# First use of Nottingham



## MashBasher (18/4/20)

I have my favourites. I might even be a bit complacent. Good excuse to break out and do something different. 

I used Lallemand Nottingham for the first time in a 1.047 Irish stout I put down yesterday. Fark!! is all I can say.

I had heard it was aggressive, but seeing is believing.









beer


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## Grmblz (19/4/20)

MashBasher said:


> I have my favourites. I might even be a bit complacent. Good excuse to break out and do something different.
> 
> I used Lallemand Nottingham for the first time in a 1.047 Irish stout I put down yesterday. Fark!! is all I can say.
> 
> ...


Thanks a bloody lot! Now I have rig envy


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## Jack of all biers (19/4/20)

MashBasher said:


> I have my favourites. I might even be a bit complacent. Good excuse to break out and do something different.
> 
> I used Lallemand Nottingham for the first time in a 1.047 Irish stout I put down yesterday. Fark!! is all I can say.
> 
> ...


Yep that's Notto. Even at 14C it'll touch your lid. Great yeast for getting the job done, that's for sure.


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## MashBasher (19/4/20)

Jack of all biers said:


> Even at 14C it'll touch your lid. Great yeast for getting the job done, that's for sure.



I had it running between 18-19 degrees. After two days the gravity has dropped to 1.020. I say again, Fark!!


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## butisitart (21/8/20)

i ran it first time 2 weeks ago. i thought, dry yeast - i'll toss it on the magnetic plate for 24 hours with 100gm LDME and a proper dose of nutrients, cos i've had problems with dry yeast not firing in the past. in fact, haven't been impressed with much about dry yeast for fermentation, flavour or anything else.
i ferment in the broom cupboard in the middle of the apartment, best temp control available. 16 degrees when i went to bed.
so at 4am i get woken by this sound like unzipping masking tape, went to the broom cupboard and yeah, it was a hissing, seething mess. when i pulled the airlock out, i got hit in the face with wort, and then it was dripping off the roof. sort of like pulling the valve out of an inflated tyre. it was more violent than the stadium at an everton liverpool match.
it outdid my previous best spillover (wyeast yorkshire, i think), by about 30psi. lost about 1L wort. so i recycled a normal quantity of it into the next brew, and it happened again. this time with a blow off hose as insurance, but i still lost another 500ml plus. pretty impressive stuff, worthy of respect. don't know about the flavour yet, that is still to come.
haha - yeah - like mashbasher's dropbox video above. so it's not just an aberration on the pack that i bought.


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## Ian Smith (21/8/20)

Pretty much the same story here - the outside of the lid of my fermenter was full of wort(1" deep) even though the space in the vessel had about 10cm from the top of the wort to the lid. Super active stuff. Nice beer from it. Still use it , keep in mind it gets busy.


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## yankinoz (22/8/20)

My two cents about Notty, which I have used and continue to use in brown ales and faux lagers: whether fermented at 11 or 18, to my palate the beers start with more of an offtaste than beers made with S-04, US-05 or BRY-97, and it's not just esters. But it goes away with a little extra conditioning (>than 4 weeks after bottling), and they're fine. 

10 cm to the lid? Why so little?


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## MashBasher (22/8/20)

I’ve now used it four or five times.

I’ve managed a bit less excitement through strict temp control. By setting my conical to run between 17- 18 degrees and leaving about 10 litres of headspace keeps it pretty much out of the blow-off.

(As an aside, when the conical is full but I feel like brewing anyway I use an old plastic 60 litre fermenter to hold a 45 litre batch. Temp control not always so good on that. Put a stout down which got a bit hot. Notty filled the headspace, climbed out of the airlock and set off to conquer the workbench in the garage. Fermented from 1.042 to 1.010 in 2 days. Lovely beer it turned out, too. It’s a friggin monster!)


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## Sidney Harbour-Bridge (22/8/20)

Brewed a few beers with Nottingham, I like it for strong ale, gets stuck in and does the job with no messing about.

As it turns out today in Melbourne is the perfect day for a Robinsons Old Tom clone.

