Mixing Nottingham and either Windsor or London ESB yeast

[Silver_Is_Money]

Would pitching 1 pack of Nottingham along with one pack of either Windsor or London ESB yeast give you the attenuation of the Nottingham along with gaining some of the ester ladened flavor profile of the Windsor or London ESB? Would this mitigate the neutrality of the Nottingham and the under-attenuation of the other two, giving you a blend of the best qualities of both? Has anyone tried this?

 

[jekeane]

From what I have read it seems more often than not when multiple strains are pitched initially Darwin takes over and one will dominate. In this case I would guess Nottingham just because its a beast in general.

What I think would give you the results you are hoping for would be to pitch the ester strain then a day into fermentation when many of you esters are already present pitch some rehydrated nottingham. My beers are generally krausening 8 hours in with dry yeast so I would consider tossing the nottingham at that point.

I personally haven't done this and I have just seen a few people mention the method.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

From what I have read it seems more often than not when multiple strains are pitched initially Darwin takes over and one will dominate. In this case I would guess Nottingham just because its a beast in general.

What I think would give you the results you are hoping for would be to pitch the ester strain then a day into fermentation when many of you esters are already present pitch some rehydrated nottingham. My beers are generally krausening 8 hours in with dry yeast so I would consider tossing the nottingham at that point.

I personally haven't done this and I have just seen a few people mention the method.

Thanks! This seems as if it would be the best method. I think pitching re-hydrated Nottingham right at high krausen for Windsor or London ESB is probably the ideal ticket. The easiest method though would be to simply allow a full 24 hour head start (beginning at the first sign of bubbles in the airlock) for the ester yeast, then pitch the Nottingham.

 

[dmtaylor]

Yes, I've done this. So have many others. It works great. I pitch both at the same time. They'll both do their thing in the first generation. If repitching, I'm not sure which one will "win".