My first batch of beer turned out “okay” in my opinion, though most others who tried it really liked it. It was a basic German Hefeweizen. It has a great flavor when it hits the tongue, but the finish is a bit malty and bland. I wasn’t a huge fan. If I try the recipe again down the road I’ll be adding some orange zest:
This time around I wanted to try something very easy that has a good, basic beer taste. My fiance picked me up a True Brew German Style Light. It’s real simple, with just malt extract, corn sugar, rice syrup solids, UK First Gold hop pellets, Muntons Ale Yeast and priming sugar.
So, this past Sunday I followed directions for the boil, chilled to 57 degrees, aerated the wort, pitched the 6g of yeast (Did not re-hydrate) and waited. The temp of the wort is at 59 degrees at night and rises to 62 during the day. By Tuesday my airlock still had not started to bubble. There was no krausen. I decided by Wednesday I would pick up some Nottingham Ale Yeast. And, if nothing had changed by the time I returned home from work that I would pitch it. Well, nothing changed:
I re-hydrated 6g of the Nottingham Ale Yeast for 15 minutes. It looked great and smelled like rising bread. I pitched the yeast into the carboy and re-sealed it. Within 8 hours it was bubbling and there was a small krausen layer. Here’s how it looks today, 60 hours after pitching:
It’s hard to say, but 6 grams is very little yeast really. It depends on your batch size, but more like 11 grams would be an appropriate amount for a 5-6 gallon (18-23 liter) batch.
One thing that is more likely is that the temperature was too cold for the Munton’s yeast at 57-60 degrees, while nottingham will do fine at that temperature.
Thanks for the info. The recipe I was following calls for 6 grams. I’ve run up on the Wyeast and other calculators, but was trying to follow the recipe. Should I rehydrate and pitch the other 5 grams currently sealed and in my fridge?
Thanks. I hit vigorous fermentation pretty quickly with my last (first) batch. This threw me off a bit.
Yes you are fine with the yeast for now. My bet is the Muntons was not good for fermenting at that cool of temps and you most definitely under pitched for that temperature.
