nottingham w.t.f.

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motobrewer

I'm no atheist scientist, but...
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This is the second time in a row nottingham has failed to start for me. The same beer. Orfy's Mild. 1.040. Rehydrate at 90F. Pitched at 65F.

does anyone else have severe notty problems?
 
I have been using it exclusively for my past 5 batches, and other than a long lag-time with one pack, no problems whatsoever.

How long ago did you pitch? That one pack was 48 hours minimum before the yeastie beasties started doing their thing, and I washed & reused the yeast (experimenting) a few times, with the last batch (and a healthy pitch, to boot) taking 68 hours before taking off. I was about to go out and buy more yeast to pitch when I saw the foam start.

This last pack I got, I used on my currently fermenting Irish red, and it started it up in 12 hours.

Yeast are weird, sometimes.
 
i don't remember the date. it was bought on thursday from Northern Brewer.

The last time it failed I gave it 48 hours before I pitched US-04. After I did it started within 4 hours.

This time it's been exactly 24 hours. Absolutely no change.
 
I have a Northern Brewer Irish Red in the fermentation fridge that has been there for over 48 hours now at approx 63.5 degrees f. The Nottingham Ale yeast was re hydrated and I used an oxygen stone for oxygenation. So far no obvious sign of fermentation. The yeast is from lot #1080486V and expiration date is 08/2016. I thought it was just me.
 
Give your yeast, no matter what kind it is, 72 hours before re-pitching. Sometimes it just takes a while.

In this hobby, patience is a virtue.

:)
 
I have little choice in the matter. The only yeast available locally would be bread yeast and that is useless to me. I would have to drive at least an hour to San Antonio or wait for mail order. So I am waiting patiently and hopefully, if a bit skeptically.
 
72 hours is crazy in my opinion. I also force oxygenate and the only yeast that lags over 24 hours for me is notty. I've used notty in years past for ales and ciders and don't recall long lag times
 
I had a few batches with notty that seems to misbehave. In a row. Then I bailed on it. US-05 works for me just fine, and seems to be more predictable. Prior to these incidents notty had been my go-to workhorse.
 
I just went out to the garage to check on my Irish Red and that reluctant Nottingham yeast. I was quite relieved to finally hear the sound of bubbles in the fermentation fridge. I pitched that yeast at around 11:30 AM on September 25 and as of 7:00 PM last night there were no sure signs of fermentation, but at 5:21 AM this morning (9/28) it is chugging along at a leisurely 15 beats per minute. If my early morning math is working correctly that's about 56 hours minimum (I have no way of knowing what time it started during the night).

This experience and the comments of others will probably decrease the likelihood of me purchasing Nottingham Ale yeast in the future.

EDIT: My wife just told me that that it is appropriate that my Irish Red Ale would begin fermentation at or about the same time as the blood moon during last nights eclipse. This ale may need a name? LOL
 
I had recently used Notty for a nut brown, SG 1.04ish.
36 hours after pitching i had hardly any bubbles and a small thin cap of krausan. 48 hours all had stopped. with this i checked the gravity,1.014, DONE. I did leave it for the usual 2 weeks to finish off. I have to say, its a weird yeast, im not a big fan overall.
 
How often are you brewing?

2nd time in a row for notty specifically. I brewed the same beer in April and notty failed to start. I brewed ~50 gallons in April/May but then didn't do much over the summer. Brewed 20g this past weekend.

This morning (36hrs after pitching) it's still stone dead, however a krausen has formed on the pils.
 
I hate Notty for other reasons and will often avoid it unless I'm cloning. One thing to look into is once you get a Notty going, wash and repitch that yeast in your next batch.

FWIW, I had an Oktoberfest yeast this year that made a tiny thin layer on top, and after a few days of little action I checked the gravity to see how far off I finished from my expected gravity and it turned out it was spot on! So, measure it in a few days and maybe you have a particular version that does things quietly.
 
Yeah I have had beers not make krausen before but always get some airlock activity.

Last time this happened I checked grav after 2 days and it was no change so I pitched us04
 
Give it another day or so, Moto. You just saw another user post that it took them 56 hours. If it's going to start eventually, there's no use pitching more yeast unless waiting another 30 hours is going to kill you. (Hint: it won't.)

:)
 
Are you using the dry version or liquid White Labs version?
 
Give it another day or so, Moto. You just saw another user post that it took them 56 hours. If it's going to start eventually, there's no use pitching more yeast unless waiting another 30 hours is going to kill you. (Hint: it won't.)

:)

I think it's worth pointing out that Moto isn't a noob and 72 hrs lag time is (even 56), in fact, crazy.

As for @motobrewer , I haven't had any issues with rehydrated Notty lately... but haven't recorded any date codes or the like. I use it on nearly every brew and no issues in the past 6 months. Usually a lag time of ~12 hrs.
 
Give it another day or so, Moto. You just saw another user post that it took them 56 hours. If it's going to start eventually, there's no use pitching more yeast unless waiting another 30 hours is going to kill you. (Hint: it won't.)

:)

your post, plus your sig, is comical.
 
*EDIT - think I was referring to pitching without rehydrating rather than temps. So my post is irrelevant and deleted. My bad.
 
