Norfolk Nog and S-04

[RichardG]

I got a Woodfordes Norfolk Nog on the go last night (my first one of these) which had a slightly disappointing OG of 1.041. Doesn't seem much for a 'strong Norfolk ale'. To get to the claimed ABV of 4.5%, that would suggest a FG of some 1.010. Given Woodfordes / Munton's history of finishing at higher FG's, I'm not holding my breath. Still, anything at 4.0% or more will be fine.

I've used S-04 yeast for the first time (managed to find a local stockist; welcome Harris Homebrew of Gornal!). After all I've read I was keen to give it a whirl! It went in at approx 10pm last night. Had look this morning, some 12 hours later, and whilst there is activity, there's not as much as I would have expected. Little foam formed so far. Still, patience is a virtue as they say, so I'll look again tomorrow morning when hopefully there'll be much more going on.

[Bromley Brewery]

I have worried each time after about 12 hours too.

Give it 24 hours and I bet it will be going like a train.

[Chris The Fish]

lag time has a tendancy to produce grey hairs when brewing!

there are a few things you can do with dry yeast to reduce the time between pitching and the yeast getting to work on the wort.

in ascending order of reduced lag time you could...

1, rehydrate in water for a few hours
2, rehydrate in water/glucose mixture for a few hours
3, rehydrate in cooled wort for a few hours
4, make a starter 2 days before and really get it going (although this is normally only requried for wet yeast where the cell count is lower)

in each case the lag time is normally reduced depending on the beer and conditions. the other thing you can do to help things along is use beer yeast vit (H&G do a good one)

Hope this helps guys!

Chris

[RichardG]

Well BB, you weren't wrong. Had a look this morning and it is indeed going barmy! I rehydrated the yeast in a half cup of pre-boiled water with a tea spoon of sugar and another of yeast nutrient. In went off like a train in the cup; foamed up quickly and had even formed a small crust by the time I came to pitch! I think that's why I was slightly surprised not to see greater activity earlier. But, lag or no lag, it's definately there now!

[Marts]

I'll be interested in where you FG at. I did the nog porter recently and I couldn't get it to drop below 1018. I made it up to 20 litres though and the OG was 1048. I also used the kit yeast

[RichardG]

No problem Marts, I'll be sure to leave a post to confirm.

[Dill]

I was advised never to use a sugar solution to rehydrate yeast as you get a better survival rate by using plain cooled pre boiled water with nothing added.

[RichardG]

Interesting. I'll bear that in mind next time. To be honest I don't really know why I was adding the sugar, it just seemed a good idea at the time. Maybe I'll just use the yeast nutrient, or even leave it at plain water. Anyone else any bad experience of this?

[SiHoltye]

You shouldn't use sugar or nutrient at this stage from what is understood here by knowledgeable brewers.
The explanation seems to be around that the yeast cell walls can rupture when they take in the sugar, lessening the number of then viable cells overall from your pack, whereas all you're needing/wanting to do to is return the yeast from a dried state back to 'ready for action' by adding back what has been taken away through the drying process, ie add water. I believe the best idea is to rehydrate a dried yeast in 5 times its own volume, eg 55ml for a 11g pack of S04 with the 2 at the same temp 20-25degC, using preboiled and cooled water for sanitary-ness. If you can do that then you're good to go after about half an hour. Further you can use a Daab's Flying Starter (search it) to really prime the yeast for a quick start in your main batch, though this step isn't strictly necessary. Daab's a knowledgeable brewer, and this step is quite cool 'cos you get to see the yeasties doing their thing before pitching and get a comforting feeling that they'll do the business for you in the main batch. Add nutrient to your wort so it's there as your yeast does the fermenting if you want, aeration is very important, and nutrient is no substitute for lots of aeration.
I'm regurgitating what I've been told here but don't doubt it's effectiveness.

[andywills]

i've got this on the go....fermentation has just finished, s.g was 1040, f.g 1014. i just used the standard yeast that came with it, just sprinkled it on top and approx. 18 hours(ish) later, it was going bizerk, took 5 days to finish at room temp. (with a towel wrapped round it).

just a quickie, bit off topic but....

am i right in saying when i prime for a barrel, its 80g of sugar?

[NWC]

80g is what I use - although I'm not really the expert on this!

Norfolk Nog was my last brew - racked into a barrell and a few pint bottles - for me it tasted far better in the bottles.

[RichardG]

Thanks for the advice SiHoltye (and others!), I'll just use pre-boiled water in the future.

[Dill]

Lately I haven’t even bothered rehydrating my yeast. I just sprinkled the yeast on the top of a well oxygenated (stirred) brew, and then give it another stir and to be honest it’s been just as effective as when I did rehydrate the yeast.

[RichardG]

Re-hydrating does have the advantage of telling you whether you have a duff yeast before pitching. If it foams, all well and good; if it does nothing it's most likely useless, but at least you'll know that before it goes in the brew, and you can then try re-hydrating another for use. Better than finding out some days later when the brew remains lifeless!

[RichardG]

My Norfolk Nog went in the bucket on Saturday 1st Nov., so I decided to check the PG tonight. Came out at a very pleasing 1.014, exactly on target. So, I'm happy to bottle, but working on the '10 day' theory, I'm going to leave it until Wednesday.