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What, exactly, is a Smack Pack and how do you make one?
All this yeast talk exposes my lack of knowledge in the yeast department. The idea of storing used yeast sounds great, but I am having trouble grasping the complete concept, especially the smack pack.
I can scoop out my yeast cake into a mason jar and, when I want to use it, scoop some out and mix it with water and DME? Are the leftover proteins from malts and other ingredients, like honey, ok to scoop into the mason jars? How do you know how much yeast to use when brewing your next batch?
A "smack pack" is what Wyeast makes.
http://www.wyeastlab.com/hbrew/homebrew.htm
That picture at top is what the new smack packs look like. Wyeast changed their package back during the summer, but the contents are the same.
I can't think of what size to compare them too... smaller than a mouse pad. They typically contain 750 ml of yeast along with a small internal pouch of nutrient and you SMACK the package to break the pouch and release the nutrient, which swells the pack and lets you know the yeast is good. Smacking it is not required to use the yeast.
You cannot make it, only buy them. ANY homebrew shop should carry these.
Likewise, White Labs makes a small vial of yeast.
Both are excellent products and run anywhere from $5 to $7. I can attest to their quality because I use both and have had great results. Also, Wyeast is from Hood River, Oregon (about 80 miles from where I live) and White Labs is from San Diego, California.
On to your questions, after I rack my beer off the yeast cake, if the fermenter is a bucket, I take a small SANITIZED measuring cup and I am usually able to fill 1 to 1 1/2 mason jars with the slurry. With a carboy, I just flip it over and pour it into the jar. It's about the same amount. I label the type of yeast, which use I am on (I only use mine 5 times), and the date. Example: WYEAST 1010, 2nd use, 1/3/07.
When I go to reuse that yeast with the appropriate beer (like 1056 for an American or 1098 for a British), a take one quart of water, dump in 1 cup of DME (light, amber, wheat, whatever style of beer), boil for 15 minutes, add yeast energizer at the last 5 minutes (optional), cool it down, and mix that along with the smack pack OR yeast from a mason jar, which by now will take 2 jars. It should sit at room temperature for a least several hours, but 3+ days is better to add more yeast cells.
So now I might have 2 jars of yeast. How much do I use? A MINIMUM of 1 jar per fermenter. I have used 2 jars. In fact, I once saw a guy dump a HALF GALLON of yeast into a carboy. There is no such thing as too much yeast. Even if the yeast doesn't have enough sugar, it just flocculates to the bottom after it's work is done, assuming you have a flocculating yeast.
I know this is a long answer, but there is really no quick and dirty answer to it, because every answer brings up another question.
If you have more yeast questions, shoot me an email .... aaron1207 @ gmail... (you know the rest)
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