Checking my notes, this one was mashed on 23rd May this year and by 2nd of June had achieved almost 80% attenuation from 1.072 down to 1.016.

It has some more aging to do but tastes pretty good already.


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## Sidney Harbour-Bridge (22/8/20)

MashBasher said:


> I’ve now used it four or five times.
> 
> I’ve managed a bit less excitement through strict temp control. By setting my conical to run between 17- 18 degrees and leaving about 10 litres of headspace keeps it pretty much out of the blow-off.
> 
> (As an aside, when the conical is full but I feel like brewing anyway I use an old plastic 60 litre fermenter to hold a 45 litre batch. Temp control not always so good on that. Put a stout down which got a bit hot. Notty filled the headspace, climbed out of the airlock and set off to conquer the workbench in the garage. Fermented from 1.042 to 1.010 in 2 days. Lovely beer it turned out, too. It’s a friggin monster!)


Are you a fan of the Unicorn?


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## scomet (22/8/20)

Notto, the only yeast I use these days, buy in bulk and over pitch in Ales, faux Pilsners, Bia Hoi, big beers use a bit more, never fails. Three to four weeks in the keg is good….


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## Stoichiometrist (23/8/20)

Great in ciders too


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## MashBasher (23/8/20)

Sidney Harbour-Bridge said:


> Are you a fan of the Unicorn?



Robinsons? I have not yet had the pleasure of making an acquaintance.

My stouts are pretty simple. 5% Roast barley, 5% Flaked Torrefied Barley (Crisp, usually) and a good ale malt, sometimes a Maris Otter or more often these days, Gladfield. Hops Fuggles, Pilgrim or Challenger or a mix to 40 IBU. Basically Charlie Papazian's "Propentious Stout". With the lactic soured double strength addition.

Back in the 90's Molly Bloom's Pub here in Melbourne used to get Guinness direct from St James' gate. That remembered taste is what I'm shooting for. Smooth, creamy and TANGY! Mine is close enough to keep me happy.


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## darrenhayes (23/8/20)

Definitely a good yeast for dark beers as mentioned and high OG. Other than those, it’s a poor flocca and requires extra attention for Pales if one likes a clear beer.
Haysie


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## butisitart (23/8/20)

darrenhayes said:


> Definitely a good yeast for dark beers as mentioned and high OG. Other than those, it’s a poor flocca and requires extra attention for Pales if one likes a clear beer.
> Haysie


strong ales, darks?? my staple diet outside of high summer. that might explain the bulk packs of notties at my lhbs. why have i not met up before?? oh yeah, cos i'm so anal about liquids haha. aaaaahh, the joy of discovery 
and i do like a bit of fermenter violence, in spite of the mess


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## scomet (24/8/20)

butisitart said:


> i'll toss it on the magnetic plate for 24 hours with 100gm LDME and a proper dose


There is a bit of an art to rehydrating dry yeasts they are quite fussy little critters. Water temp, soaking time, stirring time, differential temps; yeast to water to wort all have to be well managed. Critical is the hydration of the cell walls and when they need to be introduced to the wort to start feeding- too soon or late has a major impact on the viability of the yeast. From what I have read its also difficult to make good step-up starters from dried yeast for the afore mentioned reasons.

I dont claim to be a yeast expert I just try and maximise the highest yeast viability from the equipment/process I use. Over-pitching and good yeast management has made one of the many 'huge leaps forward' in my beers taste.

Interestingly; since I started seriously understanding and managing my yeast I have not had a 'gusher' (many other factors) now my all grain beers regularly ferment down to 1005 where they used to finish at 1018+.

