I made a Rouge hazelnut brown ale last night and substituted nottingham for the pacman. On the back of the package of yeast it said to re-hydrate in 85 - 92 degree water so i thought why not pitch the yeast in the fermentor (I don’t usually re-hydrate yeast anyway). i think my wort temp was about 100 degrees or a little more. It was already actively fermenting this morning after about 9 hours which is good i guess.
i have heard pitching too hot may result in some bannana off flavors and what not using nottingham. I guss there is no way to be sure till it’s all done but can I use racking to a secondary to try and clean up some of the potential off flavors?
First, stop worrying until you have an actual problem.
I don’t think you will have any problems. However, pitching it into wort at the temps suggested for rehydration does not give you the benefit of rehydration. The idea of rehydrating is that you are allowing the yeast cells to rehydrate safely in water only. When they are rehydrating the cell walls are vulnerable and cannot control what passes through them. So it is safer for them to rehydrate in water only. As they rehydrate in sugary wort many of the yeast cells will actually burst as the osmotic pressure gets too high since they are vulnerable.
I think you will only get those esters if you keep the ferment that hot. You will probably smell it if there is Isoamyl acetate kicking out. Let it sit for 3 weeks regardless. The yeast will clean up their mess and it will be lovely I am sure.
Yeah, temp came down quick and is steady now at 69-70. It looks good in the carboy and it is fermenting well from the looks.
as for rehydrating, all the books I’ve read say rehydrating is good to do but not required and I’ve always gotten fairly “perfect” fermentations and the FG is right where it is supposed to be from the OG when finished. I just use kits and what not and things have always turned out. although I’ve always waited to pitch my yeast after cooling the wort - haha!!
Recently I have been added occassional dry yeasts into my brew cycles.
I find rehydrating the dry similar insurance to stepping up the liquids. White Labs states you can pitch its tube into 5 gallons and you are supposed to be good to go. I find stepping it up a couple of times isn’t that much of an effort (now that I have a fairly equiped fermentation area, with stir plate, PBW, Iodophor, Star San, etc.).
The first time I used Nottingham yeast was for a Big brew recipe many years ago (Rob Moline’s recipe), and I just added 2 packets (they are cheap) in lieu of hydrating it. It worked out fine.
Well, I’ll take a different, less optimistic tact. ;) Don’t ever pitch yeast that warm for any reason! It can cause lots of problems besides esters (it can cause fusels which can kill head retention and in some instances it can even cause stalling). Always cool your wort down to at least below 68 degrees before pitching yeast. I almost never rehydrate anymore and I simply can’t tell the difference. maybe a slightly shorter lag if you rehydrate.
That said, I do agree not to stress over it too much until you taste it. But it may not turn out quite as good as it could have been had you pitched at proper temps. That doesn’t mean it is a dumper, necessarily though. A couple weeks aging can cause some of the esters to fade and cause some of the fusels to turn to esters. Or you might get lucky. 8)
