smack pack issue

Hey,
Brewed a Hefe Wheat and my smack pack seem to not swell/incubate i guess is what they call it as much as it should have. My airlock was active pretty good the first day then it dramatically slowed done. Is this going to be a issue?

edandsue said:

Hey,
Brewed a Hefe Wheat and my smack pack seem to not swell/incubate i guess is what they call it as much as it should have. My airlock was active pretty good the first day then it dramatically slowed done. Is this going to be a issue?

Click to expand...

No worries, it will be fine

edandsue said:

Hey,
Brewed a Hefe Wheat and my smack pack seem to not swell/incubate i guess is what they call it as much as it should have. My airlock was active pretty good the first day then it dramatically slowed done. Is this going to be a issue?

Click to expand...

It happens sometimes. No worries at all.

Fermentations are most rapid right at the beginning and taper off after a couple days. This is normal. As we repeat quite a bit the airlock is not (necessarily) a sign of fermentation. The only way to check is with a Hydro readings. Just remember the rule, if the gravity is consistent over three days, you can consider it done. Unless of course its frozen or way below the yeasts operating temps because then they may be asleep.

You are definitely fine. You may have underpitched a bit, but no big deal.

For future batches, how long did you wait after you smacked the pack? Also, were the yeast nutrient packs broken when you opened the pack?

A good rule of thumb is that you need to smack the pack about 5-6 hours before you pitch, which happens to be the average length of a brewday. Just start your brewday by smacking the smack pack, and it'll be ready by the time you are ready to pitch. Make sure you are doing a good job of locating the yeast nutrient packets, guiding them down into one of the corners, and smacking the crap out of them. They are easy to break if you do it right, but a good number of people just smack the pack and don't really understand that the point is to break the nutrient packs.

Follow those best practices, and you'll be all good. Good luck!