Nottingham Yeast

[jwhirry]

Graff: I had pulled the Graff as I said I would last week and tested it, it was still a bit high for what I thought I had read off the recipe 1.012, rethought this later and realized this was the high side of my goal. But I already mixed up a starter with DME and 2 packages of Nottingham I found at a LHBS with different lot and exp from the failed packages I have. No problem reaching a good krausen in the starter, I pitched it and set it back in the fermentarator and tried to forget about it for a few days. Of course I looked, but I never noticed another krausen.

I should of left it alone in the fermenter for a lot longer (like maybe a couple more weeks) but it looked like it was clearing Thursday, I expected 2 weeks for fermentation max and I wanted the fermenter for an APA I was going to brew that day. Hydro had it down to about 1.011, I set it in my keezer to help it clear. Later I sanitized a keg and transferred the now cleared Graff. Sample tasted and smelled pretty good. Unfortunately my auto-siphon is giving me some trouble… I have to say futzing with an auto-siphon in the middle of a transfer is not a good thing to do, and it took me a moment or more to notice I was drawing yeast and trub. I finished the transfer and set the carboy aside. I have since sampled the Graff and the aroma has changed… A friend described it as “hammy”, I tried not to agree but I do. I can’t find anything else better to describe the scent. I have been tossing the first glass to try and get a clear glass. The taste is dry cider but the smell is too “hammy” to enjoy it.

Should I just let it sit for a few weeks? Or should I transfer again, I doubt I transferred that much trub, but it is possible. Or should I try “dry-hopping” with an aromatic hop or spice that would compliment a cider or since it is in the keezer just add some apple juice or concentrate? I am even considering gelatin… Otherwise I realize these are still fairly young and surely need a bit of time to develop. I have heard the cider aroma and taste may take a few weeks to return.

Comments on Nottingham need to be revised... I am afraid I shouldn't comment beyond saying that the first Lot# failed me, while the majority may not be having a problem, I am a bit shy of trusting Nottingham to my brews for the time being. Nottingham has a performance reputation that it did not meet this time, 72 hours of lag if it came to life at all and possible under attenuation if it did. Beyond that I had other yeasties in there so my comments are voided. I will have to play around with US-05 and US-04 to see how I like them in different brews.

 

[wildwest450]

Your not supposed to make starters with dry yeast.

 

[Martin2D]

Just used this on a Bling Pig clone. Took 36 hours to go bonkers. Definitely a lot longer then the US-05 I used before they went crazy with the pricing.

 

[vtchuck]

I have activity this morning after re-pitching last night. Lots of surface foaming ...but it smells funny to me, not the yeasty, beery smell I'm accustomed to experiencing.

I had to dump the batch. It never cleared and smelled and tasted like grapefruit.... not the kind of mild citrus you get from Cascade. The other half of the batch came out fine. If I use Notty again, I'm doing a starter. Likely will bite the bullet & buy S-05 or WhiteLabs. Too bad

 

[enderwig]

I had to dump the batch. It never cleared and smelled and tasted like grapefruit.... not the kind of mild citrus you get from Cascade. The other half of the batch came out fine. If I use Notty again, I'm doing a starter. Likely will bite the bullet & buy S-05 or WhiteLabs. Too bad

That is exactly what happened to mine, it got so cloudy that you couldn't even see through the test jar, it looked and tasted like a glass of grapefruit juice. It got me on three batches. I just tossed the other 9 or 10 packs I had and started up a yeast farm! :rockin:

 

[chefchris]

Everything looks ok with my Pale Ale except I have these huge yeast glaciers floating on top of the beer. Everytime I look at it it scares me.

Even though I only experienced lag time I doubt I will use it again. It's not worth the risk.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Omahawk]

I brewed an IIPA last night and pitched a rehydrated Nottingham packet, it is starting to show decent activity at 12 hours. Lot 1080360088V, Exp 08-10.

 

[BNVince]

Brewed a Robust Porter yesterday and pitched some Nottingham. 27 hours later I have no airlock activity. Nottingham has taken off for me in the past. Weird.

 

[Pete08]

I brewed a 1.068 amber the other day, then dry pitched Notty like I usually do. I was approaching 40 hours with no visible activity. I rehydrated a second pack of Notty, all I had on hand, according to directions, conditioned it to the temp of the wort, and in it went. Within a few hours, I had activity. I don't know if it would have taken off eventually, or if rehydrating the second pack helped, or what.

