Nottingham Yeast

At the risk of contradicting myself, I just completed a batch of Edwort's Pale Ale, using Nottingham which did NOT have the same batch #/ exp date, and it was the only yeast I had..got the ingredients for the beer before I discovered this disturbance in the FORCE..and nearest LHBS is about 90 mins away !

Will def let folks know the outcome...never thought I wld need to "worry" abt yeast ..

The bad batch of Danstar Nottingham bit me as well. 24+ hours and not a bubble. I bought a six pack of a local ESP today and have the yeast from the bottom of these bottles in two nice 1 litre starters right now. The starters are showing signs of life after 4 hours so tomorow I will pitch those dual 1 litre starters to make up for the crappy danstar yeast.

However, I am sending my packet back to quebek or wherver it goes and I hope to get some decent yeast back.

well, i got my new packets of nottingham and one went right into my English IPA yesterday. Pitched at 4 pm, when i checked at 9 am it was going like a champ. We will see how it goes from here, but so far it seems to be acting like the nottingham of old.

My LHBS has us-05 for less than $2, so I stocked up. Just used it in my RIS and it's almost finished after a week, although it took longer than Notty to start. Also used it in an IPA I brewed up today, so we'll see how that's doing in the morning. I still have a few packs of Notty on hand, but after one bad batch and all the bad press, I'm thinking twice about using it. Better to lose 4 packs of Notty than 3 or 4 batches. Too many options to stick with one that might be iffy. Just my two cents.

Pitched today at 11AM @ 68 deg ...nothing yet ...dead !!

Tomorrow will be another chap in the Notty chronicles, but I am tempted to call them if I don't see some action ...

kappclark said:

Pitched today at 11AM @ 68 deg ...nothing yet ...dead !!

Tomorrow will be another chap in the Notty chronicles, but I am tempted to call them if I don't see some action ...

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12 hours? Man, you are a tough customer!

I'm going to try to save my messed up Blond. I refrigerated the keg for 24 hours, opened it up and threw in another packet of Nottingham. It's now sitting at room temperature.

Hopefully, the new yeast can clean up this mess. The beer never cleared and tastes and smells like apfelwein.

Bad Yeast Expiration Date: 8-2010 or 9-2010

I pitched two days ago 1 packet @ 75°F into 5.50 gallons 1.072 wort. The airlock blew out, and today I'm at 1.025.

Mine is bubbling away and has a nice kraussen....rehydrated and pitched at 70 degrees about 6 pm saturday.

It would help if the folks that have success with the Notty give us the batch#, expiry date and country of origin. This way we can see which batches are good and bad.

What is the expiration dates on the new yeast? Also what kind of printing process do they use for the batch number, expiration date, etc...?

I had an incident with this Notty yeast yesterday. I pitched a hydrated packet and realized something smelled funny (afterwards of course!) and then found this thread. Sure enough, the packet had a hole in it.

I borrowed another packet of newer Nottingham from a friend. I hydrated that and pitched it in. Its fermenting today, so I'm hoping the good Nottingham yeast got ahead of the bad.

Does Nottingham yeast always smell (for lack of a better word) strong? The second packet still smelled much different then I was expecting. I'm thinking it was ok, because this packet was holding its pressure and I couldn't find any pin holes.

OK- I was a bad boy today - maybe bec of some latent Type A stuff, I opened the fermenter bucket just enough to see if, in fact, Nottingham was working ... it appears that we have some Kraeusen so something is happening .. ..hopefully what is happening will make good beer, but I wrote Danstar anyway ... I know I sound like this is my first batch of beer ("OH NO! Why isn't the airlock going ??)

I like the carboy - I can see what's happening w/o guessing.

anyway - got a nice note back from Danstar saying a recent run of Nottingham had holes in packets due to printers, allowing air to replace the nitrogen..

He offered to send me a few new packets...of course I accepted.

I confess - it will probably be all good !

I just started a brown porter with the newer Denmark package (the recall sachet had "Austria" instead). It still has the stamp with deep indentations, and some may have punctured the sachet. The hydrated yeast smelled pretty good actually.

I'm getting some unusually big bubbles in the krausen, about 1 inch in diameter. And the krausen is thin, I can see the wort through the big bubbles after a day of fermentation. It's not the big foamy mass that I get with saf 05. It smells fine though. This could be related to the soapy oil slick sheen I saw in the mash tun and kettle (how could that get there?), or the cold snap weather (63f) instead of the yeast.

I'll report back.

