Is Nottingham yeast this slow?

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It's now 44 hours. Popped open the bucket, and there's absolutely nada going on.

Tomorrow I leave town for a week. Hmmm....
 
HometownHoosier said:
That is what I have experienced in the past with Nottingham.
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That said, what is the minimum amount of time it needs to stay in the fermenter before transfering to the corney ?? my grain bill was 11 lbs and 4 oz hops for 6 gallons. i'm not trying to win any gold medals, just want some half way decent drinking beer
 
I wouldn't rush it off the yeast quite yet. The earliest I have transferred was at 10 days, but it was a low gravity beer without a lot of hops. It was good, but it would have been better if I had let it go another week or so. I would let it sit on the yeast for awhile longer, then taste a sample to see if it is ready. You'll know when it is time.
 
hefeluver said:
For those who are having luck with the nottingham, how long is your active fermentation going ?? As noted, mine was going like crazy monday at 4:00am (pitched sunday afternoon) but had slowed to almost nothing by yesterday afternoon. OG was about 1.047 @64-68 DG, havent checked it yet. Does this yeast work that fast ??
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The bulk of the fermentation appears to be done within the first 3-5 days, depending on how much I pitched to begin with. Overall it's much quicker than any other yeast I've used. I still leave it for 2 weeks in the primary, regardless.

I did a hefty American IPA earlier this year (it was probably at the low end of the Imperial range) with an OG of 1.069 and it chewed through it in 3-4 days at 66-68 F. Visible activity started in under 24 hours. It attenuated really well, down to 1.013 by the end of day 4. By day five it was 1.012 where it stayed for two weeks.
 
I only use dry yeast... Nottingham is one of my favourites... I pitch at 75 then let it drop naturally in a 62 degree ambient temperature... I've never had a problem with off flavours and yeast always kicks up under 12 hours from pitching...
 
After several tries, I have ONLY ever gotten Notingham to work if I rehydrate according to the manufacturers website. If I direct pitch I get nadda.
 
Update - I came home from a week and a half long trip, and the brew had gone from 1.080 to 1.020.

Yay! Apparently it did it's thing after I was gone (which was 50+ hours after I pitched it)

Now that I've done my happy dance, am I going to get weird flavoring from it being in the fermentor for so long?
 
Sky7 said:
Update - I came home from a week and a half long trip, and the brew had gone from 1.080 to 1.020.

Yay! Apparently it did it's thing after I was gone (which was 50+ hours after I pitched it)

Now that I've done my happy dance, am I going to get weird flavoring from it being in the fermentor for so long?
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Not at all. I leave ALL of my beers in the primary for at least 3-4 weeks. I find that my beers are in fact much better because the yeast have cleaned up after themselves.
 
This thread makes me feel better. I have 5 gallons of Nut Brown with nothing going on after 18 hours. This is the first time I have used Notty with beer. I use it with cider all the time and it is always going strong within 12 hours. I was starting to hit panic mode
 
Can any of you that had the slow start please post how the beer turned out?

My current beer is closing in on the 72 hour mark with absolutely no visible signs of activity. I will take it easy for at least 80 hours, but after that I will re-pitch.
 
Mine was vigorously fermenting by 72 hours. It was nearly fully attenuated and dropped clear within the week. I have used it since without the slow start.

Hang in there a little while longer. Mine was fermenting quietly then finally sprinted to the finish. Good luck.
 
HometownHoosier said:
Mine was vigorously fermenting by 72 hours. It was nearly fully attenuated and dropped clear within the week. I have used it since without the slow start.

Hang in there a little while longer. Mine was fermenting quietly then finally sprinted to the finish. Good luck.
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Thanks for the information :)

I am not worried about if the yeast will finish or not.
I am interested in hearing if the slow start affected the final outcome of the beer. There have been some reports in this thread about that, but I want to be as sure as I can that this will not have any detrimental effect on the final product.
 
my slow start got rave reviews from the BMC crowd at the cookout I took it to. I've been asked to brew it again by several different people. All in all, it was fine, not perfect but drinkable.
 
Everything takes a little longer:

Lag time,
Fermentation,
Conditioning

That was my experience, others have experienced other ill effects.
Be patient!
 
Well, my patience ran out after 96 hours post pitching so I grabbed another Nottingham package to re-hydrate and pitch. To my surprise I saw yeast fall out of the hole in the package...
IMG_20101019_235029.jpg


I grabbed my last package of Nottingham and thankfully it seems to have been OK, so I rehydrated it and pitched. It is from the same lot.