Cheers - scomet


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## butisitart (24/8/20)

scomet said:


> There is a bit of an art to rehydrating dry yeasts they are quite fussy little critters. Water temp, soaking time, stirring time, differential temps; yeast to water to wort all have to be well managed. Critical is the hydration of the cell walls and when they need to be introduced to the wort to start feeding- too soon or late has a major impact on the viability of the yeast. From what I have read its also difficult to make good step-up starters from dried yeast for the afore mentioned reasons.
> 
> I dont claim to be a yeast expert I just try and maximise the highest yeast viability from the equipment/process I use. Over-pitching and good yeast management has made one of the many 'huge leaps forward' in my beers taste.
> 
> ...


reading between the lines here, so you're saying (or i think you're saying) you hydrate them in water before dunking them into the LDME pond?? is that right?? dang. everytime i open my mouth i seem to learn something else in this caper LOL.
makes sense, i guess, if you water hydrate before throwing direct into a fermenter - same process. 
happily, however, my gushing seems to have gone away. 1005? i've hit 1006 a couple of times, 1008 for me is good. 1005 is serious good


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## kadmium (24/8/20)

butisitart said:


> reading between the lines here, so you're saying (or i think you're saying) you hydrate them in water before dunking them into the LDME pond?? is that right?? dang. everytime i open my mouth i seem to learn something else in this caper LOL.
> makes sense, i guess, if you water hydrate before throwing direct into a fermenter - same process.
> happily, however, my gushing seems to have gone away. 1005? i've hit 1006 a couple of times, 1008 for me is good. 1005 is serious good


When you rehydrate yeast, you need to add specific nutrients and chemicals if you wish to properly hydrate them. When making mead, I always use GoFerm which is a rehydration nutrient for dry yeast. I personally wouldn't bother hydrating them in water then adding to a fermenter. I would just pitch straight from the packet unless you are doing some seriously high OG beers.

I also wouldn't be aiming to drive your FG down so much. You should be picking the strain of yeast and the attenuation you want. For example, with a stout that needs a fuller mouth feel and some residual sweetness, why would I want to drive it so low? I prefer it to finish 1.012+

If you feel like driving your FG low no matter the style you might as well just start using champagne yeast.

Edit*

I also don't see the need to be doing starters with Dry Yeast. It's really only for liquid yeast, as the viability drops so much faster and they are much more susceptible to dying off. Pretty sure fermentis and others recommend hydrate only followed by pitching.


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## MashBasher (24/8/20)

kadmium said:


> I would just pitch straight from the packet unless you are doing some seriously high OG beers.



Couldn't agree more.

For me, sprinkling 2 packs of Notty on the surface of a 45 litre all-grain batch anywhere up to about 1.054 gets consistently good results. All over red rover in a few days with final gravities that match my mashing regime. 

This experience matches the advice given by Lallemand. It’s nice to rehydrate but not essential if you are not pushing the envelope. I find this is true for their other yeasts and for Fermentis as well, including lagers. (I have an S-189 euro lager on the go at the mo that has dropped from 1.048 to 1.017 in 8 days. Same thing - sprinkled 2 packs @ 15 degrees C). 

I will still use liquid if doing something special. But dry yeast has come a long, long way both in variety and quality. Underrated IMHO.


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## Sidney Harbour-Bridge (24/8/20)

Y


MashBasher said:


> Couldn't agree more.
> 
> For me, sprinkling 2 packs of Notty on the surface of a 45 litre all-grain batch anywhere up to about 1.054 gets consistently good results. All over red rover in a few days with final gravities that match my mashing regime.
> 
> ...


Yep certainly wouldn't waste time and $ building a starter for Nottingham, there's probably nutrients in the packet but I get 80% attenuation just chucking it in, if it was cultured etc what would happen, more krausen bursting out?


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## kadmium (24/8/20)

MashBasher said:


> Couldn't agree more.
> 
> For me, sprinkling 2 packs of Notty on the surface of a 45 litre all-grain batch anywhere up to about 1.054 gets consistently good results. All over red rover in a few days with final gravities that match my mashing regime.
> 
> ...


Yeah don't disagree. Even get sour yeasts now and all sorts. Nothing wrong with dry yeasts at all. 

I only used liquid cause I harvest the starter so I outlaid more at the start for specific yeast. 

Dennys Favourite is my goto dark beer

Imperial Dry Hop for NEIPAs

Czech Pils for lagers. 

Other than that I use us-05 as my generic work horse. I go in dry.


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