Nottingham Poll

So I have read some good, some great, some bad, and some down right terrible threads about nottingham yeast so I thought I would do a poll.

Feel free to post your experiences with the famous nottingham yeast.

I don't see a poll in your poll thread.

That said, I love Notty and I almost always have a few packs around in case some other yeast doesn't do its thing.

Edited to say I now see the poll. Don't know what happened earlier.

refresh or something I just voted on it.

I used it a few times, worked fine with good temp control.

I've been meaning to try it again, been a long time. I'm not real happy with S-04 and how easy it is to overdo those strong wine/fruit flavors if fermented a little too warm. Not sure if Nottingham is the answer, but I'm done with S-04 for a while I think.

I voted that it rules but I really would say that it's an excellent, versatile, and clean yeast as long as its fermented at the cooler temp range. I tend to use US-05 more since I usually brew a lot of American style ales but Notty works well in some of those too, so I still use it occasionally.

Sorry, could not vote as you did not have the best answer for me. I use it if it fits the style of the beer I am making. Great for stouts and porters, nice in an English ale, not something I would use for an American pale or a blonde.

Interested in how this goes, I've only used notty once in a brew and its only been bottle for one week so i havent tried it yet. I did ferment it cold (60) so hope its good

I've fermented with it closer to the cold side on two occasions. Ferments really fast. Neither beer turned out very good. I would not look forward to using it again.

I love Notty for the appropriate style! Keep it in the right temp range and you're good.

I ferment very cool with it,14C and all of my over the top hoppy English ales turn out very very clean

LandoLincoln said:

I've fermented with it closer to the cold side on two occasions. Ferments really fast. Neither beer turned out very good. I would not look forward to using it again.

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Can you expand on what you didnt like about those beers you didnt like.
Are there things that you attribute to the yeast as a fact and not something else? Did you make those recipes with different yeast and it was better?

so far it appears that if you just put your fermentation vessel in a closet and it gets warm you might not like this yeast.

I know that yeast really does so much to the flavor of the finished product, so I am spending alot of time trying new yeasts and washing some. So far I use wyeast 1968 ESB in just about everything, but I know that its attenuation is not great, so I think ill do a brew with notty and just see. Its just tough since I would hate to brew a batch that I think sucks and dont want to drink. lol

It's an excellent dry for fermenting at cooler temps. It's all about the temp control with this strain.

I tend to pitch this at 55*F and start the ferment at 57. Once the activity slows, I let it slowly come up to finish around 65-66*F. It gives a nice, clean result doing this.

I have no complaints using Nottingham yeast thus far and will use it again.

agreed notty is a great yeast for cooler temps and cellars. also an interesting cider yeast on 2 occasions for me ( at a higher temp of 66-70) my grandma loves it but she also lives in north minnesota which is perfect for nottingham yeast. personally i miss coopers yeast. not to be confused with yoopers yeast lol

I use Nottingham regularly and will use it again when it is appropriate to the style I am brewing.

PastorofMuppets said:

Can you expand on what you didnt like about those beers you didnt like.
Are there things that you attribute to the yeast as a fact and not something else? Did you make those recipes with different yeast and it was better?

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No, I really haven't gotten that in-depth to the problem. It might have been the recipes. I haven't re-tried those recipes with a different yeast. Not sure if I'll ever get around to it.

I used it once in a BMC style brew for family, but I got a tartness from it that I've read about. I don't have the info on hand, but I think had it in the low 60's, maybe 62-64? If I ever use it again I'm going to try around 57-58.

Anyone else get a tartness from it?

I've used it a fair amount because it was cheap and easy to use. Then I started to notice some fruity flavors. I had no idea that you needed to ferment really cool to avoid them. I'm not sure I noticed this until the new packaging, but it could be that I wasn't in tune with the flavors the way I am now.

That said, I think it would be great in the right beer. I brew mostly American style pale ales and the like, and I prefer a clean flavor with those so the hops can shine. I'm betting that an English Ale would be great with Notty, but I haven't tried one in a while.

And I do think I've gotten a small amount of tartness from it, but I'm sensitive to that, so it could just be me.

I tried it once in an APA that used Centennial (FWH), Citra, and Amarillo. The package was old, but not expired. The beer was horrible--it had a tart quality that rendered it PRACTICALLY undrinkable (in fact, it took me over two months to finish that 2 cases...). It may have been the combination of the yeast and those particular hops. It may have been the older sachet. Whatever. There are too many yeasts that perform well in my system for me to go back to it. I made the same beer with 1028 as a random experiment (that was what was in the fridge at the time), and it came out fantastic. I now consider that recipe fully "tweaked."

Oh, I fermented at 67 because I wanted to up the ester profile a bit. That's well within the range recommended by the manufacturer.

I've had good success with Notty, but I have gotten some noticeable tartness when fermenting in the mid 60's. I have a beer that I brewed friday on Notty right now, but the basement was 55-56 deg. when I brewed. Right now it might be up to 60. I'm not afraid to use Notty at all this time of year.

Robar said:

I've had good success with Notty, but I have gotten some noticeable tartness when fermenting in the mid 60's. I have a beer that I brewed friday on Notty right now, but the basement was 55-56 deg. when I brewed. Right now it might be up to 60. I'm not afraid to use Notty at all this time of year.

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see thats kind of what I was wondering.

There is quite a bit of fear involved with using notty. I seem to get that its easy to get off flavors and temp control is critical.

