Notty in a cyser

[myndflyte]

I put together my first cyser and it seems like the Nottingham is having a hard time starting. The recipe is 5 gallons of cider, 3 lbs honey, 2.5 tsp yeast energinzer and pectic enzyme, and 0.5 tsp of yeast nutrients. It's been about 48 hours since I pitched and based on the hydrometer, I got nothing going on.

The guy I got the cider from specifically said it was raw with no preservatives or pasteurization. So 24 hours before I put it together, I added 1 campden tablet per gallon of cider.

I heated about a gallon of the cider to 140 to help dissolve the honey and enzymes and so it was about 75F when I pitched so I cooled it down in an ice bath. I'm thinking it got too cold so it's just been at room temp and is up to about 68F now. I also stirred it up again this morning to try and get things moving.

Am I just being too antsy and should wait longer or is it time to get another packet of yeast? The expiration on the yeast was 12/2018 so I'm guessing it wasn't old.

 

[Drewed]

A couple of things to try next time:
Don't heat. You can mix and shake to get the honey to dissolve.
You might need more nutrients. 1/2 teaspoon for 5 gallons seems light. Read the bottle.
I wouldn't panic yet, but can you make a starter? If so I'd start a new pack of Nottingham tomorrow, so you can pitch then next day. Three days to get a cider going isn't unheard of.

 

[myndflyte]

A couple of things to try next time:
Don't heat. You can mix and shake to get the honey to dissolve.
You might need more nutrients. 1/2 teaspoon for 5 gallons seems light. Read the bottle.
I wouldn't panic yet, but can you make a starter? If so I'd start a new pack of Nottingham tomorrow, so you can pitch then next day. Three days to get a cider going isn't unheard of.

Thanks for the suggestions. The bottle says 1/2 tsp for 5 gallons of beer but maybe I should have added a little more since wort is probably easier to ferment than cider and honey.

I could make a starter but is using DME to make that starter OK or should I use honey and water?

 

[Maylar]

Nottingham is an aggressive ale yeast that does very well at cold temps. With your recipe I'd guess you're in the 1.070 range which should not be a problem for the yeast. I agree that 1/2 tsp per 5 gallons is a bit light on the nutrients, but I wouldn't worry about that unless you start getting sulfur smells.

Give it another couple days before worrying about it. I've had Notty take its sweet time getting started.

And if you do make a starter, keep it with honey and water at about 1.040 specific gravity. No place for DME in a traditional mead.

 

[myndflyte]

Nottingham is an aggressive ale yeast that does very well at cold temps. With your recipe I'd guess you're in the 1.070 range which should not be a problem for the yeast. I agree that 1/2 tsp per 5 gallons is a bit light on the nutrients, but I wouldn't worry about that unless you start getting sulfur smells.

Give it another couple days before worrying about it. I've had Notty take its sweet time getting started.

And if you do make a starter, keep it with honey and water at about 1.040 specific gravity. No place for DME in a traditional mead.

You're pretty close on the gravity. I just used the total 5 gallons so it came in at about 1.067. I'm surprised it hasn't taken off yet so I added some more nutrients this morning and stirred it up a bit more. And I rehydrated the yeast according to their instructions and it was foamy so I think it was alive. I'm getting another pack of yeast today but I'll give it till the end of the week before I pitch it.

 

[myndflyte]

Nottingham is an aggressive ale yeast that does very well at cold temps. With your recipe I'd guess you're in the 1.070 range which should not be a problem for the yeast. I agree that 1/2 tsp per 5 gallons is a bit light on the nutrients, but I wouldn't worry about that unless you start getting sulfur smells.

Give it another couple days before worrying about it. I've had Notty take its sweet time getting started.

And if you do make a starter, keep it with honey and water at about 1.040 specific gravity. No place for DME in a traditional mead.

So nothing is still going on so last night I made a starter that I'm going to pitch today. However, when I checked it today, I got a sulfur whiff and there is some stuff that is starting to float on the top. Does the sulfur indicate it's going bad or maybe that it's actually starting?

 

[Maylar]

Sulfur means that it's fermenting and needs more nutrients.

 

[myndflyte]

A little update...After 4 days of no activity, I made a starter with Notty, let it go for 24 hours and pitched that. It finally took off, and off it went. So much so that it brought it down all the way to 0.998. But it's actually not bad right now. I racked it to a secondary to clear and I'm interested to see how it tastes in a few months.

 

[myndflyte]

Just to bring this full circle. I bottled it in mid-December and opened a bottle in February at the baby shower, since this was meant to be for my newborn. It was not that good. Had a sulfur thing going on so I was a little disappointed. It just wasn't good.

Fast forward to this past weekend, almost a year after it was bottled, and my wife and I were talking about just tossing those bottles because they were taking up space. I opened one just to see if it was still bad and it has really come around. No sulfur, and it's really nice and dry, almost like a chardonnay. Needless to say, the bottles are staying now. Moral of the story, wait a year and see what happens.