Long ferment with Nottingham

On 5/13, I started a batch or hard cider using 6 gallons of straight, store-bought apple juice and Nottingham yeast. O.G. was 1.052. I re-hydrated the yeast and pitched 1 full pack. The carboy was placed in the cellar to stay cool.

10 days ago, on 6/26, I pulled a sample to check the gravity. It was 1.005. The sample tasted fine for a young cider, tart, a bit dry, but otherwise fine.

So now, 7/5, there is still airlock activity and visible bubbles of c02 rising inside the carboy. What is the alcohol tolerance of Nottingham? Anyone else experience slow fermentation using Nottingham yeast?

Eric

I have had troubles with nottingham the last two times I used it. The first time I ended up with a bunch of fusel alcohols. Then this week it just plain wouldn't start so I dumped in some safale.

What temp were you at and what is the expected FG? Being it's at 1.005 it's likely done and what you may be seeing is just residual CO2 coming out of solution with slight temperature or pressure changes.

Notty has medium alcohol tolerance and pretty high attenuation.

Here is a link to the recipe I used:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/sams-choice-sparkling-cider-99923/

I checked the temp in the basement today and it was 69 degrees. Since today is the hottest day of the year so far, at 94, it probably hasn't risen above 70 since it has been down there.

I thought it might have been co2 coming out of solution, but it seems too steady to me.

Eric

Well, given Danstar's own specs listed for nottingham say it generally only ferments down to 1.008, if you're at 1.005 it almost certainly done. Unless you have some miracle batch of notty that can handle the higher gravity and had amazing attenuation. Besides, your FG is already below what the recipe predicted (which is basically notty's limit) so there's no reason to believe your yeast are still actively fermenting.

Your attenuation comes out to 81.5%, which is quite high, even for nottingham.

I'll be checking it again this weekend maybe.

The readings could be off a bit, since I don't always remember to check the temp, but I don't think it would be off much.

Eric