I have pictures of the packages here
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz23/sigurdur/Nottingham packages/

The lot number is 1087117102 and the expiration date is 06-2010.

I sent Danstar an e-mail regarding this.

I recommend everyone check their package before pitching (I know I will from now on).
 
:rolleyes:Just a quick update. I used nottingham the past two brews that I did. One rehydrated the other just thrown in dry. The lag time on the rehydrated was about 6 to 7 hours. The dry was a little longer. Both hit their mark within approximately 72 hours and dropped bright. For a little comparison, I had some US-05 that took more than 12 hours to get started.

I spoke to the owner of the LHBS and he indicated that there was definitely a mishandled batch that had reduced viability and another batch that was completely dead. We spoke for awhile about it, and he said the last time this happened was about 10 years ago. Not a bad track record, if you think about it. A major mistake every decade. At least you get a free packet of yeast if yours was dead. :rolleyes:

It's crazy to think that half a days work and approximately 30 dollars of supplies rests in the hands of a yeast pack that costs a little more than a dollar. It's easy to swear off Notty, but I think with a little more attention to detail that the yeast doesn't have to be the point of failure. Best of luck with whichever yeast you choose to use.
 
I know this is a dead thread.. but I brewed my first batch ever on 08-23. Its a brown ale used 1 pack of Notty. It is now 08-25 (48 hours after pitching) there is no activity. Trying to keep it in the 65-68 range. I have a smack pack of London Ale yeast.. should I throw it in there?
 
Did you rehydrate ? As was pointed out in this thread, Notty seems to like to be rehydrated before pitching or it can take a long ass time to get going.

If I were you, I'd buy a pack of S-04 and pitch that in. Keep the 1318 for another beer, you'll be able to top crop it and repitch for a few generations. No sense in wasting that if the notty is laggy. I also know the gospel is to wait 72 hours, but in my (albeit short) experience with Notty, it eithers gets going or it doesn't and then it leaves this bad nutty, crappy taste in the finished beer.
 
Check your gravity before assuming it's dead. I've had a batch I thought was not doing anything turn out to be mostly fermented when I finally checked it.
 
HexKrak said:
Check your gravity before assuming it's dead. I've had a batch I thought was not doing anything turn out to be mostly fermented when I finally checked it.
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This. I assumed no activity meant no fermentation activity (as measured by gravity reading).
 
Thanks for the response. Keep in mind this is my first homebrew attempt, so I've been anxiously awaiting any kind of activity. I have not measured gravity yet. I will do so before pitching S-04 just to make sure. Do I pitch s-04 yeast directly in the fermenter?
 
I just used Notty again this weekend. I sometimes have vigorous fermentations and sometimes I have rather quiet fermentations with this yeast. It always turns out well. Don't worry yet, it is probably doing its job. Notty gets a little bit of a bad rep, but it is a good clean yeast that ferments out really well. This yeast has a fairly wide temp range as well. I had it ferment in the high 50's one time.

How big was your brew? Notty sometimes lags on me a little when I give it more to digest.

congrats on the first brew!
 
HometownHoosier said:
How big was your brew? Notty sometimes lags on me a little when I give it more to digest.

congrats on the first brew!
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Thanks. I was aiming for 5 gallons but ended up with approx 4.75 gallons. OG was 1052 and I haven't checked it since. I'll give it another 24 and then check the gravity. BTW I took some of the cooled down wort in a sanitized cup and mixed in the Notty for 5 min- then pitched.
 
I used Notty for the first time for my current batch of BM's centennial. It's been almost three weeks in the primary and I haven't had any lag issues or anything. I pitched the yeast late at night and when I woke up there was already some krausen. Anyways, I'm planning on taking a gravity reading real soon and was wondering if anyone has had Notty clump up on the top of the wort. I have what looks like small yeast islands floating. I'm hoping this is yeast and nothing else. There aren't any webs or anything that may indicate an infection (although I've never had one).

Here's a picture.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/ce...ain-5-10-gall-42841/index151.html#post3193319
 
kyle6286 said:
I used Notty for the first time for my current batch of BM's centennial. It's been almost three weeks in the primary and I haven't had any lag issues or anything. I pitched the yeast late at night and when I woke up there was already some krausen. Anyways, I'm planning on taking a gravity reading real soon and was wondering if anyone has had Notty clump up on the top of the wort. I have what looks like small yeast islands floating. I'm hoping this is yeast and nothing else. There aren't any webs or anything that may indicate an infection (although I've never had one).

