Nottingham Ale Yeast

[clean brewer]

OK CB, what temp is the fermenting fridge set at?

18 degrees, wort is at 18 and I pitched yeast rehydrated at about 24degrees....

 

[Bribie G]

I have had some issues with Notto. I regularly brew a fake lager "Bribie Bitter". The last- but- one brew I pitched Notto direct from the packet (one side of a 'two pack' from Ross). It took three days to get a decent krausen and I actually got a bit of sulphur that just ain't notto. Maybe something else started fermenting before the notto took hold.

The beer turned out not too bad but a bit estery. (18 degrees <_< )

So for the next brew I did a good healthy starter from the other side of the pack and the beer was in high krausen within 24 hours.

I'm actually quaffing one now as I type, or attemgrt to type, and it's sweet as.

No problems in getting Notto off and running in a starter, not knocking Ross but considering Nottingham comes half way round the world there may be differences in the quality of batches ????

 

[TidalPete]

So for the next brew I did a good healthy starter from the other side of the pack and the beer was in high krausen within 24 hours.

I hope you pitched your starter at 40 deg c Bribie?

CB,
Try fermenting Notto on the cool side --- 16 deg c for a cleaner finish. As mentioned previously you will get better results from making up a starter of Notto than chucking it into the fermenter dry.

TP

 

[katzke]

I hope you pitched your starter at 40 deg c Bribie?

CB,
Try fermenting Notto on the cool side --- 16 deg c for a cleaner finish. As mentioned previously you will get better results from making up a starter of Notto than chucking it into the fermenter dry.

TP

Just a note here on the term Starter.

A Starter is when the yeast is added to some wort and allowed to grow more cells.

Dry yeast out of a packet should never be used with a Starter as it depletes the reserves built in the yeast by the lab.

Dry yeast can be rehydrated with water.

 

[white.grant]

Just a note here on the term "Starter".

A "Starter" is when the yeast is added to some wort and allowed to grow more cells.

Dry yeast out of a packet should never be used with a "Starter" as it depletes the reserves built in the yeast by the lab.

Dry yeast can be rehydrated with water.

Never say never. I think it's best to think of dry yeast starters as unnecessary when it is cost effective to drop another sachet in if required. I have had good results however from using slurry from nottingham when stepping up from a mild ale to an IPA. The mild basically acted as a starter.

cheers

grant

 

[Jakechan]

Ive never rehydrated a dry yeast in my life. I just dry pitch every time and never had any problems. And I use Nottingham for every 2nd brew these days.

 

[geoffi]

If you've never done it in your life, I suggest you give it a go. I've done both. Dry pitching works well enough, but rehydrated yeast takes off much, much faster. I suggest you give it a go just to see the difference.

Ive never rehydrated a dry yeast in my life. I just dry pitch every time and never had any problems. And I use Nottingham for every 2nd brew these days.

 

[TidalPete]

If you've never done it in your life, I suggest you give it a go. I've done both. Dry pitching works well enough, but rehydrated yeast takes off much, much faster. I suggest you give it a go just to see the difference.

+1
You will find that re-hydrated dry yeast gets your fermentation off to a much quicker start.
Manufacturers of dry yeast who recommend re-hydrating their products haven't wasted their time & money in product testing for nothing.
They want you to be happier with their yeasts than the oppositions & to come back & buy their product again.

A "Starter" is when the yeast is added to some wort and allowed to grow more cells.

Dry yeast out of a packet should never be used with a "Starter" as it depletes the reserves built in the yeast by the lab.

Dry yeast can be rehydrated with water.

You are quite correct there Grantw. I am so used to starters these days that I just rattled the word off without thinking.

I'm another who manages to get around 32 brews from one dry yeast sachet (8 tubes X 4 generations). Am currently on generation 3 of Nottingham without any perceived changes in taste, fermentation, etc. Long Live Yeast Farming. :super:

TP

 

[reviled]

FWIW I reckon Nottingham surpresses hop character quite a bit, good for malty english beers, not so cool for an IPA imo

 

[Jakechan]

If you've never done it in your life, I suggest you give it a go. I've done both. Dry pitching works well enough, but rehydrated yeast takes off much, much faster. I suggest you give it a go just to see the difference.

I'll give it a go next time. Ive just needed a shove I spose

 

[Jakechan]

I'm another who manages to get around 32 brews from one dry yeast sachet (8 tubes X 4 generations). Am currently on generation 3 of Nottingham without any perceived changes in taste, fermentation, etc. Long Live Yeast Farming. :super:

Bloody hell! Must be something in this yeast farming business. Could certainly save some money there. Is it easy? Time consuming?

 

[TidalPete]

Bloody hell! Must be something in this yeast farming business. Could certainly save some money there. Is it easy? Time consuming?