 

[jlpred55]

Ok I am going to revisit my notty post again. After the 78 hour lag time it is doing it's work, I think. Checked gravity today. Was sitting at 1.014, It should get be down to 1.010 or so, minimum. OG was 1.046. It was a modified version of BM Centennial Blonde. It smelled great and is still cloudy from the active fermentation. It is a little slow compared to what I am used to w/ the notty, it has been 10 days, but no big deal. So here is the real thing that confused the hell out of me. I drink the hydo sample and me thinks I made a hefeweizen. No crap! I am defintely getting banana. No other fruit, no off flavors, nice crisp malt and banana. I am really wondering what the hell went on. Temp was at 62 the whole time, which is about 5 deg lower than what i normally ferment notty at. I am not too worried since it tasted great but nothing like it has in the past. I am thinking one of these options:

-It was a badly timed hydro pull and I am just getting some of the residual left behind from the yeast that hasn't been cleaned up and it is mixing with the all centennial hops to give a banana flavor.
-Or those little chunks of weird looking krausen floating around is a small infection that took hold prior to the notty going off and is lending a unique influnce to the brew.
-Or I just got a wild fermentation that started and overpowered the notty completely.
-Or my change in fermentation temps did it.
-Or I need to take my skirt off, let me leg hair grow and freaking relax...

Only time will tell. I will take another gravity ready on Thursday or Friday to see where I am at, see how the beer is clearing and what the taste is like. If it is done I will cold crash and then bottle that sob.

 

[carbon111]

So here is the real thing that confused the hell out of me. I drink the hydo sample and me thinks I made a hefeweizen. No crap! I am defintely getting banana. No other fruit, no off flavors, nice crisp malt and banana. I am really wondering what the hell went on. Temp was at 62 the whole time, which is about 5 deg lower than what i normally ferment notty at.

This is why I don't want to use Notty anymore. I did an IPA with nottingham, fermented it cool and ended up with a brew monkeys would adore.
A few months later and the bananas are finally starting to fade a bit...but not much.

I mentioned it onlist before and everybody said I must have fermented it too hot...but I know for a fact I hadn't. :/

A couple other of my Notty brews have a faint whiff of banana to the nose as well. My beers made with some Wyeast strains in the same time period do not exhibit this flaw.

I'm shopping for a new dry yeast. Going to try S-05 in my next Pale Ale.

 

[shek]

I usually stick to WLP001, but decided to use notty for BierMuncher's Cream of Three Crops, and it took at least 48 hours to see any activity, when I typically see bubbling within six hours with WLP001. Brewed on friday, so I'm going to take a sample this friday and see how it went, this thread has me a little nervous.

 

[KYB]

I've never had a problem with Nottingham. This happened within 12 hours (5gal batch, granted it was an Imperial Stout with 4 packets )

Is everyone re-hydrating them how the packet says to? That's what I always do.

 

[Nemleu]

I’m new to brewing, and this is only my third batch. The first two were fantastic! This kit included Nottingham. The lot number isn’t totally legible, and I can’t read the first numbers. It does end in 110V. The Exp. Date is 01-2011. (Sounds familiar)

I pitched at 75 F, and my SG came in at 1.060. Just what the kit called for. After 40 hours there were no signs of life in my airlock. I checked the gravity and still read 1.060. I’m concerned but this forum has given me comfort knowing that it appears I didn’t screw up.

Now I’m at 55 hours and WOW! I just noticed a bubble. After watching for 10 minutes with no more activity I felt like moron watching a test pattern on TV. (Now if you know what a test pattern is you know I’m not a youngster) From what I’ve read, I should be patient and within the next 24 hours it should be working well.

If not, should I pitch yeast again? I can’t purchase Nottingham in this area, is there a substitute I can use for American Nut Brown Ale? If it takes 72 hours for the yeast to start, will this influence the taste?

Thanks in advance, and if this brew does not work my enthusiasm for my new hobby will not be weakened.

 

[chefchris]

I’m new to brewing, and this is only my third batch. The first two were fantastic! This kit included Nottingham. The lot number isn’t totally legible, and I can’t read the first numbers. It does end in 110V. The Exp. Date is 01-2011. (Sounds familiar)

I pitched at 75 F, and my SG came in at 1.060. Just what the kit called for. After 40 hours there were no signs of life in my airlock. I checked the gravity and still read 1.060. I’m concerned but this forum has given me comfort knowing that it appears I didn’t screw up.

Now I’m at 55 hours and WOW! I just noticed a bubble. After watching for 10 minutes with no more activity I felt like moron watching a test pattern on TV. (Now if you know what a test pattern is you know I’m not a youngster) From what I’ve read, I should be patient and within the next 24 hours it should be working well.

If not, should I pitch yeast again? I can’t purchase Nottingham in this area, is there a substitute I can use for American Nut Brown Ale? If it takes 72 hours for the yeast to start, will this influence the taste?

Thanks in advance, and if this brew does not work my enthusiasm for my new hobby will not be weakened.

Since you've seen a small sign of fermentation I would ride it out for now. Mine took 2 or 3 days before it finally took off but the FG ended up at 1.011 so it still did it's job. We'll see how it tastes in a little over a week. Hopefully not like banana.

