Nottingham vs Safale US-05

A quick search turned up a number of posts on the topic, but I thought I'd share my experience instead of reviving an old thread.

I recently split a batch in two and fermented half with Notty and half with US-05. The OG was 1.050. Both fermented fairly vigorously for a relatively low-gravity beer (judged solely on frequency of airlock bubbles), however the Notty bubbled nearly twice as frequently. Ambient temp was ~65 degrees and both fermentations were at 70 degrees while they were active to my naked eye. The Notty stopped bubbling after 3 days and the 05 went about 24 hours longer.

Final gravities were 1.008 for the Notty and 1.012 for the US-05. Both tasted fairly similar, however the Notty was noticeably drier (and the 05 sweeter).

I just thought this was all interesting and wanted to share.

Thanks. Nice compare.

Thank you for sharing! I have been curious about these two yeasts. I normally use 05, but I am planning on making Bier Muncher's Centennial Blonde and the recipe calls for Notty. I like how clean 05 is with no esters, is the Notty as clean?

OClairBrew said:

Thank you for sharing! I have been curious about these two yeasts. I normally use 05, but I am planning on making Bier Muncher's Centennial Blonde and the recipe calls for Notty. I like how clean 05 is with no esters, is the Notty as clean?

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I've made BM's Centennial with Notty and with 05, stick with the Notty but keep the temp down in the low 60's. One batch got away from me and while the beer tasted OK, it left me with a pounding headache after just 1 because of the fusels.

Thank you J! I will definitely do that and always keep my ales in the low 60s for initial fermentation and ramp up around 70 at the end.

From what I have read 05 is a cleaner variant of notty. From experience it does ferment cleaner than notty however you can easily exchange one for the other in a pinch and be pleased with the outcome. I like to use notty in browns and stouts as it gives an ever so light bready taste.

I actually just did this exact thing with a cream of 3 crops recipe. I used this recipe because it is so neutral. There had been a flavour showing up in my beer and it tasted yeast related (which lead to this experiment).

In my case, the notty only went .002 dryer than the US-05. The notty fermented out about 3 days quicker than the US-05.

I hadn't used notty in a while (since that packaging change after the few bad lots that they had). I had forgotten about how tightly that yeast cake packs in the carboy .

I way preferred the Notty beer to the S-05. It seems like the hops might have come through a little better in the S-05, but I dislike that flavour in the background. I am no expert, so I have some trouble describing it, but to me it is reminicent of drinking a hoegaarden but not quite.

For a while i kind of thought I might have an minor infection or process problem, but I'm pretty sure this is it.

Please note I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with the US-05, there just seems to be a flavour there that I'm not loving. Perhaps I've just been using it so much lately that it's given me a little palate fatigue.

Might be time to change it up for a little while. Or maybe it's time to see how canada post treats liquid yeast

OClairBrew said:

Thank you for sharing! I have been curious about these two yeasts. I normally use 05, but I am planning on making Bier Muncher's Centennial Blonde and the recipe calls for Notty. I like how clean 05 is with no esters, is the Notty as clean?

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I couldn't appreciate any estery flavors in the sample I tasted, despite the fact that it fermented at 70 degrees like I described. Take that for what it's worth, though, since it was only a sip of warm, uncarbonated, 10 day old beer. The notty did, however, proclearer much clearer (in appearance) beer (and again, that's only after 10 days).

In my experience I think you can switch them with each other and get a good result. I tend to think you need to let beer brewed with notty age a little longer. That might just be me though.