I started off by using Chiller's excellent yeast farming method -- HERE --- Print it out for future reference if you are interested. FWIW I think Chiller was a little conservative in his estimates of yeast life in the fridge.

Not too time consuming if you do it during the TV ads at night.

TP

 

[Screwtop]

Like all yeasts Nottingham has it's applications, personally I don't like it in pale or subtle ales. Green beer fermented using Nottingham has a distinct Nottingham yeast profile. Good in dark ales though especially Porters.

Rehydrating dried yeast proof's it (you know before you pitch if it's stuffed) and shortens lag time.

Flame suit on: Dried yeast contains higher levels of "other/wild yeasts and bacteria" than liquid yeasts. This is why the yeast companies provide such high cell counts per pack. Repitching is fine so long as the recovered yeast is in good condition. Racking arms in fermenters in commercial operations allow selection of clean yeast from the centre of the yeast cake, in most cases fermenters used for homebrewing do not suit this practice. Timing of brewing to suit repitching will help as the yeast can be repitched without lengthy storage, to avoid overpitching use the recommended rate of 5 - 6 grams of crop yeast per litre of wort. As yeast multiplies 4 or five times during fermentation I used about 1/4 of the yeast trub or 200ml.

If you repitch dried yeast and the beer has that "yeast issue" flavour then you've learn't it's better to pitch an inexpensive new pack of dried yeast, just like I did.

Screwy

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Not too time consuming if you do it during the TV ads at night.

TP

I'm usually making room for beer during the ads...

 

[Jakechan]

Not too time consuming if you do it during the TV ads at night.

Damn, I dont watch TV. Whatever shall I do?

 

[Ross]

Like all yeasts Nottingham has it's applications, personally I don't like it in pale or subtle ales. Green beer fermented using Nottingham has a distinct Nottingham yeast profile. Good in dark ales though especially Porters.

Rehydrating dried yeast proof's it (you know before you pitch if it's stuffed) and shortens lag time.

Flame suit on: Dried yeast contains higher levels of "other/wild yeasts and bacteria" than liquid yeasts. This is why the yeast companies provide such high cell counts per pack. Repitching is fine so long as the recovered yeast is in good condition. Racking arms in fermenters in commercial operations allow selection of clean yeast from the centre of the yeast cake, in most cases fermenters used for homebrewing do not suit this practice. Timing of brewing to suit repitching will help as the yeast can be repitched without lengthy storage, to avoid overpitching use the recommended rate of 5 - 6 grams of crop yeast per litre of wort. As yeast multiplies 4 or five times during fermentation I used about 1/4 of the yeast trub or 200ml.

If you repitch dried yeast and the beer has that "yeast issue" flavour then you've learn't it's better to pitch an inexpensive new pack of dried yeast, just like I did.

Screwy

Screwy, do dried yeast manufacturers advise to add higher yeast counts than when using liquid? I don't think the pitching rate advised has anything to do with bacteria levels, but happy to be educated? - Otherwise, I agree with your comments whole heartedly


Cheers Ross

 

[chappo1970]

I started off by using Chiller's excellent yeast farming method -- HERE --- Print it out for future reference if you are interested. FWIW I think Chiller was a little conservative in his estimates of yeast life in the fridge.

Not too time consuming if you do it during the TV ads at night.

TP

Cheers for the linky TP :icon_cheers: . I had stumbled over that thread before ages ago but wasn't there with my brewing but now has a lot of relevance.

Very interesting post on farming yeast. I might to to invest some more time into that side of my brewing I feel.

 

[Bribie G]

Much as I love Notto I have recently gone onto US-05 for the reasons that Reviled pointed out above. Especially as I'm no-chilling as well I'm trying for a bit more hop flavour and aroma.

Yeast farming: yesterday morning I racked a bitter into secondary and put about 200 ml of yeast cake into each of two 1.5L V8 glass juice jars that I use for starters. Added about 600 ml of a wort made from two dessertspoons of LDME boiled then cooled.

Shook them to buggery to aerate.

By tea time both jars were in vigorous krausen. Pitched one into an Australian Old at 21 degrees and the other into a Bribie Bitter at 16 degrees. And both are going gangbusters this morning. I've done this with Notto as well in the past, but usually stop after generation 3 and get new packets.

 

[kirem]

I quite like Nottingham, it gives beers a husky taste/mouth feel when the beer is still green, but calms down with proper maturation. It has a strong place in my yeast collection. It isn't for every beer and it works very well with oak and darker beers

I always rehydrate my dried yeast and acclimatise them as per manufacturers instructions. I never make a starter using dried yeast. IMO it defeats the purpose of dried yeast on a small scale.

A little OT, but what is everyone thoughts on Windsor?