Stuck Notty

[bjornkri]

I'm using Danstar Nottingham for the first time. I made a starter and dumped it into 1.052 wort, and it seemed to take off quite nicely. Airlock activity within a few hours. It started a bit hot, at about 73F, but I managed to cool it down to 65-67 by moving it to the basement and wrapping it in a wet towel. Been hovering around that temperature since.

After a week it was down to 1.024 which I thought was OK, but perhaps on the slower side. Now 5 days later it's STILL at 1.024...

Any tips on how to kick start it? Give it a swirl, warm it up a bit, just wait a bit longer?

I also have another packet of Nottingham that I could add to it I suppose.

 

[stpug]

In a 5 gallon (20 liter) batch, a single dry packet of nottingham (11g) should have been sufficient - i.e. no starter needed. Not to mention, dry yeast is best when it's simply rehydrated for 15-30 minutes at good temperatures and then pitched. HOWEVER, a starter should NOT have caused this low attenuation.

Can you provide more information about your batch size, recipe, and any aeration you did to the wort after chilling and prior to pitching.

Lastly, I have found Nottingham to be much more likable when used in the low 60s F (60-63F). If you experience any unwelcome yeast esters in this batch then keep this in mind for future batches.

Edit:
Are you using a hydrometer for your FG reading? If you are using a refractometer, and not correcting for the reading, then that's causing your inaccurate reading and are probably closer to 1.008 or thereabouts.

 

[BreezyBrew]

Yes. We need the recipe as well as the age of the yeast and everything else mentioned.

 

[brewkinger]

I'm with stpug...

I have brewed close to 30 batches, 24 of which have used Notty (fresh, 1st and 2nd generation) and have NEVER seen it stall.
That stuff is usually very good at devouring every bit of sugar that it possibly can.

I have fermented in the high 50's to get a lager-like crispness and neutrality and as high as 68 degrees. It does tend to creep along more slowly at the lower temps, but I have yet to see it stop short of 1.010.. EVER.

Agree with stpug... if you are using a refractometer, then your reading is skewed due to the alcohol content.
If so, then you need to test with a hydrometer or plug the information into a conversion calculator to get an accurate reading.
Plugging 1.024 into a calculator converts to a specific gravity of 1.0077 (1.008)
WHICH seems very accurate for a batch that has fermented with Nottingham.

 

[bjornkri]

No luck there, I am using a hydrometer. The yeast had a best-before date of 09/2015 so I don't think it was that either.

It was a 5 gal version of Captain Hooked on Bitters, so nothing special there. Maris otter, biscuit and crystal malt.

But now I'm thinking maybe I didn't aerate enough. I did what I always do and simply splashed it a bit during cooling (hosed through a plate cooler) and gave it a good slosh after it was in the fermenter - but the recipe calls for a longer boiling time of 90 minutes, so maybe it needed a bit more?

 

[stpug]

No luck there, I am using a hydrometer. The yeast had a best-before date of 09/2015 so I don't think it was that either.

It was a 5 gal version of Captain Hooked on Bitters, so nothing special there. Maris otter, biscuit and crystal malt.

But now I'm thinking maybe I didn't aerate enough. I did what I always do and simply splashed it a bit during cooling (hosed through a plate cooler) and gave it a good slosh after it was in the fermenter - but the recipe calls for a longer boiling time of 90 minutes, so maybe it needed a bit more?

I would consider your aeration sufficient. I brewed plenty of batches with similar amounts of aeration and had full attenuation. I wouldn't think that the culprit in this case.

How about your mash temperature and duration?

Edit:
Certainly swirling and warming shouldn't hurt and might help bring it down a couple more points.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I'm with you guys must be the oxygen, Ive never had it stall and always blew through fermentation like a fright train, I ferment at 60 every time

used it dry, made a starter, and grew it into 6, all flawless

 

[bjornkri]

The mash went pretty well, single infusion, 157 for an hour. This was supposed to be an easy, bog standard recipe after a couple of more involved ones. Funny that this would be the one that stalled...

Anyway, swirled it, and now relaxing, not worrying and having a homebrew Thanks for your comments, I'll update this when I check again over the weekend.

 

[brewkinger]

No luck there, I am using a hydrometer.
The yeast had a best-before date of 09/2015 so I don't think it was that either.

Check that your hydrometer is calibrated by sticking it in distilled water and making sure that it reads 1.000

I would consider your aeration sufficient. I brewed plenty of batches with similar amounts of aeration and had full attenuation. I wouldn't think that the culprit in this case.

How about your mash temperature and duration?

Edit:
Certainly swirling and warming shouldn't hurt and might help bring it down a couple more points.

Agree on all points....

Aeration has never been a factor for me with Notty.

Mash temp would be the next logical place to look (after hydro calibration)

Give it a swirl and warm it up to see if you can rouse the little buggers.

 

[brewkinger]

The mash went pretty well, single infusion, 157 for an hour.

Just noticed this after my last post.
This may very well be the culprit. 157 mash temp will give you a fair amount of unfermentable sugars that will give the resulting beer a decent amount of sweetness.

Assuming that your hydrometer checks out (while you are at it, check the accuracy of your thermometer as well), you may very well have found the problem.

Let it go for a few days at the warmer / swirled temps and if nothing changes then I would go ahead and bottle it (or keg).

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[bjornkri]

Swirled it, gave it a few days, and it's still at 1.024. Bottled a couple without any sugar and put in a warm place to see if I get any carbonation. If not I guess it's bottling time...