That said, I've never had a smack pack inflate, but about half the Wyeast products I've tried were duff, which is why I only use White Labs and Yeast Bay (same people really) at present.

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

Stuck my air pump in it for 5 minutes and it's now going👍👍👍
Still going to use my dried yeast in future,it's never failed me yet

 

[Covrich]

Stuck my air pump in it for 5 minutes and it's now going������������������
Still going to use my dried yeast in future,it's never failed me yet

The point I think of liquid yeast is the variety and in a lot of cases you will hopefully a better beer in certain styles.

A lot of people throw notty in everything and while it is a good yeast there are much more variety out there and to be honest I think better for many English styles..