Expired Notty!

Brewing a 10g batch of pale ale this weekend and want to pitch half with Notty and half with Safale-05. Problem is the Notty expired 3-07. That is working on 2 years. I hear 20% of the yeast dies a year if stored at room temp. I have no idea how it was stored. The local HBS is out of Notty

The question is what would be the disadvantage of just pitching the Notty dry and if I don't get any activity in 12-24 hours just putting some Safale-05 in the bucket? I could just pitch both with 05, but that kinda defeats the purpose of this little experiment. I know they say not to make starters with dry yeast, but could I just to see if I get any activity? Not brewing til Friday morning so I think I could get a decent little starter going? Any suggestions?

Easy enough to make a starter for the Nottingham. If it is not viable you’ll know before pitching. If you don’t determine prior to pitching and the yeast is not viable, there will be no competition for those tasty sugars. Other microorganisms will have free reign for several days. Probably nuttin’ will happen, but …

Another possibility is poor attenuation.

I just reread your post. I see that you are going to pitch both yeasts. Why not wait to try your experiment until you get some fresh Nottingham? As it stands now you’ll need to put an asterisk next to your results, because they may not be typical.

I would plan on hydrating your notty at the beginning of your brew session.

You should see some blooming and pick up a nice bready smell from the mix about an hour into the hydration.

Notty is notoriously adequate for its weight. I usually will pitch just one hydrated packet for a 10 gallon batch and have fermentation inside of 10 hours.

Turns out I called the LHBS and they got a shipment today, including Notty. So problem solved.