Windsor ale yeast

[tomoncanterbury]

Hi,

I'm making a Scottish ale (extract with specialty grains) using Windsor ale yeast. I did re-hydrate it and pitched it at 70 degrees F. Fermented at 68 degrees really quickly (2 days to completely ramp up and die down). I waited 3 days and racked to secondary (I know, I shouldn't have but I followed directions). Gravity went from 1.048 to 1.016 after a full week. I'm going to leave it another week but my question is can I add some Nottingham yeast to get a higher AbV out of it because it doesn't look like I'm going to hit my FG target of 1.009. I've read that Windsor is generally a lower attenuating yeast but I'm looking to hit 5.2%AbV and as it is now we're sitting at 4.2%.

Thanks!

 

[dmtaylor]

Notty is a good idea and should get you to your goal. Next time you want any beer to attenuate well, don't use Windsor.

 

[Kharnynb]

notti is good if you want a good attenuation, windsor is very low attenuation and i've since stopped using it..

 

[tomoncanterbury]

Notty is a good idea and should get you to your goal. Next time you want any beer to attenuate well, don't use Windsor.

Will Nottingham do anything to the flavour? I'm just trying to get the abv up a bit and get rid of a bit of the sweetness. I mean, I understand that it's a characteristic of the beer, it just seems like too much at this point.

Thanks again.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Likely the best time to have pitched the rehydrated Nottingham was at or immediately after the peak of fermentation for the Windsor.

The Windsor esters are already formed, and Nottingham will not remove them. Nottingham may however create some undesirable esters of its own at 68-70 degrees. It can get nasty at above 64-65 degrees. But 90% + of what can be fermented is already fermented, so this shouldn't be too noticeable.

The worst part may be that if it fermented completely in only 2 days, it may well have risen as much as about 10 degrees above ambient internally. You may have hit up to 80 degrees at peak Windsor fermentation, and that can't be good.

Do not aerate the Nottingham. Per Lallemand it does not ever need aeration, and you certainly do not want aeration (induced oxidation) of your ale at this critical juncture.

Best bet is to leave it alone.

https://mashmadeeasy.yolasite.com/

 

[dmtaylor]

I don't think adding Notty will hurt the beer at all, and will probably help. I'd still do it.

 

[tomoncanterbury]

I have read that if I let it finish and condition for two weeks it tastes like a fully attenuated beer. I guess I will just do nothing this batch and if I make it again I can add notty if required.
Thanks

 

[tomoncanterbury]

Yeah looks like fg is going to be 1.016