Danstar Nottingham Ale yeast, blows it's wad in one day?

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Pat_Sajak

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Hello All,

I have read here and there about no need for starters with dry yeast. But I've decided to do one anyway. The reason being is that my first stout from extract seemed to only ferment for a day. I pitched the yeast into a 80 deg F wort, and after about 24 hours got a decent amt of bubbling. However after this day the batch refused to bubble. I thought for sure something was stuck, so after four days or so I decided to just rack to secondary, there was a fair amount of yeast sediment for a 5 gallon batch, at least an inch, so the yeast did multiply I was just suprised that it only bubbled for a day.

Now since I noticed what I thought was a lack of available yeast, I've decided to make a yeast starter first. I melted 1 cup of pale DME in about 1/4 gallon of water, pitched the yeast at about 90 degF and put the stopper and fermentation lock in. After about 18-24 hours, it was bubbling away happily for about a day. Then same thing, after that it just stopped. Is this a trait of Nottingham ale yeast? Is this okay? I hear some folks here talking about the bubbling going on for days, like 2-5 days at a time. Can the yeast really convert that much alcohol in a day?

Also one more question, is Nottingham a top or bottom fermenting yeast?

Thanks!
 
Short of specific gravity readings, hard to tell. Any yeast will ferment until it either done or stuck. At 80-90F, most yeast will ferment rapidly & produce byproducts that don't taste all that great.
 
Wait a minute - you racked to the secondary and then pitched a starter? Why? The "secondary" fermenter is not really a fermenter per se. It just used to help clarify the beer and part of the aging process and really shouldn't be fermenting at all. If it is, you racked too soon.

It's very possible your fermentation was done after 24hrs of a good active fermentation. You mentioned nothing about a hydrometer reading so I'm going to assume you don't have one. This is the only true way to tell if your fermentation was done or stuck. There is no way visually to tell if a fermentation is done or stuck. A basic hydrometer can be had for like $10.

And as david_42 said - don't be surprised if your brew has off-flavors.

Nottingham "Ale" yeast...
 
I really like Nottingham. It's a fairly quick, clean, and neutral yeast when used between 60-70 degrees. It's a top fermenting Ale yeast.
 
I used Danstar Nottingham yeast in the porter I've currently got in secondary. There was a really vigorous fermentation for a day and it slowed down significantly after that. When I racked to the secondary at about 10 days, the SG was 1.014. Initial SG was 1.064, so even though I didn't see a lot of activity in the airlock after that one day, fermentation most certainly happened :)
 
I used Nottingham one time and it blew in one day. I thought the beer would turn out crappy. I let it go for a 10 days in the primary and then kegged. It turned out to be a fantastic pale ale. Here it is.

HausAle3.jpg
 
I've posted this before . . . but . . .


Nottingham=Best.Yeast.Ever.
:rockin:
 
EdWort said:
I used Nottingham one time and it blew in one day. I thought the beer would turn out crappy. I let it go for a 10 days in the primary and then kegged. It turned out to be a fantastic pale ale. Here it is.

HausAle3.jpg


It looks cloudy to me - I'll drive up tomorrow to pick up the rest for "clarification" and I'll return what's left 2 you in a day or 2... or 3:ban:
 
dcbrewmeister said:
Wait a minute - you racked to the secondary and then pitched a starter? Why? The "secondary" fermenter is not really a fermenter per se. It just used to help clarify the beer and part of the aging process and really shouldn't be fermenting at all. If it is, you racked too soon.

It's very possible your fermentation was done after 24hrs of a good active fermentation. You mentioned nothing about a hydrometer reading so I'm going to assume you don't have one. This is the only true way to tell if your fermentation was done or stuck. There is no way visually to tell if a fermentation is done or stuck. A basic hydrometer can be had for like $10.

And as david_42 said - don't be surprised if your brew has off-flavors.

Nottingham "Ale" yeast...


No I guess I wasn't clear. The first brew was a stout, and I pitched at 80 deg. Then the primary sat in 66 ~ 69 degree environs for about 4 days. The second day was the one with all the bubbling. The initial SG of the Stout was 1.037, after I racked to secondary it was 1.013. I took the temprature diffrence into account too.

The starter is just sitting there now after about two days it's not involved whatsoever with the original stout brew. I'm waiting for a brown ale I want to do. I should probably put it in the fridge now since it's most probably done.

From what I can tell the SG did go down alot, so fermentation did take place, but a starting SG of 1.037 on a stout tells me that I didn't have enough extract in the first place.

It was like 68 deg at about 80 percent humidity on the 26th yuck! So I guess if I'm gonna brew I need another refridgerator.

Only in Houston.
 
No, lately the temps in Houston have been awesome for fermenting. Last week it was in the 60s most of the week with lots of clouds and humidity, which kept the temps pretty stable. Only when it cooled down last night did I move my primary back inside. It's too cold outside now.

As for Nottingham, it's been really good to me. Four out of six batches have been made with it, and the first three were great. Can't wait to see how my second porter turns out with it.
 
Nottingham Yeast quite often does it's stuff in 24 hours, I often rack to secondary after 3-4 days. I don't think there is a need to make a starter unless you want to split it over two brews. If you want super fast starts then rack onto the yeast cake of a previous Nottingham yeast brew.

Mine got going fast in <1 hour yesterday and had blow off in <6 hours
 
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