Is Nottingham yeast this slow?

[Toecutter]

I pitched some notty in a batch yesterday about 3:00 pm. i got it from Chi company last week. woke up to go to work at 4:00 am and it was bubbling. Got home from work and its going like hell. 68 dg brew bucket in a pail of cold water.

 

[RWeather3]

I'm at 24 hours and no action yet. I'm keeping faith though becouse that was the only packet I had.(that'll teach me to buy a kit without buying extra yeast). inally started slowly at 43hrs

 

[eelpout]

yea pretty much done using Notty. 3 out of 4 of my last batches with it have not taken.
I have waited 3 days on all of them and nothing. Repitched with 05 each time. Gonna stay with that

 

[Sky7]

Started on Monday night at 2200. As of this (Wednesday) morning at 0700... nothing. Wish I had read this thread last week when I was picking my yeast.....

 

[BlueWolf]

Odd. I've probably brewed 5-6 batches this year of all different styles and gravities with notty, and so far I've had zero problems with each of them. No starter, just re-hydrate and pitch. Each time I've had noticeable activity within 48 hours or less.

Each beer attenuated very well and tasted great. /shrug

 

[HometownHoosier]

I just had an unusual long lag with Notty, normally Notty just takes right off for me. But this batch took around 50 hours or so to see any visible signs of fermentation. When I went to check the gravity, there were some bubbles, but not enough to get excited about. 4 hours later, full Krausen. It looks like this batch of yeast were quiet fermenters that are making a sprint to the end. I read in the other Nottingham thread that some people were having it ferment without any visible signs similar to what I'm seeing happen.

This brew was a bit of a bigger beer, but I pitched accordingly and have been fermenting a little cooler than normal, 65F as opposed to 70F. Also, I normally overpitch with Notty since I generally make smaller beers and just use the entire package. Other than a slightly higher gravity and cooler fermentation temp, my process was the same to previous batches.

I'm hopeful that it fully attenuates without any off-flavors. I have had great success with it in the past, so I hope this was just a fluke.

 

[Toecutter]

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 ??

 

[HometownHoosier]

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 ??

That is what I have experienced in the past with Nottingham.

 

[Priemus]

I've pretty much only ever used Notty. Every beer I make

Ive had them take 2 days to start up before.

 

[RavenChief]

I am wondering if the pitching temperature of the wort might be a common factor in this apparent slow start problem. My last batch the wort was 68 degrees when the yeast was added. The floor temp in my basement is also about 68 degrees and active bubbling started in just over 24 hours. All my other batches have started faster with Nottingham (less than 6 hours) but I was pitching my yeast at 74 degrees. What do you guys think? Is it at all likely that Nottingham is just starting slow as a factor of temperature?

 

[Sky7]

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]

Sky7,

Did you pick up your yeast locally or did you have it shipped?

 

[Toecutter]

That is what I have experienced in the past with Nottingham.

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

 

[HometownHoosier]

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.

 

[Sky7]

Sky7,

Did you pick up your yeast locally or did you have it shipped?

Shipped from Austin Homebrew. Put in fridge for a couple days before brew day.

 

[BlueWolf]

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 ??

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.

 

[surreal_trip]

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...

 

[jjones17]

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.

 

[Sky7]

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?

 

[BigB]

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?

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.

 

[RugenBrau]

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

 

[RugenBrau]

Mine is going like crazy this morning!

 

[sigurdur]

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.

 

[HometownHoosier]

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.

 

[sigurdur]

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.

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.

 

[HometownHoosier]

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.

 

[sigurdur]

Great .. I'll give it a couple of more days.
Thanks HometownHoosier.

 

[Rover]

Everything takes a little longer:

Lag time,
Fermentation,
Conditioning

That was my experience, others have experienced other ill effects.
Be patient!

 

[sigurdur]

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...

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).

 

[HometownHoosier]

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.

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.