Nottingham.... whats so great about it???

I have almost entirely used White Labs yeast with great success but I read on here a lot of people using plain old Nottingham ale yeast. Is it really that hard of a worker? I got some and am going to try it on my next brew day but wanted to know what the hype was?

Pros and cons?

pros: cheap, don't need a starter, works quick, good attenuation, clean

cons: there was a recall last year over defective product which caused long lag times and off flavors; some people won't use it anymore because of it.

Pro: Dry yeast so storage is a snap...simply put in the fridge. It's cheap. Works great for american ales and even stouts. Is surely a workaholic. Has a wide range of temperature that it can handle.

Con: Not any I can think of. I wouldn't 'only' use Notty, (Liquid yeast are essential to brew many brews), but surely a great go to yeast in my book.

thanks, I think I might try it at some low temps (upper fifties) and see how it goes.

i just used some on a stout. went from 1.078 to 1.018 in less than a week.
the reading tasted pretty clean.

i just pitched it right into the fermenter @63*, most of the fermentation was 67-68*.

there was a bit of lag and i was getting worried but by 48 hrs there was huge krausen.
there was about 10" of free space in my pail and the krausen actually crept all the way up to the stem on the airlock...

It's a workhorse. It flocs out well and accentuates hops nicely. However, I dislike the yeast. It dries out my beers too much (85% + attenuation) and doesn't bring enough malt character up front.

I had to put a blow-off hose on the 11th hour after pitching Notty (dry) into some very heavy Russian Imperial Stout. I was impressed -- It got VERY angry from that point on. I'm sipping on that brew right now and it's great.

My answer would be: If you find yourself using Nottingham, you'll be happy. If you use WhiteLabs or something else, you'll be happy either way.

I use Notty alot... I think it's great! Some of my favorite homebrews are made with Notty. I haven't any bad batches of Nottingham.

I got 5 batches with Notty and I love them all. I have used WL on bigger beers and if I plan on harvesting the cake but if I don't Notty's my yeast.

AZ_IPA said:

pros: cheap, don't need a starter, works quick, good attenuation, clean

cons: there was a recall last year over defective product which caused long lag times and off flavors; some people won't use it anymore because of it.

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I'm that guy. I believe it ruined 15 gallons of my beer in Sept./Oct. of 2009. I'll never go back. I'm loving S-04 and S-05 these days. No need to buy WLP001 or Wyeast 1056 when you can get S-05, IMHO.

KayaBrew said:

I'm that guy. I believe it ruined 15 gallons of my beer in Sept./Oct. of 2009. I'll never go back. I'm loving S-04 and S-05 these days. No need to buy WLP001 or Wyeast 1056 when you can get S-05, IMHO.

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Said perfect

kayabrew said:

i'm that guy. I believe it ruined 15 gallons of my beer in sept./oct. Of 2009. I'll never go back. I'm loving s-04 and s-05 these days. No need to buy wlp001 or wyeast 1056 when you can get s-05, imho.

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+1.................

I've used it recently on a sort of cross between an ESB and Old Ale. It produced a great tasting beer. But I think the yeast overall lacks a little character (esters) one would expect in English-style beers. So, for cleaner beers that accentuate hops, it's a great yeast (still... or again, depending on what happened with the whole recall situation). But for beers where one would expect some yeast character, other yeast strains are probably more suitable.

now I wanna use my packet of notty. I'm gonna attempt a pretty big (1.080) wheat for summer, so maybe this'll come in handy. I've been lovin 05 lately but I need to start broadening my horizons a bit

mikeysab said:

now I wanna use my packet of notty. I'm gonna attempt a pretty big (1.080) wheat for summer, so maybe this'll come in handy. I've been lovin 05 lately but I need to start broadening my horizons a bit

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Don't knock 05 with a heavy-- but I'm happy with the Notty-factor LOL

AZ_IPA said:

pros: cheap, don't need a starter, works quick, good attenuation, clean

cons: there was a recall last year over defective product which caused long lag times and off flavors; some people won't use it anymore because of it.

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I think I just pitched one of those. Just did a cascade pale ale on Sunday and pitched a packet of Notty that I've had around for a while. 36 hours later and nothing. I'll probably go to the LHBS over lunch and get some S-05.

Floculates well, attenuates amazingly, can be used to produce clean lager like beers and standard ales, is cheap, starts fast and is reliable. It is great yeast all around. The only bad thing about it is that if you let it ferment to warm it can taste horrible.

