Nottingham used for a Weizen?

So I ordered a kit from a semi local place where I had never ordered from before. It was their version of a Weizen. It arrived today and it had 5 lbs of DME, .5 lb of steeping grains, and nottingham dry yeast. I thought you used a hefe yeast for the wheat beers and figured that's what they would send. Can you use a nottingham and still come out with a good wheat beer, or should I call them and ask them WTF?

thanks


Dan

You'll have a good American wheat, but it won't be a hefe.

david_42 said:

You'll have a good American wheat, but it won't be a hefe.

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OK, thats fine as long as it works it's cool. I've never brewed a wheat before so I wasn't sure. Thanks!


Dan

Nottingham is great, clean ale yeast. I used it for the first time in my recent porter brew, and I really liked the results. It fermented violently and quickly, and the beer cleared very quickly during conditioning (likely due to the flocculant nature of the yeast). It should make a fine wheat beer, but like david_42 says, you won't have a hefe. Most of the unique and often fruity characteristics of wheat beers (particularly hefes) come from the yeast strain(s) used.

Gotcha, thanks. I need to order some nottingham as a backup as well. Everyone on here seems to talk quite a bit about it.




Dan

Last time I went to the LHBS they only had one pack of Nottingham left in stock. The stuff must be used a LOT around here, I've never seen the dry yeasts of any other variety be that low. I've never used it, instead opting for Windsor on the last two batches hoping I'd see lesser attenuation for a maltier, sweeter brew. I may pick up some and give it a shot though.

I wonder if I could just pitch my weizen on me Pacman yeast cake from my IPA? I'm either going to do that or just wash it and make a starter for my brew next weekend. What do you guys think?

Willsellout said:

I wonder if I could just pitch my weizen on me Pacman yeast cake from my IPA? I'm either going to do that or just wash it and make a starter for my brew next weekend. What do you guys think?

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PacMan has a lot of similar qualities as Nottingham. My only concern with pitching on the cake of an IPA is that some strong hop flavors could transfer.

Yuri_Rage said:

PacMan has a lot of similar qualities as Nottingham. My only concern with pitching on the cake of an IPA would be some strong hop flavors that could transfer.

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that's what I was thinking. Plus I used nothing but Summit hops which are pretty high AA%. I think I will wash it instead since I've never done it before and it will be good experience. I'll just use it next weekend on my Amber.


Thanks

Dan

I've heard of Windor being used to make a heffe. Not quite the same as a real heffe yeast, but it can put out some heffe like flavors depending on fermentation temperature.