wyeast "smack" packs

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Covrich

Covrich

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anyone else find the whole "smack" pack a little economical with the truth..

Might be me doing it wrong but I feel I have to go all medievil on it..

I reckon even Anthony Joshua would need a few rounds with one to get the nutrient pack to open and mix up
 
Agreed, they certainly need more than a smack in my experience. And it's not always too easy to tell if you've succeeded in breaking the pouch.
 
I've only used these once and I couldnt break the pouch no matter how much I smacked it. So I ended up taking out the pouch and cutting it open with a pair of scissors and pouring the nutrient into the starter
 
Well i beat my pack.. waited 4 hours virtually no swelling.. made a starter and 14 hours later it hardly looks like its going..the bottle is firming up do you think its a bit dud??

was planning on brewing today and pitching the starter 24 hours in but its not looking too healthy..

I can if needed delay the brew untill sunday although i already have my water ready and treated.. would you tip the water and start again ?
 
I also feel like I'm gonna break the other pack before the inner. 1st one gave a nice pop but didn't know I'd succeeded with the 2nd until I opened it, I always build starters so not seen a pack swell yet, but they were both 4 - 5 months old. The 2 I've just got are a few weeks old so might swell better.
 
It's even harder to "smack" if the pack is a little swollen already. Had that a few times. I've had packs I've forgotten about and still managed to make a starter when the packs over 6 months from date of manufacture! (which is supposed to be zero viability.)

What's the date of manufacture on the pack?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
January is the date of manufacture.. only got it delivered wednesday

Its fermenting now, no krausen though just fizzing bubbles but I guess thats the main thing and I can see yeast collecting at the bottom..

I may just leave it to cook out now and maybe go tomorrow on the beer
 
What OG are you aiming for on your brew and which yeast is it? What you're describing is normal activity in a starter. Swirl it each time you walk past it and I bet by tomorrow morning the fizzing will be over and it'll be settling to the bottom. I don't think you'll have enough time to chill and decant off the spent wort so you'll be tipping the whole thing in tomorrow.
 
Don't smack - punch with your knuckles or give it a karate chop, especially if it's a bit swollen.
 
Its a wyeast 3333 wasn'y what I ordered but geterbrewed substitued it for me (after a phone call asking for permission since the other one had actually ran out)

Normally my starters have a krausen on now.. its fizzing away and I have some settling at the bottom of the pop bottle but I am regularly gyrating and swirling it anyway.

I will play it by ear.. might see how it is later shove it in the fridge over night..

Out of curosity since I normally treat my water the night before brew day.. would you toss away this water and start again if you went for Sunday say? (I treated it last night Thursday)
 
By the way its H&B malt extract,, which is fine but its pretty dark.. anyone noticed that? I used it on a partial mash left overs brewday when I ran out of grain and thats pretty dark too..

Not sure whether I would recommend it to an extract brewer tbh.
 
Covrich said:
By the way its H&B malt extract,, which is fine but its pretty dark.. anyone noticed that? I used it on a partial mash left overs brewday when I ran out of grain and thats pretty dark too..

Not sure whether I would recommend it to an extract brewer tbh.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I'm using it at the moment to step up the Gales strain. I find at 1.040 it's amber coloured. Kind of like a bitter
 
MyQul said:
Yeah. I'm using it at the moment to step up the Gales strain. I find at 1.040 it's amber coloured. Kind of like a bitter
Click to expand...

Yeah its caramel coloured..

I am going to try one of my left over partial mash brews which i have left for conditioning. No reason for it to be so but it isn't the best I have made lets say.. I think though its the extract may need more time perhaps.. its not a twang its just not as nice as it would have been had I used grain or I dare say dme even.. the copper colour also surprised me not that its a deal breaker.
 

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