Altbier Fermentation Schedule

[Nizmoose]

Hi guys I pitched the yeast on an Alt on sunday and am interested in whether people have had particularly good results with a specific fermentation schedule as I haven't quite decided what I want to do with it yet.

The recipe is just almost all Munich with some crystal 60L and the yeast used is Danstar Nottingham. I picked notto mainly because I have been using it a lot recently and find it reliable and incredibly versatile (esters in the 20's clean around 18 lager like at 12). To me it seems the perfect ale yeast for an alt besides the genuine alt strains available.

Just wondering if something along the lines of 3 weeks in the primary at 12-13C before cold crashing for 2-3 months will do the trick. I dont have a fridge but the shed at the moment is allowing me to maintain 13c pretty well constantly. Few questions: if I drop the temp to 2c for say 8 weeks will there be enough yeast to bottle or should I just keg and force carbonate? Also when 'lagering' the alt should it be moved to the secondary or is keeping it on the yeast acceptable? Ive used a secondary before a few times but have become hesistant recently due to the possibility of oxygen exposure, however if the beer really will benefit from say a week crashed in the primary then 7 or 8 weeks in the secondary then I'll go ahead.

 

[Judanero]

How are you going to cold crash without a fridge?

If moving to secondary purge the fv with CO2 first, I wouldn't want to keep it on the yeast for 8 weeks but I have for six on a dark lager and didn't notice any adverse character.

If bulk priming to bottle just add 1/4 pack of notto to cooled priming solution.

 

[Nizmoose]

How are you going to cold crash without a fridge?

If moving to secondary purge the fv with CO2 first, I wouldn't want to keep it on the yeast for 8 weeks but I have for six on a dark lager and didn't notice any adverse character.

If bulk priming to bottle just add 1/4 pack of notto to cooled priming solution.

Ahh sorry I should have specified I have a fridge I can use which is in the shed but its a dedicated fridge fridge haha so no temp controller, so I can use that to cold crash jsut not to maintain fermentation temperatures. I've thought about a yeast addition before priming but will this affect clarity adversely? I know plenty do it for lagers so I'm assuming with the right amount I'll be fine. With regards to purging with CO2 how is that best done? Fill the secondary with the beer then just set my reg to say 3PSI and hold the disconnect pin down to let it all fall into the secondary then seal?

 

[slcmorro]

I've never added yeast back to a beer after lagering, and they've always carbed up fine. The longest I went was 10 weeks in secondary, and they carbed up again within 2 weeks in summer. Horses for courses.

 

[Nizmoose]

I've never added yeast back to a beer after lagering, and they've always carbed up fine. The longest I went was 10 weeks in secondary, and they carbed up again within 2 weeks in summer. Horses for courses.

Okay awesome, after waiting two months for conditioning waiting longer than normal to carb them up doesn't bother me at all especially if it means I dont compromise on clarity.

 

[manticle]

Only time I ever reseed is if I've bulk aged for 12+ months.

Not sure nottingham plus munich will give much of an alt. Yeast choice is very important for alt.

 

[Nizmoose]

Only time I ever reseed is if I've bulk aged for 12+ months.

Not sure nottingham plus munich will give much of an alt. Yeast choice is very important for alt.

Thanks manticle and I wasn't sure how much of an alt's character came from the yeast, hadn't actually considered it to be honest, will see how this turns out and will definitely give it a crack. My main motivation for this beer was to make something less offensive to non good beer drinkers whilst keeping it interesting for me so as long as I achieve that I'm happy