Nottingham at 76 degrees, off flavors?

i have a batch that is fermenting away at 76 degrees, i really dont have anyway of lowering it this time, should i expect off flavors?

You'll probably be OK. Notty gets really funky in the eighties..... My fermentation refridge went up last summer and I had to toss a batch.

you'll probably get some serious esters from notty at those temps, but it'll still be beer. When I've used notty and couldn't keep the temps down it got pretty banana-y. Good luck, though!

RDWHAHB

Is that ambient temp or the temp of the wort? Either way, that is getting up there. It shouldnt ruin the beer, but I would bet you will notice it.

[1] Get a plastic container... one of those ones from Wal-Mart that you can store clothes etc in. ($5)
[2] Add carboy, water, and either ice or small plastic bottles filled with water and frozen.

Under $10 and it will help.

room temp is 70 wort is 76.

its 15 gallons in 3 better bottles, i just put all 3 of them in a giant cooler filled with cold well water.

it should cool pretty fast, then i will maintain it with frozen water bottles.
do you think the 24 hours at 76 degrees will cause off flavors?

I think that most ester production takes place over the first 3 or so days, so 24 hours of high temps will likely produce some, but not an overwhelming amount of esters.

Also, I think that cooling down the beer after fermentation starts could stress the yeast. Just keep an eye on it once you get it cooled, you may have to give it a little swirl to wake up the beasties if you drop the temp too far.

at what temp should i worry about stressing the yeast?

Do the esters have a particular smell?

jalgayer said:

Is that ambient temp or the temp of the wort? Either way, that is getting up there. It shouldnt ruin the beer, but I would bet you will notice it.

[1] Get a plastic container... one of those ones from Wal-Mart that you can store clothes etc in. ($5)
[2] Add carboy, water, and either ice or small plastic bottles filled with water and frozen.

Under $10 and it will help.

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down to 65, thanks for the tip.

i dropped about 2 degrees an hour, should i be worried about shocking the yeast?

I am not an expert but 2 degrees doesnt sound like a lot to me. Not enough to shock the yeast I dont think.

Nottingham will keep going down to 57 degrees or so, and it won't stop working. Don't worry about that.

As the others said, you may get some weird flavors but it probably won't be too bad. I don't use nottingham much in the summer, unless I'm going to ferment in my basement. I think it gets some strange flavors at over 72 degrees. Not really banana, just weird. It's my favorite dry strain for cooler fermentations, though.

YooperBrew said:

Nottingham will keep going down to 57 degrees or so, and it won't stop working. Don't worry about that.

As the others said, you may get some weird flavors but it probably won't be too bad. I don't use nottingham much in the summer, unless I'm going to ferment in my summer. I think it gets some strange flavors at over 72 degrees. Not really banana, just weird. It's my favorite dry strain for cooler fermentations, though.

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what is a good, clean, dry yeast for the summer? my basement stays at about 75, but i can do a water bath.

lknbigfish said:

what is a good, clean, dry yeast for the summer? my basement stays at about 75, but i can do a water bath.

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If you do a water bath, you can use any strain. You want to keep the fermenting beer under 72 degrees. I have used nottingham, s-04 and s-05 with good results in the low-mid 60s. I don't ferment above 68 degrees for most ales.

I fill my water bath up to the level of the beer, and add frozen water bottles. I actually added a different lid to my cooler for this purpose, but it's probably overkill! (There are pictures in my gallery).

how many days do you need to keep the temp down to avoid off flavors?

lknbigfish said:

how many days do you need to keep the temp down to avoid off flavors?

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I don't know for sure- I keep the fermentation temperature under the yeast strain's "maximum" optimal range, as found on the manufacturer's website. I know some others have said they don't control temperature as much after the first five days or so, but I just don't think that would give me the best beer I can make.

I usually go to the yeast manufacturer's website to get my info, like this one from Wyeast on 1056:

YEAST STRAIN: 1056 | American Ale™
Back to Yeast Strain List

Very clean, crisp flavor characteristics. Low fruitiness and mild ester production. Slightly citrus like with cool (60-66F, 15-19C) fermentation temperatures. Versatile yeast, which produces many beer styles allowing malt and hop character to dominate the beer profile. Flocculation improves with dark malts in grain bill. Normally requires filtration for bright beers. DE or pad filtration recommended.

Origin:
Flocculation: Medium-Low
Attenuation: 73-77%
Temperature Range: 60-72F, 15-22C
Alcohol Tolerance: 10% ABV

_________________________________________________________________

In this case, I'd probably ferment at 65-66 degrees, and then allow it to get up to 70 degrees after a week or so. It really depends on the yeast strain, but I wouldn't let it get above the temperature range suggested by the manufacturer.

any experience with cooper's? it has an optimum range of 68-80.

lknbigfish said:

any experience with cooper's? it has an optimum range of 68-80.

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None. I've never tried that yeast.

i'll do a little research and see what others think, it looks like it might be a good summer yeast option.

