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Fighting_sin · 01-16-2010, 04:21 PM

I made a Nut Brown a few days ago. I pitched the yeast (Nottingham Ale) and after 36 hours there was a little bit of activity. I mean everything prior to that was settled on the bottom with no bubbles or anything suspended at all. No visible signs of activity at all. Then around the 48 hour mark it exploded...literally.

I made an India Pale Ale using the Nottingham also the same evening and that yeast started showing signs of activity within a few hours. I am happy that the Nut Brown is okay now, but has anyone else experienced such a slow start to their yeast. I was almost scared for a couple days. Any ideas why the yeast appeared to be dead at first?

And if the yeasties had been dead, would you recommend adding more yeast to get it fermenting?

jdc2 · 01-16-2010, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fighting_sin

I am happy that the Nut Brown is okay now, but has anyone else experienced such a slow start to their yeast. I was almost scared for a couple days. Any ideas why the yeast appeared to be dead at first?

Yes, more often than not with dried yeast. Hydrating before pitching
is supposed to decrease the lag time, but I gave up on dry and make
starters with liquid yeast cultures. There are many problems with
dried yeast, it can work if everything has gone right, and you make
some kind of starter first or at least rehydrate it, but just dumping
a pack of dry yeast into your wort is a crap shoot, because a lot
of the yeast cells could be dead due to mishandling (stored at
room temp for example instead of fridge temps) and because of
contamination introduced into it via the drying process.
Jim

tj-los · 01-19-2010, 02:25 AM

I pitched a blonde ale with nottys yesterday at noon. I feel ya Im at 30hours and nothing. Just gonna wait it out, but how long do I wait tho? tick tock tick tock

Conehead · 01-19-2010, 11:30 AM

Some sachets of Nottingham were recalled due to very long lag times and low attenuation. Get a hold of Danstar and you may get some free yeast. I made beer on Jan. 17 and I saw activity in 2 hours. I just sprinkle it on top. My yeast wasn't part of the recall.

Conehead

tj-los · 01-19-2010, 04:33 PM

I did finally get some action when I got up at 3am for a drink of water.<--(that statement can be misinterpreted) But very slow. I kept the temp in the house at about 66F today when I left for work hoping that it will be more bubbly when I get home. It is starting tho, .....releif.

maida7 · 01-19-2010, 06:47 PM

Adding oxygen to the wort can help with the initial growth phase for the yeast. Pitching the proper amount of yeast is also very important. Hydrate you dry yeast. Make starters for your liquid yeast.

moosetav · 01-19-2010, 07:31 PM

Dry yeasts are great. I use them all the time. A short 30 minute rehydration and bam, fermentation. Did two batches this weekend that were clearly fermenting withing 6 hrs. Just don't use old yeast packets smacked to the underside of old kits. Buy good fresh yeast from a reputable vendor and you're golden. I like liquid as well. Just don't totally count out the dry stuff. There are lots of threads about this topic if you do some searches.

tj-los · 01-20-2010, 02:20 AM

Thanks all. It took 38hours for that Nottys packet to start doing its thing, seems a tad long but hey shes going. I will check her in 3-weeks. Thanks again all.

Fighting_sin · 01-21-2010, 05:54 AM

Some good feedback..thanks all!

**weirdboy** · 01-21-2010, 06:02 AM

Did you save the packet? If so, check the batch number against the recall they did a while back. I know a buddy of mine got one of those bad Notty packets fairly recently from the LHBS. Luckily, they were open and we were able to go swap it out for a good one.