wyeast yeast pack swollen when received

[fakr]

Hey guys,

just wondering if my pack of wyeast is still good or not.  I got it about 2 weeks ago from homebrew-supplies.ca and it was already swollen.  support said shouldn't be a problem, just keep it refridgerated.  
Well, since then, I've read that you should use smack packs within 3 days of smackin the pack...
So is there something I need to do to this pack to get it charged up again, or is it good?  I really don't want to pitch this and have it do nothing, or take 5 days to become active.

[Richard]

If in doubt, make a starter: http://www.beerdude.com/yeast_starter.shtml

[fakr]

Thanks Richard.  I think I'll make a starter just to be on the safe side.

So, since I'm making a starter, then I could possibly make a large starter with the 1 pack of liquid yeast and pitch into 2 batches of wort couldn't I?  I have a big 15.5 Gallon fermentor and was thinking of making a double batch of ipa.

[Richard]

Step one: make normal starter.
Step two: make beer with it; OG ~1.040.
Step three: take a measured amount (http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html) of the yeast slurry from the beer and use that to pitch your large batch of IPA.

So you end up using the first beer as a big starter for the second

[fakr]

Just so I have it clear, I can't make a large starter from 1 pack of wyeast for a 10Gal batch of wort?  I need to make a regular starter, pitch it into 5 Gal of wort, then collect the slurry from the 5 gallon, and use it to pitch into the 10 Gal using the amounts in the pitching rate calculator?

[fakr]

and I can do this up to 4-5 times or generations?

[Richard]

What OG are you planning for the 10 gallon batch?

[Richard]

The question of how many generations you can do this is a bit of a controversial one; some things that affect this are:

1. The OG of the beer - anything above 1.060 is potentially going to stress yeast so that it will need revitalising (i.e. a starter) before pitching.
2. Any infection introduced at any point will grow along with the generations of yeast; at any point you notice that a batch is infected, that yeast should of course not be harvested.
3. Whether you leave yeast enough time after primary fermentation has finished (i.e. aggressive bubbling stops) to build up glycogen reserves for storage.

So long as all of these are true, you can supposedly get up to eight generations - conservatively assuming you were pitching from the slurry of one batch into two new batches for one generation, you'd be getting 256 batches out of one original sample.

Personally I only repitch one or two generations.

[Jake]

I'd just send that junk back and stick to the SO5  

[Shawn]

What Wyeast was it? I picked up a pack of 1056 from NG today, and it was slightly swollen... Trevor said a lot of the 1056s have been doing that lately...?

Anyway, I felt around the pack and it seems that the package of nutrient or whatever is still intact. So, I'm not even sure if it's been activated or not...

[Shawn]

I should also add that the date on the smackpack, along with the intended OG of your beer, will also affect whether you should make a starter. For example, the 1056 smackpack I picked up today was manufactured on July 19th... according to mrmalty.com, that means that the viability has dropped to 66%, so even for a measly 1.053 APA I plan on making, they recommend a 1.77 L starter (intermittent shaking).

Starters are easy to do, they just take a little time. As long as you can plan your brewday in advance, you shouldn't have a problem.

[fakr]

The wyeast is a 1056 with a manufacturing date of July 26th.

I got it 2 weeks ago and the pack was swollen then.  I emailed the company and they told me this is typical of wyeast and not to worry about it, just keep it refrigerated.

I guess to be on the safe side, I'll make a starter with this one.  

So a buddy of mine told me that if I make two identical worts, I can take the slurry from the first and pitch it in the second without washing the yeast first.  He said he does it all the time, but it has to be the same style beer...preferably the same recipe.  Can any of you guys comment on that?

[fakr]

by the way, I'm making the exact same IPA over the next 4 or 5 batches, with the exception of changes in hops.  the OG shouldn't be more than 1.045 max.

[fakr]

wow, mrmalty is saying I need 1.7L for a starter...does that mean I should reduce the volume size in the pitching rate calculator to try and achieve my max volume of wort and pitch combined?  know what I mean?

[fakr]

quick example...if I put my wort volume to 4 Gs instead of 5, my starter is reduced from 1.7L to 1.03L, which would make a combined total of 5 Gs.