Notty at 76 will give you a bad, tart flavor. Well, it gave my cream ale a nasty tart flavor that still hasn't gone away. I keep trying it every couple of months and still don't like it. I brewed it the first week of December. I was hoping the tartness would fade.

Personally, I love Nottingham. It ferments hard and fast (that's what she said) and then flocculates super quick so you've got clean product faster. I used it a lot even before I did temperature control. I mean, it was typically used for English beers so a bit of yeasty esters isn't completely off-style.

I actually have an Irish Red based off Saccharomyces' 1st place HBT competition recipe, using Nottingham instead. Was going to use a liquid English strain but I feel like I'd be cheating on an old, reliable friend. I accidentally allowed it to get up to 70* for a bit last night a couple hours after pitching the yeast (too much drinking while brewing) but got it down between 66-68 and I'm positive it will turn out great, as yours will.

vtbeerman said:

Notty at 76 will give you a bad, tart flavor. Well, it gave my cream ale a nasty tart flavor that still hasn't gone away. I keep trying it every couple of months and still don't like it. I brewed it the first week of December. I was hoping the tartness would fade.

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I almost laggered it in the mid 50s and I still got the tart flavor. No one else can taste it though so I'm pretty sure we just have an overly sensitive taste to whatever chemical it puts out.

You might be right. I won't use it again.

Summer? Good time to brew a Saison.

Bobby_M said:

Summer? Good time to brew a Saison.

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Brewing one tomorrow.

I recently used Nottingham and it for about 3 days the temperature against the better bottle was 76 degrees. I haven't noticed any off flavors.

The only time I used Notty without proper temp control it got into the upper 70's, and the beer ended up with a lot of fusels. You might be ok at 76 though.

I was going to post my own thread, but since this is basically the same, here it goes:

I did exactly what you did with my oatmeal stout and danestar windsor. It is hot as hell over here in Georgia right now, and I wasn't prepared (should have got my prechiller working and bought extra ice) so I couldn't get my wort temp down quickly enough. I pitched at about 80f (stupid, now I know) and got the temp down to about 75 within 24 hours. By that time the fermentation was going crazy and I knew it'd be bad.

Now my stout has an unpleasant tarty taste to it, which isn't so bad as to be undrinkable but it definately turned what could have been an outstanding beer to an 'okay' beer.

Lesson learned.

Oh and this yeast is stuck at 1.022, from 1.060 OG. I don't think its a very good yeast and I'll never use it again. Next time I'll go for safale or perhaps just bite the bullet and use white labs (expensive but probably worth it).

Badmajon, don't give up on Notty... Nottingham at 60-65F is a totally different animal than at 80F! Pretty much any yeast is going to throw off flavors at those kind of temps. I, and many others here, get great attenuation from this yeast.

badmajon said:

Oh and this yeast is stuck at 1.022, from 1.060 OG. I don't think its a very good yeast and I'll never use it again. Next time I'll go for safale or perhaps just bite the bullet and use white labs (expensive but probably worth it).

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I brew a lot of beers with Notty, I learned that as long as I ferment low in the range they turn out great! My standard ferment temp for it is 60 degrees and the beers come out very clean, almost lager like. as for attenuation, my house Irish red starts at 1.058 and finishes off at 1.008.
I would give Notty another try but keep the temps down, giving up on it so early is like giving up on cooking burgers on the grill because you let the grill get too hot and they burned, its not the burgers fault!

Basically it is a rubbermade bin, water, some frozen water bottles (you ca also chuck rock salt in) and t-shirts over the fermenters to act as wicks, drawing the cold water up and around the fermeters.

I have gotten the water in the swamp cooler down to the high 50's and the fermenter a few degrees higher.

A fan blowing on it can be used as well.

lknbigfish said:

i have a batch that is fermenting away at 76 degrees, i really dont have anyway of lowering it this time, should i expect off flavors?

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well, it turned out great with no noticeable off flavors! i took it to the beach with alot of bmc drinkers and we killed it in a night with many compliments.
thanks for all the input.

I've just checked the fg of a winter brown ale. Got the recipe from an old post.
I thought it would be great, but, it's been about ten days and ABV its about 8.9%, but when i tasted/smelled the beer y just noticed a banana flavor. Gave some to my mother and she spat the beer in the sink.. lol
Then she told me, "Did you put banana o this??? you're not brewing good beers anymore, what's going on with you??"
I'm planning to drink this stuff on january 27th....
Does anyone of you think that it might be possible that the off flavors (the nasty banana flavor) fade away?
I think i won't ever use notty again. So far, tha best yeast that i've used, and despite the price (that may make you think that it's a bad yeast) it's the Munton's premium gold.

Ten days for an 8.9% beer? Don't see why you're surprised it tastes like butt

It needs much more time.

Let it age over a few weeks in a secondary and then again in bottles, and the esters should go away fairly well.