Nottingham

I'm about to brew an English Style Barleywine with an estimated 1.114 OG. I like using Nottingham for my English style ales. Any opinions on how this yeast will handle Barleywine? What's the top end ABV% it can handle? Thanks in advance.

mikder82 said:

I'm about to brew an English Style Barleywine with an estimated 1.114 OG. I like using Nottingham for my English style ales. Any opinions on how this yeast will handle Barleywine? What's the top end ABV% it can handle? Thanks in advance.

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http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/nottingham-ale-yeast

I just used notty on a double blonde 2 months ago. It can handle up to 12%. I would pitch 2 packets of notty to make sure all goes well. Keep temps under 70. That's a must. Mine got out of hand for 12 hours (up to 78 degrees) and I have fusels that I'm aging out currently.

I'm interested too. Not that it'll help you but I'm also doing a barley wine with notty in the next few weeks. Shooting for 15-16%. If it craps out ill just pitch some champagne yeast though. I'll report back how it holds up

I was hoping for a finish around 1.025-1.030. So roughly 12.5% I may try to get a little more out of it. I just got 85% attenuation from notty in my IPA. I'm brewing on Tuesday next week. If you beat me to it, let me know how it works.

I've fermented as cool as 57F internal temp with Nottingham, so consider chilling that BW as cool as you can before you pitch the yeast, control the temp over a week or so until activity slows down, then let the temp rise to the mid 60's to finish out.

corkybstewart said:

I've fermented as cool as 57F internal temp with Nottingham, so consider chilling that BW as cool as you can before you pitch the yeast, control the temp over a week or so until activity slows down, then let the temp rise to the mid 60's to finish out.

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This ^^^^^^^.

Notty performs better in a lower temp range than most ale yeasts. By all means, don't let it get above 68*F (that's beer temp, not air).

I like Notty and follow the above-described temp profile when using it and have started it as low as 55*F with a nice clean result.

mikder82 said:

I'm about to brew an English Style Barleywine with an estimated 1.114 OG. I like using Nottingham for my English style ales..

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Since you already are familiar with Nottingham you know what a beast it can be over the low 60's with regular ales. Keep it LOW....

I would make sure to provide a ton of headspace and a 1 inch blowoff with a 1.114OG. Especially if you are going to kick off this monster with 2 packs of Nottingham.

bosco

I made the Barleywine today. OG 1.122. I ended up using a Notty yeast cake from an IPA that had an OG of 1.068. I'll post pictures of the explosive krausen I'm expecting to find tomorrow morning in my catch pan.

mikder82 said:

I made the Barleywine today. OG 1.122. I ended up using a Notty yeast cake from an IPA that had an OG of 1.068. I'll post pictures of the explosive krausen I'm expecting to find tomorrow morning in my catch pan.

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Do you have a blow-off tube rigged into a container of star san? Highly recommended.

I had my fermenter all rigged up for the second coming of the H-bomb. At high krausen, it reached the lid. The krausen has since dissipated, but the brew us still bubbling. I couldn't resist a hydrometer reading after only 4 days. It had dropped to 1.028 already. I'll never doubt the power of Notty again.

I used Notty initially on my RIS @ 1.115. Knocked it down to about 1.050 w 1 pack and then threw in an additional s-05. I was fermenting intially at about 61-63 based on people saying it works great at the lower ranges. So far it did a great job! Neutral and drops stuff out pretty easily!

I'm figuring on cracking open the first one around Christmas. Of course I have to taste the 4 oz or so left in the bottling bucket. I ended up boiling it for 2.5 hours, giving it a nice caramel flavor and a very distinct dark amber color. It finished at 1.020 FG. That makes it around 13.5% ABV. It definitely had an alcohol bite. I can't wait. I bow down to the Nottingham.

I've actually made the decision to dump a batch that I fermented with Notty. It was too warm (fermented at 80 for 12 hours before swamp cooler used) and I thought I could age out some of the fusels. Although it did get a little better, it's not getting to the point at which I could drink it...and it's been sitting for almost 4 months. It was a big beer to. Finished around 9.3%. I feel bad dumping it but it is so disgusting that I won't regret it.

BigFloyd...

If one was able to keep Nottingham fermentation controlled at say 55* or 56* which I gather produces few if any off flavors, would you still need to give it that "clean up" temperature rise at the end?

mikder82 said:

I had my fermenter all rigged up for the second coming of the H-bomb. At high krausen, it reached the lid. The krausen has since dissipated, but the brew us still bubbling. I couldn't resist a hydrometer reading after only 4 days. It had dropped to 1.028 already. I'll never doubt the power of Notty again.

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I have found listening to Natty Dread makes the Notty really go off.

:rockin:

ThreeSheetz said:

BigFloyd...

If one was able to keep Nottingham fermentation controlled at say 55* or 56* which I gather produces few if any off flavors, would you still need to give it that "clean up" temperature rise at the end?

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As in a diacetyl rest? Doubtful you need that. It's not a lager yeast, and you really wouldn't be fermenting at lager temps at say 55.

bethebrew said:

As in a diacetyl rest? Doubtful you need that. It's not a lager yeast, and you really wouldn't be fermenting at lager temps at say 55.

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It's not just lager yeast that can produce some diacetyl precursors. WY1968ESB/WLP002 is certainly known to do so.

I'll slowly ramp up a Notty batch to mid-60's after the first 4-5 days in the 55-57*F range. Step-up fermentation encourages yeast to clean up any normal byproducts of fermentation.

Oh I'm adding that to my schedule. Thanks Man!
I'm newly convinced to only use a primary fermenter, and that schedule makes total sense!

This forum and all the folks willing to share their hard earned knowledge with noobs like me are AWESOME!

I brewed an ESB with Nottingham, then was going to brew a porter using the yeast cake. But my chocolate malt didn't get here in time so I brewed an Alt instead. Usually I use Alt or Kolsch yeast, but I figured the Notty would probably work also. In 6 days it went from 1.056 to 1.012, and the hydrometer sample was delicious. It fermented at 56F, now I'll let it rise to 63 until Tuesday so I can brew that porter and use the yeast cake.

corkybstewart said:

I brewed an ESB with Nottingham, then was going to brew a porter using the yeast cake. But my chocolate malt didn't get here in time so I brewed an Alt instead. Usually I use Alt or Kolsch yeast, but I figured the Notty would probably work also. In 6 days it went from 1.056 to 1.012, and the hydrometer sample was delicious. It fermented at 56F, now I'll let it rise to 63 until Tuesday so I can brew that porter and use the yeast cake.

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Glad to hear about the nice flavor of the Alt. I'm about to keg one that's been cold crashing for the past week. Fermented on Notty at 57*F and slowly ramped up to 66*F.