Full Swollen Smack Pack In The Mail, Split Now?

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Ask retailer to replace it. It might not be yeast causing it to swell.


sometimes the inner nutrient pack isnt completely sealed and will leak, causing the swelling

or sometimes its been squashed in transit, causing it to arrive pre-smacked

or some strains (aka wy2575) arrive half swollen with the nutrient pack still intact

in any event, it should be just fine to split now or in a months time, just make sure its completely fermented out before repackaging or you'll end up with test tube bombs
 
Thats a good point, I didn't even thing about it!
I emailed them now.
 
I would open it and pour it into a 1ltr starter of malt at sg1020-30.

Dont go to high with your starter SG. The higher the SG, the more alc that will be produced, which is detremental to yeast. remeber you want healthy yeast cells, not alc in your starter

Then split this into 6 smaller bottles ( 600ml juice/water/coke bottles are perfect ) and top up the smaller bottles with more wort at 1020-30.

Put them in the fridge.

Now you have 6 starters.

Now all you do is to pull out your starter about 4-5 days before you need it and let it ferment, when done, pour the whole lot into your fermenter.

If you want, take one off the starters, let it ferment, then split it again into 6 more....just keep doing this. You will never run out of yeast that way, and you will always have a 1st gen yeast in your original 6 starters.
 
Split it now using the 'Tony method' and don't stress - it's highly unlikely that (if the pack is still intact which it must be if it's swelled up) any contaminants would have entered during the manufacturing/packing process. ;)
 
Cheers guys, after the posts in this thread and a quick chat with the retailer I have just split the pack as sanitarily as I could.
 
From the Wyeast FAQ.

"25. What are the causes of swollen packages? Can you sell them?

Swollen packages are almost always the cause of a small amount of sugar or CO2 being left in solution at the time of packaging. Upon shipment, CO2 can be released from solution or the yeast can consume the sugar and create a small amount of CO2. Cell autolysis, or cell death can also be a cause of swelling packaged. However, this is only in rare cases where the yeast is exposed to high temperature for an extended amount of time. If a package is swollen and has not been mishandled, it can be sold with confidence. "

All should be well. Occasionally get a whole batch of packs of one yeast that do this. Maybe a rush to get them out into the market if there is high demand for a particular strain at that time.
Cheers
Nige
 

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