 

[BNVince]

Is everyone re-hydrating them how the packet says to? That's what I always do.

Okay I'll admit it. No, I'm not re-hydrating. I simply never have in the past.

Anyway, after 48 hours of no airlock activity on EdWort's Porter I peeked inside my plastic fermenter and didn't see a spec of Krausen. I pitched another packet of Nottingham.

It's possible that I pitched the first packet when the wort was at a high temperature. I had a bit of a mix up during the cold break and things went haywire. I could have sworn I pitched it at 80 (which is not ideal in the first place) but it may have been hotter.

I'll keep you posted.

P.S. If this porter ends up smelling like bananas I'll never use Nottingham again.

 

[shek]

I brewed friday night (8/7) and pitched a single packed of notty into 5.5G of 1.042 of the COTC as mentioned before. Didn't see any bubbling until late Sunday, AFAIK. It's still bubbling but pretty slowly. I'm going to give it the full week then take a sample and check the gravity (it's in a bucket). Ferm temp is upper 60's, the bucket is in a larger water bath, that I keep dropping large blocks of ice into. The notty was lot 1081140118V and the exp was 1-2011. Hopefully it did the job, since I'm trying to rush this beer a little for a friend's BBQ.

 

[Nablis]

I recently used some notty lot 1081140118v expires 01-2011. Rehydrated one and pitched @70. When it was rehydrated it didn't look normal it wasn't sticky at all. 24 hours later no activity, so tossed in another package of notty with no rehydration. Now its been 72 hours so I just pitched some us-05.

Very frustrating.

 

[springer]

I just racked Orfy's Mild ale into the kegs . 11 gallons in two BB's 1 package of Notty per BB rehydrated as per instructions one took off in about 10 hrs the other was going when I got home that night at 6 pm both at 64°. Don't know the batch #'s but they had an exp date of 8/2010 and 9/2010 . Also one package was lighter than the other can't remember which one though. So the 2 I pitched were in the norm from my prior experiences.


No off flavors with either.

 

[bob1852]

pitched some Notty last night into an IPA and had no activity this morning, which is rare for my relationship with Notty (yes I know air lock activity isn't the only way to determine if fermentation is happening, but ALL of my other Notty batches were bubbling within 12 hours).

 

[Nemleu]

Since you've seen a small sign of fermentation I would ride it out for now. Mine took 2 or 3 days before it finally took off but the FG ended up at 1.011 so it still did it's job. We'll see how it tastes in a little over a week. Hopefully not like banana.

68 hours and I finally have a consistent bubble. It’s not going to blow the top off of the airlock, but I know it’s fermenting. I took a gravity reading from my satellite bottle. My SG was 1.060, and it went to 1.030 overnight.

All I can do is hope it’s okay

 

[camiller]

Just a thought, since Danstar has said that they tested their control samples and they were fine wouldn't it be possible for there to have been damage due to miss-handling by a wholesaler. I know that all three of the wholesalers my LHBS deals with carry Nottingham. Would be cool if each of you that are having problems could talk to your LHBS and see where they usually order from, if we could narrow it down to one link in the supply chain it would be good.

 

[shek]

Just a thought, since Danstar has said that they tested their control samples and they were fine wouldn't it be possible for there to have been damage due to miss-handling by a wholesaler. I know that all three of the wholesalers my LHBS deals with carry Nottingham. Would be cool if each of you that are having problems could talk to your LHBS and see where they usually order from, if we could narrow it down to one link in the supply chain it would be good.

It's either something in the supply chain, or a lot of are crazy/have no clue what we're doing (or both?)

 

[carbon111]

Maybe the batch was adulterated with some wild yeast? That would explain some of the new "artifacts".

I have no clue what's going on, really. Just kind of had it with Notty I guess.

 

[wildwest450]

Just a thought, since Danstar has said that they tested their control samples and they were fine wouldn't it be possible for there to have been damage due to miss-handling by a wholesaler.

How do you miss-handle dry yeast??

 

[carbon111]

How do you miss-handle dry yeast??

Spanking?

 

[carbon111]

Sorry...

 

[shek]

How do you miss-handle dry yeast??

Let it get too hot so that most of the yeast dies? Just a guess...

 

[BNVince]

Let it get too hot so that most of the yeast dies? Just a guess...

Too hot before it hits the wort? I keep my dry yeast at room temperature for weeks before I use it. Wrong?

Anyway, I repitched another packet of Nottingham after 48 hours of no signs of fermentation on the first packet. 24 hours later my airlock is steadily bubbling.

I can't really chalk this one up to bad yeast since I may have pitched at too high of a temperature.

 

[Budzu]

Nah, I know what I'm doing and how to make a great beer with all kinds of yeast. And I know when something is DRASTICALLY different, like my recent experiences with this yeast. Something happened to it somewhere, I have no idea who to blame. But not me