If you make sure you are not using a recalled batch, you should be good to go. If you rehydrate the yeast according to the procedure that danstar reccomends you will have very minimal lag times.

I find that if fermented at about 63-67 degrees you will have a very difficult time distinguising US-05 or Pacman from Nottingham. I have heard over and over that nottingham is the the parent of both of them.

Super cheap, plain yeast. Easy as that.

permo said:

I find that if fermented at about 63-67 degrees you will have a very difficult time distinguising US-05 or Pacman from Nottingham. I have heard over and over that nottingham is the the parent of both of them.

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Interesting. I hadn't heard that before... I used it a lot in the past. I picked up a pack to have on hand. might give it a try again in an upcoming pale ale.

Any sources for lot numbers that where recalled?

starrfish said:

Interesting. I hadn't heard that before... I used it a lot in the past. I picked up a pack to have on hand. might give it a try again in an upcoming pale ale.

Any sources for lot numbers that where recalled?

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The way I understand it, as long as the batch/expiration date is printed on and not stamped on, you should be fine. The issue was the stamping was puncturing the package.

starrfish said:

Interesting. I hadn't heard that before... I used it a lot in the past. I picked up a pack to have on hand. might give it a try again in an upcoming pale ale.

Any sources for lot numbers that where recalled?

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That's part of the problem. Danstar didn't recall some batch numbers that brewers were having problems with, They only recalled only one I think. People were experiencing problems from about June of '09 to September '09 with various batch numbers. If it was packaged around that time, I'd avoid it.

I'll have to check when I get home I think it might be a stamped lot number/exp.

I have used those stamped packs, and I was worried about them, but much to my happiness all four batches I have used the Notty on were perfect.
Whew Thank the heavens.

I've used it twice and do not like it. It "works" very well but I really do not like the flavour profile. The first try I fermented it too warm (about 21C) and it gave a really strong almost peppery flavour... its hard to describe... a bit astringent perhaps. The second time I kept it a 18C and while the flavour was much reduced it was still there. It also seems to mute the flavours of everything else (hops, malt, specialty grains), so you want to add extra if you want the flavours to come through.

The only way I'll try this again is to do a faux lager... but even then I'm not sure I'd risk it.

I wonder if the flavour profile would fit citrousy APA's a little better than other styles?

Finnagann,
I'll let you know tomorrow about the citrusy APA issue. I bottled Ed's Haus Pale Ale (fermented with Notty) a couple weeks ago, and popped one in the fridge today. I tasted it on bottling day, and wasn't quite sure I liked the flavor. It almost had a lager-y taste to it that I'm not sure I liked all that much. I'm going to brew it again with some US05 and see if there's any difference.

That being said, I'm certain it'll be quite drinkable. Maybe even my hops-eschewing buddy from Kalamazoo will like it. That'll be the day! (BTW, he loves great beer, just can't handle bitterness.)

HomerJR said:

Finnagann,
I'll let you know tomorrow about the citrusy APA issue. I bottled Ed's Haus Pale Ale (fermented with Notty) a couple weeks ago, and popped one in the fridge today. I tasted it on bottling day, and wasn't quite sure I liked the flavor. It almost had a lager-y taste to it that I'm not sure I liked all that much. I'm going to brew it again with some US05 and see if there's any difference.

That being said, I'm certain it'll be quite drinkable. Maybe even my hops-eschewing buddy from Kalamazoo will like it. That'll be the day! (BTW, he loves great beer, just can't handle bitterness.)

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I'd be curious to hear about your apa. Its not a lagery flavour to me... its more of an unpleasant bite. The 2nd beer I made with it is delicious... but I think it would have suited my tastes a lot more to use something else.

Maybe some like that flavour? Or don't notice it? Idk but I think I'll stay away.

I tasted it last night. Not nearly carbed enough, but then again it's only been 10 days and I used gelatin. It's not as bad as it was on bottling day. I think what I was experiencing was a little more in the way of esters. Not bad, just unexpected. I think once I have a couple of these, it'll be fine. I am going to make the recipe again with US-05, just to see the difference. I suspect I'll prefer the 05. Maybe then I'll make it with 04. Then.....

I just used a packet of Notty on an Oatmeal Stout at 1.052. Pitched saturday at noon, and just checked grav tuesday at 6, and it's done.....well, 1.010. Taste was good, nothing noticeably wrong. I'll give it 3 or 4 weeks and bottle.