So if notty does its job and comes out clean then its exactly what you want, but since yeast are alive they dont always cooperate. It is cheap but so is us-05 and i dont think its quite as fickle, but who knows.

Good responses so far.

I don't like Notty anymore. Not just because they really screwed the pooch several years ago when they dragged their feet in admitting they had sent out several bad batches. Batches that cost a lot of us money, time, etc. with no apology. But my palette has decided it doesn't like English yeasts fermented at any temperature. "Ferment in the 50s and you won't taste the esters".....Then why bother using English yeast? I can't stand SA-04. I used to use WLP 002 all the time. Can't stand it. And I actually talked myself into using Notty a couple of months ago on a X-mas brew. Hate it. So, I can't say it's the yeast's fault that I say it sucks. Therefore I voted to at least try it once. Go in with low expectations and you may love it. Me.....I've turned into a 'clean' tasting yeast guy. SA 05 in almost every style. It works for me (and ain't I the guy drinking it?)

i know this is an english strain but i thought it was supposed to be so clean that you couldnt really tell.

I dont want to brew a batch and have to go in with low expectations on a yeast and I love 1968 yeast.

I think it can get clean but even if you do everything right it might still suck.

There's no choice for 'I keep a pack in the fridge for when my starters don't work out.'

Interesting. I wasn't aware that this yeast was so fickle and that it had to be so cold during fermentation. I recently had 2 batches that were so bad with off flavors that I gave up and dumped them. Both used notty, and both got a little warm while fermenting. I have been going through my process trying to find the problem... Now I think it was the yeast well, more specifically the temperature I had it at during fermentation. I'll have to give it another try. I recently acquired a temperature controlled fridge for fermenting in

Fordmi said:

Interesting. I wasn't aware that this yeast was so fickle and that it had to be so cold during fermentation. I recently had 2 batches that were so bad with off flavors that I gave up and dumped them. Both used notty, and both got a little warm while fermenting. I have been going through my process trying to find the problem... Now I think it was the yeast well, more specifically the temperature I had it at during fermentation. I'll have to give it another try. I recently acquired a temperature controlled fridge for fermenting in

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Congrats on getting set up with a fermenter fridge. You're gonna love having it.

You're unfortunately not the first person (nor will you be the last) to report some horrid off-flavors using this strain too warm. Allowed to get above 68*F (beer temp) during the first few days and it's reputed to start getting funky, progressively worse as it gets warmer. It's really a shame that they include Notty in a lot of kits along with instructions leading folks to believe that they can pitch/ferment with it on up into the 70's.

Fordmi said:

Interesting. I wasn't aware that this yeast was so fickle and that it had to be so cold during fermentation. I recently had 2 batches that were so bad with off flavors that I gave up and dumped them. Both used notty, and both got a little warm while fermenting. I have been going through my process trying to find the problem... Now I think it was the yeast well, more specifically the temperature I had it at during fermentation. I'll have to give it another try. I recently acquired a temperature controlled fridge for fermenting in

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The temp control revolutionized my brews IMO.

There doesnt seem to be a clear temp that below which there is no off flavors. Many people report off flavors even at super low, nearly lager temps.
I might just do us-05 for the keep on hand in case option, but i also think I will need to do a batch with notty just to have a basis for an opinion.

So many of the older "legendary" recipes in the recipe forum call for notty, like from 2007 ish and many of the newer ones call for a liquid strain. I might go for a clean english pale ale and do it with notty just to see what I come up with.


The question is What is the ideal pitching and fermenting temp for notty to do its best work? How much heat does it put off during its take off?

Basically what is the best situation, recipe, temps for notty to blow my mind with its awesomeness?

PastorofMuppets said:

The question is What is the ideal pitching and fermenting temp for notty to do its best work? How much heat does it put off during its take off?

Basically what is the best situation, recipe, temps for notty to blow my mind with its awesomeness?

Click to expand...

If you chill your wort to 55*F before pitching and set the ferment temp to 57*F, the "take off" with Notty is going to be more mild and controlled (as with any yeast when you pitch a few degrees cool and let it come up to target). Using that technique, the temperature differential between air and beer may only get to +2-3*F and the active ferment time will tend to last a little longer.

Try letting it begin at 57-58*F (beer temp) until it begins to significantly slow down then raise the temp 1-2 degrees each day until it reaches 66*F. I like to give it a few days at the end at that higher temp to let it clean up and also give it a bit of a d-rest (which helps convert any acetolactate present into diacetyl so that the yeast can then consume it). I used this fermentation profile with Notty on an Altbier that I brewed for a festival in October. After the ferment was done, I cold crash it to 35-36*F for a week, kegged and cold lagered it for 5 weeks. It was a very clean, crisp Alt in which the Munich malt flavor came through quite nicely. I took home an empty keg.

So...is there a temperature at which folks get English character from Nottingham without getting any odd tartness?

I recently pitched Notty at 62F, warmed to 65 over the first 24-36 hours, and then to 68 after a week or so, only to be rewarded by what-must-be this same strange tartness and an oddly thin mouthfeel for a 1.014 FG.

If fermenting at 57-58 produces a super clean beer, is there a sweet spot at 60-62F that produces *some* English yeast character? If not, I'm going back to WLP013.

Stripped all hop aroma and flavor out of my Pale ale....If I was doing an IPA and wanted it super dry, I would try Notty again....

I'm hit or miss with it. Lately I have been missing. I ferment at household temps and have a 5 degree swing during the day. I think maybe Notty wants a more constant temp.