Nottingham yeast... one pack or two!!?

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mak

Regular.
Joined
Feb 2, 2012
Messages
224
Reaction score
2
Location
Smoke on Trent, Staffordshire
Planning on AG#2 tomorrow, Orfy's hobgoblin recipe.

Have noticed in beerSmith, it says to use 2 packets of yeast!

Is this really necessary? This is one area I could really do with understanding better, I was going to make a starter and then read on here that you shouldn't when using dry yeast, which explains why beerSmith doesn't recommend it either.... can anyone explain or point me towards something that does? I've never used 2 packets before in one brew!!??
 
I have no idea whether you need to use 1 or 2 packs (i'd have assumed only one but i'm far from an expert!). But with regards the starters, i don't think you need to make one for dry yeast (though some people do). I usually rehydrate my yeast though before pitching. It doesn't take long and ensures that there is a higher quantity of viable yeast to get started on the wort.
 
I just did a brew with Nottingham and picked up one packet, assuming that it would be enough for 23 litres. I noticed later that the pitching rate on the packet would have called for 2 packets.

I re-hydrated the single packet and pitched it, as that was what I had, and it formed a good Krausen within 12 hours and fermented out inside a week, so I clearly got away with it.
 
How much are you brewing 5gal or more?
1 packet is more than enought for 5gal.

Mind you in these days of hardship I tend to make my 1 packet do upto 4 brews :thumb:
(Brew 1 6g yeast rehydrated, brew 2 on to yeast pancake from b1, b3 other 6g and repeat as b2)

Given that for many many years we were brewing 5gal with 5g sachets, I have seen no difference in my brews from this.
 
I've used 1 pack of Notts in several 23 litre brews with no problems at all. The advantage of 2 would be that with a higher pitching rate your ferment will take off a bit quicker (re-hydrating the yeast before pitching will help with this too) and you might get a quicker ferment and higher attenuation. Given that Notts has good attenuation anyway I wouldn't expect to see much difference.
The only time I've used 2 packs of yeast is with my current brew which is a lager, the colder fermentation temps used mean that the pitching rate is more critical so 2 packs of W34/70 went in.
 
hairybiker said:
How much are you brewing 5gal or more?
1 packet is more than enought for 5gal.

Mind you in these days of hardship I tend to make my 1 packet do upto 4 brews :thumb:
(Brew 1 6g yeast rehydrated, brew 2 on to yeast pancake from b1, b3 other 6g and repeat as b2)

Given that for many many years we were brewing 5gal with 5g sachets, I have seen no difference in my brews from this.

Cheers guys. Brewing 5gal. BeerSmith says it needs 224.3 billion cells and without a starter a packet contains 126.8b.

Very interesting that HB - do you just transfer the sludge from the bottom into a clean FV and then drop liquid onto it or do you wash it first? Also how do you store the 1/2 a packet, freeze it?
 
No I either keep about 250ml of yeast sludge in a sterelised container in my fridge or drop the new beer on to the old slurry without cleaning the fv. Usually the yeast head is over the top of the fv by the next morning using either of these methods. (I keep in in the bath when re-using yeast so the overflow is easy to clean up)

As to the 1/2 packet, I just use a reusealble bag and transfer the dried yeast to it, keeping it with the other yeasts in a sealed plastic food box. (small one from £land my favorite brew bits supplier :) )
The 250mL one is from them as well sold in a pack of 2 (250 & 100 if I remember rightly)

Been doing this for over a year with no side effects. And with yeast at about £2/12g this makes it more economical for me. :cheers:
 
Wow, I'm going to have to give this a go! :) So when you put it in the bath do you still airlock it or not bother since you know it's going to overflow?

I would've thought that the taste from the other brew would affect the new brew but I'm guessing that isn't a problem or you wouldn't do it! :)

Last question... do you stir the sludge up into the new brew and fully airate as normal?

Cheers! :cheers:
 
+1 to pitching onto yeast cake. although I used 150ml ish ;)
+1 for rehydrating 1 packet of Notts yeast for Orfeys hobgoblin, bottled mine last thurs. :thumb:
 
I NEVER bother with an airlock on beer, I often brew with the lid off and just a tea towel over the brew.
I also never bother to aireate it, I pump it from the boiler to the fv using a solar pump and just let it splash into the fv, either directly onto the pancake or an clean fv.

I tend also to brew the same kind of beers all the time, although the last one was a stout on to the pancake from a wildcat clone.
If you are doing wildly different ones then don't re-use the pancake, pitch fresh yeast. But for me I mostly brew IPA types (pa+crystal+maybe chocolate) so the only real difference maybe the hops I added.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top