Here's a picture.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/ce...ain-5-10-gall-42841/index151.html#post3193319
Click to expand...

Normal.
 
BoltsFan704 said:
Thanks. I was aiming for 5 gallons but ended up with approx 4.75 gallons. OG was 1052 and I haven't checked it since. I'll give it another 24 and then check the gravity. BTW I took some of the cooled down wort in a sanitized cup and mixed in the Notty for 5 min- then pitched.
Click to expand...

Sort of a proofing starter? You are going to be fine. I don't always proof my dry yeast, just sprinkle it on top of the cooled wort, snap the top on the bucket, and go about my clean-up. Just one more thing to sanitize and clean up later. Yeast is fairly resistant to the hard treatment we sometimes inflict upon them.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
I've brewed more batches with Nottingham than any other yeast - around 20 batches with it and there has only been one time I've chosen to pitch another packet and that was at around 24 hours so I didn't really give it enough time. I usually rehydrate as recommended and have very active fermentation in well under 24 hours, sometimes as little as 8 hours.
 
Update: After exactly 72 hours of seeing nothing in the airlock, I decided to pitch more yeast. I popped the lid open and I saw carbonation. I scooped up a sample and gravity went from 1.052 to 1.027. It smelled so good and tasted like coffee IPA.. Can't wait. Lesson learned: trust the yeast to do their job.

DSC03636.jpg
 
I'm glad this thread is here, I have my first batch in primary with Notty, pitched around 11:30pm Monday night, saw some activity in the airlock but nothing vigorous like I was expecting, about a bubble every 8 seconds or so for going on four days now, was getting worried and impatient, so I'm glad it's just the nature of the yeast. I'll probablly pop the lid tonight or tomorrow morning and take a gravity reading, hope to be around 1.018 or so for secondary.
 
Looking good. Aren't you glad you waited before repitching?

Each fermentation has its own character. I've had everything from sedate to explosive fermentation with Notty. I experiment with other yeasts now and then, but keep coming back to Notty. It's a great standby.
 
I used Notty to un-stick a brew and saved the left overs from re-hydrating it on a slant. I just stepped it up and I obviously have the version that explodes. 2hrs after pitching the last step I went to check out it and it was already at krausen and threatening to crawl out of the flask and this is with fermcap! I checked the gravity of the spent wort just as part of my usual process (smell, taste, gravity for any clue something is wrong with the starter). It ate 1.040 down to 1.004 in less than 24hrs! I think I need to put a warning label on the jar "Veracious yeast will eat everything on contact!"

Clem
 
UPDATE: Got home yesterday afterwork and checked on my activity, nothing going on in the airlock, so I decided to take a gravity reading. The pumpkin ale (1.053 going in) was sitting at 1.011, so I went ahead and racked to a secondary. That had to be the most gentle four days of fermentation that I will ever see, but evidently they did their thing, nice thick cake on the on the bottom, and tasted nice, wish I would have had a mouthful instead of a sip, probably could have judged it better?? Oh well, I'm learning LOL!
 
I see it's been a while for a post here but figured I'd contribute....pitched some rehydrated Notty yesterday into a 1.053 American IPA, and it was bubbling within 6 hours and went friggin crazy at about 12.....it's been 24 hours and it is only bubbling about 2-3 times a minute now...wow...first time I've used this stuff and glad I used a blow off tube cause it would have made a mess!!!
 
I've got Notty in a 2.5 gallon batch of fruitcake ale and it is slowly but steadily bubbling away for the third day. Of course, I've got it in the lower end of its fermentation temperature range.
 
First time using dry yeast. I stirred the chilled wort virgously then sprinkled the yeast on top (my rehydration water didn't cool enough in time)
Almost 24hours and hardly any sign of activity. I pitched at 75F (accidentally) and then slowly brought the temperature down to 63F and it's been sitting around that temperature ever since in my fermentation chamber. I hope to see some activity soon!
 
I pitched some harvested Notty into NB's Nut Brown Ale yesterday around 6 p.m. I made a starter for it, so I know the yeast was viable because when I shook up the flask (no stir plate) it would foam up. OG was only 1.046 and I always properly aerate prior to pitching. 11 hours later nothing happening. I have a Bubbler, so I can see nothing is happening - yet. I know 11 hours is nothing (especially given all the other posts on this thread about Notty a lot of times being slow to start). I'm hoping it's going by the time I get home this evening - that will be about 30 hours. If it's not going by the time I go to work on Monday morning, I might hit up the homebrew store for another packet. However, my guess is it'll be going sometime today.
 

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