Dry Nottingham not starting

Hey guys,

So my first AG brew was on Sunday. Everything went well and I got a post boil OG of 1.057 at 8 gallons. Prior to going AG I was using a homebrew kit called FestaBrew (fully hydrated wort made by a brewery in Western Canada) which comes with dry yeast. I had never had any problem just pitching the dry yeast on top of the wort.

When I did the same thing with my first batch nothing happened after 24 hrs. After some thinking I concluded it was because I sprinkled dry yeast on top of cold (54-57 F) wort without hydrating it. I stirred the brew, ran to the LHBS to pick up 2 more packs of Notti. I followed the directions to a tee and off she went. It is now in the secondary. Success.

Yesterday I started my second batch. I got 9 gallons at 1.054. Followed the directions (sprinkled into 30 C water, wait 15 min, stir, wait till room temp) and added to the wort. It has now been 24hrs with.... nothing. The wort during pitching this time was probably around 8 F cooler than room temp of 68 F.

What am I doing wrong? Is this a temperature problem? Should my fermentation temp be higher (than 68)? Are the little yeast buggers that sensitive as to croak over a few degrees difference during pitching? Is my OG too high for it to get started?

I am going to have to go find more yeast to add tonight...

Any and all help is appreciated.

Cheers.

PS, This is not yeast from the Notti "problem" batch. Exp Dec 2011.

there was a recall on some nottingham with a 12/11 date

check this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/lallemand-danstar-nottinghman-yeast-recall-199581/

No problem, it has only been 24 hours, wait and see if it doesn't take off later today or tomorrow. Did you only put one packet in for nine gallons of 1.054 wort? If so, you underpiteched.

infection said:

there was a recall on some nottingham with a 12/11 date

check this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/lallemand-danstar-nottinghman-yeast-recall-199581/

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Yeah, I'm thinking he already knows about that!

DustyTheBrewer said:

PS, This is not yeast from the Notti "problem" batch. Exp Dec 2011.

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I put two packs in. It's definitely not underpitched.

DustyTheBrewer said:

I put two packs in. It's definitely not underpitched.

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Yeah, two packs should be fine.

I'd give it another day or so. Right around 24 hours for fermentation to start isn't that uncommon for me. Sometimes it happens sooner. Some of my newb batches took up to 48 hours, they were definitely underpitched. I've never had anything take longer, but some recommend waiting up to 72 hours.

How are you determining if fermentation is active?

OMG!!!! I read the pack wrong. All SIX if the packages Ive purchased of the yeast have been of the 12/2011 batch!

I dont know how I will get retribution from the first four I used for my first batch as I threw them out long ago. I'm really angry the the brewing store right now though.

Any Ideas on how to get this batch going? the only place that sells dry brewing yeast is this one store an hour away (stupid southern Ontario)...

DustyTheBrewer said:

OMG!!!! I read the pack wrong. All SIX if the packages Ive purchased of the yeast have been of the 12/2011 batch!

I dont know how I will get retribution from the first four I used for my first batch as I threw them out long ago. I'm really angry the the brewing store right now though.

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I would wait. You say the last one took off with a repitch? What was the date on those packs? Could have been the same date. Also, how soon after repitch did it take off?

Repitched 2 packs of the same batch and it started within the expected time. Pitched in the evening and was rolling by the morning.

DustyTheBrewer said:

Repitched 2 packs of the same batch and it started within the expected time. Pitched in the evening and was rolling my the morning.

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So, sounds like the stuff worked. It's possible that it wasn't even the repitch that did it and it was the first pitch finally kicking in. I believe the primary issue people were complaining about with that batch was that it was a slow starter.

Damn.. It's annoying because I read the exp. wrong. I checked before getting more but got messed up with the date. Should I just keep buying this bad yeast and double pitch for this batch or keep up the waiting game? I just looked at it and its literally doing nothing...

Did you aerate your wort well? You probably did and just didn't mention. Before pitching, I close up my fermenter with the lid and airlock and shake the crap out of it for several minutes. When I'm out of breath from exhaustion I figure it's aerated enough . Those yeasties sure love their oxygen to get fermentation going...

aggiejay06 said:

Did you aerate your wort well? You probably did and just didn't mention. Before pitching, I close up my fermenter with the lid and airlock and shake the crap out of it for several minutes. When I'm out of breath from exhaustion I figure it's aerated enough . Those yeasties sure love their oxygen to get fermentation going...

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Hmm. I let it pour out in a "rough, splashy nature" into the fermenter but not thaaat much. Maybe Ill go give it a stir, turn the gas on to my kegerator and just get drunk. What do they call that again? oh yeah, RDWHAHB

For a medium gravity ale that's about all I do to aerate. I'm guessing your yeast will kick in sometime in the next 12 to 24 hours. If not, I would revisit the situation then.

So I just got back from the brew store. The guy had no idea about the recall. He gave me a fistfull of Cooper's ale yeast packets and asked me to report back.

If there is no action after 36-48 hrs, would there be harm in pitching some coopers into the mix?

DustyTheBrewer said:

So I just got back from the brew store. The guy had no idea about the recall. He gave me a fistfull of Cooper's ale yeast packets and asked me to report back.

If there is no action after 36-48 hrs, would there be harm in pitching some coopers into the mix?

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I'd wait until 48 hours myself, but, no, it's not going to hurt anything.

So not long after stirring the hell out of it (few hours) it finally got going! I also put it near the heating vents to bring it to 71 F and also added some water to bring the gravity down to (what I was trying for in the beginning) of 1.050.

Thanks for the replies guys. Appreciate it. She's roaring now!!

Glad to hear!

:-( Same problem here in Israel. Two friends of mine get stucked with the defective batch (of Notingham yeast).

They repitched with Fermentis US-05 a couple of days after brewing. Not ideal but now is bubbling...

Bottom line... this is an international problem

F.F.

Hopefully everything will turn out ok for you. I lost a couple of batches to bad Notty yeast (IIRC, one had autolysis problems, the other had an undrinkable ester/phenol profile due to what turned out to be a massive underpitch) and will no longer use yeast from that company because they had like three recalls during the last couple of years. When it works, it's great though!

DustyTheBrewer said:

So not long after stirring the hell out of it (few hours) it finally got going! I also put it near the heating vents to bring it to 71 F and also added some water to bring the gravity down to (what I was trying for in the beginning) of 1.050.

Thanks for the replies guys. Appreciate it. She's roaring now!!

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Good to hear!

Glad it got going for ya. Every time I have used Notty it takes 36-48 hours to show visible signs of fermentation. That combined with several recalls, and a slightly tart flavor I get from it leaves me unimpressed. I only use it for my house blonde ale now because it works well for that particular recipe.