I think it's worth pointing out that Moto isn't a noob

well i wouldn't go that far ;)

but there's no good reason for lag time to last 48 hours on a 1.040 beer when pitching rehydrated dry yeast.

i let the rehydrate cool down at room temp. i don't know what the temp is exactly (I should probably record for future reference) but it wasn't 90F.
 
well i wouldn't go that far ;)

but there's no good reason for lag time to last 48 hours on a 1.040 beer when pitching rehydrated dry yeast.

i let the rehydrate cool down at room temp. i don't know what the temp is exactly (I should probably record for future reference) but it wasn't 90F.

What kind of water are you using to hydrate your yeast?
 
well i wouldn't go that far ;)

but there's no good reason for lag time to last 48 hours on a 1.040 beer when pitching rehydrated dry yeast.

i let the rehydrate cool down at room temp. i don't know what the temp is exactly (I should probably record for future reference) but it wasn't 90F.

Well, let's just say... not noob enough to have to be told about a possible 72 hr lag time (which again, is nucking futs).

That better? :D
 
And I am just saying that IF it's gonna take off in 30 more hours, there's no reason to pitch more yeast now unless time really is that big if a factor.

If it still isn't doing anything by tomorrow night, then yeah, yeast are definitively dead.

:)

Well, sorry... but that whole "72 hours" timeframe isn't hard and fast.

Someone said "hey, look at this guy... took his beer 72 hours to take off."

And a sticky was born. Doesn't make it right, imo... 72 hours is too much lag time. Something is wrong.
 
Well, sorry... but that whole "72 hours" timeframe isn't hard and fast.

Someone said "hey, look at this guy... took his beer 72 hours to take off."

And a sticky was born. Doesn't make it right, imo... 72 hours is too much lag time. Something is wrong.

I can't hear you over here in this corner...

:(
 
My experience, though quite limited, might add a bit light or maybe even more mystery to the situation. But if I did something to cause my recent batch of Irish red with Nottingham yeast to take 56+ hours to start showing signs of fermentation I would really like to find out what it was. I have only brewed a little over a dozen batches, all extract, and all but these two were pitched with yeast starters made with liquid yeast.

I recently ordered two extract kits with specialty grains from Northern Brewer. Both kits contain 6 pounds of the same "Gold Malt Syrup". Of course the specialty grains and hops were different as one was a Dry Irish Stout and the other an Irish Red. The stout came with S-04 and the Red came with Nottingham.

I brewed the stout first and followed up 5 days later with the Red. I used the same equipment and procedure for both. They were full boils with filtered tap water treated with campden (1/4 tablet to 5 gallons approx). They were both cooled to approx 70 degrees using an immersion chiller first with tap water followed by recirculated ice water. I also had a whirlpool going during the cooling via March pump and homemade whirlpool tube. I removed the immersion chiller and continued the whirlpool for 5 minutes or so then let it settle for a few minutes after which I transferred to the fermenting bucket by removing the recirculation tube from the kettle and placing it in the fermentation bucket, as the hoses were already full of wort the siphon started automatically so no need for the pump there. Once transferred I used an oxygen stone on a disposable oxygen cylinder to oxygenate the wort (about 30-40 seconds with bubbles not breaking the surface) before pitching the yeast. The yeast for both batches was rehydrated using the directions on the Nottingham packet as the S-04 directions simply stated to sprinkle the dry yeast on top of the wort. The filtered tap water for rehydration of the yeast was boiled then cooled to 85 degrees F before soaking the yeast for 15 minutes. It was then stirred gently and pitched into the wort.

I am not sure when the Stout started showing signs of fermentation but the next morning the first thing I noticed was no sounds coming from the audio of the camera I have inside the fermentation fridge. Once I looked I realized why. The overnight fermentation had been violent enough to blow the lid off the bucket, even with a 1/2 inch id blow off tube installed. I cleaned all that mess up and after 5 days fermentation had slowed considerably so I decided to go ahead with starting the Red.

Everything about brewing the Irish Red was done as closely as humanly possible to the same as was done with the Stout. There were no major events and everything went smoothly.

So there we have it. Why would my Nottingham yeast take at least 50 hours or more longer to start fermenting than the S-04.

And I do agree that 72 hours (or even 56) seems unreasonable, or at least undesirable in my case.
 
Has anyone else noticed that both motobrewer and I purchased the Nottingham yeast that is in question from the same vendor within a couple of weeks of each other?

Maybe Northern Brewer was supplied with a bad batch?
 
i stopped using notty years ago because it's so unpredictable. when i first started brewing, it was great stuff every time. then they had that run of dead/lagging yeast where they had to pull it off the shelves, and it was out for a while. when it came back, many lhbs's, including 2 here, stopped carrying it, even. i've switched to us-05 and s-04 as my go-to yeasts, and have never had a problem with them
 
Something is definitely "rotten in the state of Denmark".

This is not typically what I see with rehydrated Nottingham.

Activity within 24 hours is the norm. Invariably <12 hours.

Activity = airlock activity

Slym, come out of your corner. We'll all speak in hushed tones.
 
Hey man, lots of comments, but have you checked your thermometer to make sure it is accurate? I have had dial thermometers be off by 40* before.
 
Something is definitely "rotten in the state of Denmark".

This is not typically what I see with rehydrated Nottingham.

Activity within 24 hours is the norm. Invariably <12 hours.

Activity = airlock activity

Slym, come out of your corner. We'll all speak in hushed tones.

I've said all I have to say. When I got called "comical" for praising patience, my head left this thread.

Now my posts will as well.

*poof*
 
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