Anyone use Nottingham yeast in a lager?

[HuggerOrange]

So I have enough ingredients laying around to make a German Pilsner except for one - lager yeast. Just curious if anyone has experimented using Nottingham in a lager. According to there packaging you can, but with what kind of results? I might do it just to see for myself - what's the worst I get? Beer?

 

[Donasay]

it will definately be beer, but the clean crisp taste of a lager I would imagine not. I always found nottingham to be defined by the imperfections and other tastes it imparts in the beer, but that is just me. Having lager yeast also doesn't guarantee the lager taste you need to have good temperature control as well, are you able to control your fermentation temperatures....

 

[eriktlupus]

dark horse brewery in marshall, mi supposedly ferments their ales with notty down in the 50* range.

 

[HuggerOrange]

it will definately be beer, but the clean crisp taste of a lager I would imagine not. I always found nottingham to be defined by the imperfections and other tastes it imparts in the beer, but that is just me. Having lager yeast also doesn't guarantee the lager taste you need to have good temperature control as well, are you able to control your fermentation temperatures....

I can control the ferment temps to a degree - I don't have a dedicated fridge, but I have a store room in the basement. What I do is put a tub of water on the floor and then put the fermenter in it. That will get me around 58*F. From there I can adjust with ice bottles. Last year I made a Pilsner doing this and fermented at around 52*. Of course, this system only works for the winter. BTW, in that batch I used Safelager 34/70, which I thought did a descent job.

 

[david_42]

Nottingham at the low-end of its temperature range will give you a very clean fermentation.

 

[HuggerOrange]

Nottingham at the low-end of its temperature range will give you a very clean fermentation.

I guess the question is although clean will it be lager-like and the more I think about it I'm going to go with no. I guess the true test is I have a Scottish 70/- brewing with Nottingham at 61*. I guess once that's done I'll see where the flavor profile lands and go from there.

 

[donaldson]

I just finished up a fermentation a month or so ago using Nottingham at 58F. My impressions were that it had fermented very cleanly, but there was still a subtle fruitness that I attribute to the Nottingham.

 

[HuggerOrange]

I just finished up a fermentation a month or so ago using Nottingham at 58F. My impressions were that it had fermented very cleanly, but there was still a subtle fruitness that I attribute to the Nottingham.

That's what I'm begining to think, is that in the end an ale yeast will still retain some of that character no matter how low you go. The only ale yeast I've found to have a lager-like character is WLP029, and you have to brew that at the low end.

 

[SteveM]

I used Nottingham ale yeast in a Dos Equis clone and it came out very nicely. I did not attempt to ferment it in low temperatures, and I'm not certain that this is a good idea when using ale yeasts.

Link to recipe and discussion: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f59/dos-equis-clone-57169/

 

[DeathBrewer]

nottingham ferments out very clean, and YES it can be used at very low temperatures to be even more clean. i'm currently fermenting an ale with nottingham at 54°F.

most yeasts couldn't hang in that environment, but nottingham will do the trick.

if anyone wants to make a lager-like beer, but can't do lager temps, nottingham is probably your best bet. even the "hybrid lager yeasts" that ferment at higher temperatures will give very spicy, fruity flavors. not the case with notty.

 

[HuggerOrange]

I used Nottingham ale yeast in a Dos Equis clone and it came out very nicely. I did not attempt to ferment it in low temperatures, and I'm not certain that this is a good idea when using ale yeasts.

Link to recipe and discussion: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f59/dos-equis-clone-57169/

I usually wouldn't, but they actually say that Nottingham can be taken down to lager temps - I think as low as 57*F. The original point was if you did would you wind up with a lager-like beer or a very clean ale? I know, it's probably splitting hairs, but there's that little difference between the two.