Nice S-04 packet pitched into 1.072 OG wort fired off in the overnight hours with a nice fluffy krausen. Remember when Notty used to be able to do that? Checked out my yeast stash and it looks like all the Notty I have has deeply embossed markings on them. Won't be using them.

I have not used Nottingham since my original trouble batches. Still waiting for my sachet exchange to give it another chance.

Every sachet I have used from other batches has worked fine in the past. I only had trouble with Batch #1081140118V exp 1-2011.

For those who are having troubles with other batches you have my sympathy.

I have since been using Safale in a lot of my brews and I am greatly pleased with S-04 and US-05. So far I think my preference is S-04 but I can only encourage the "been a die hard Notty fan till this..." people to try a few other types of yeast in those recipes. Likely you will be able to notice the subtle differences even in the "clean" yeasts to get different taste preferences. If nothing else it can confirm you like Nottingham and prove to yourself why. I have a few recipes that I used to only do with notty that I think will now be done with S-04.

Hopefully Danstar reestablishes this yeasts reputation. It deserved the one it had, but the plus side of this is that it is getting a lot of homebrewers to branch out into new yeasts. Sometimes we think why fix whats broken? So we continued to use Nottingham because it did work so well.

The Edwort Pale Ale is now bubbling away (took 3 days ?) ..it normally takes 24 hours..2 things - I started at abt 68 deg, and I lifted the lid after 36 hours to see if any activity...

OK - I know ... RDWHAHB ..the yeast are communicating (or maybe a raging infection !)

kappclark said:

The Edwort Pale Ale is now bubbling away (took 3 days ?) ..it normally takes 24 hours..2 things - I started at abt 68 deg, and I lifted the lid after 36 hours to see if any activity...

OK - I know ... RDWHAHB ..the yeast are communicating (or maybe a raging infection !)

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What's the batch number?
How's the escaping gas smell? Good or bad?

Memorex88 said:

What's the batch number?
How's the escaping gas smell? Good or bad?

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i posted a few days ago about pitching a new packet and having it start right away. It's still going several days later, but i did stop and smell the escaping gas today it seemed a bit off. I honestly don't remember what it used to smell like with the other notty's i've pitched, but today it smelled a bit more like a belgian. I've worked hard at keeping the yeast below 68°, which is what i was told to ferment at, so i don't think it should be producing too many esters, but it sure smelled like it was putting out a lot.

Don't know if it's my imagination, the yeast or the recipe, but it didn't seem to smell like what i'd expect.

Well, I sent my packets back about a month ago now (Sent them 3). Still haven't received replacements though. Have you guys been getting yours? Relatively quickly? I guess I'm moving over to S-05 now too.

i got mine back last week, but that was because i sent mine back to ED at brewmasters warehouse. I don't know if he replaced mine with his stock or if he is starting to get them in, but he included them in my last order.

Well, I sent my packets back about a month ago now (Sent them 3). Still haven't received replacements though. Have you guys been getting yours? Relatively quickly? I guess I'm moving over to S-05 now too.

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I sent mine on 9/3 and I haven't gotten replacement and I have emailed twice and gotten no response.

I don't think there is anybody back there.

I sent mine back on Sept. 3rd. This whole process reminds me of my youth and sending breakfast cereal-box clippings in the mail to get a prize. I didn't like waiting the 6 to 8 weeks then either.

They should just strap some yeast packets to all those Canadian geese they got up there that like to 'winter' in my neighborhood.

Tasted the bottled Blond last night, which I made on 9/6/2009 with the bad yeast. The aroma, taste, and appearance were identical to a terrible Hefeweizen I had once.

Maybe the kegged version will be different. I threw in a new pack of yeast to see if I clean up some that stuff. I'm willing to bet that it will clear, but it most likely it will still taste like crap.

You must remember that they are french, and the french don't do anything in a hurry.

PS feel free to keep the geese and their monster craps

For those looking for new batches that are working.

I pitched a package yesterday and in less than 12 hours I had activity. The Lot # is 1037117102 with an exp date of 06-2011, produced in Denmark.

Cheers

I had issues with Nottingham so I just switched to using Safale US-04 and US-05. Never had any issue with either of these.

I can tell you guys that they will come in. I sent everything I had the day after the recall, and just received mine replacements back in.

Ed

Bottled up my Haus Pale Ale from Brewmaster's warehouse. This was fermented with the 1080360088V 08-2010 Notty that Danstar does not have in their recall. Wrong I say. This packet has been clearly punctured by their stamping machine. They also claim there is no worry, just a slow take off. Wrong again I say. Took in the 60 hours to take off. Stunk up the basment. And now after 5 weeks, this is the cloudiest I have ever seen a pale ale. Being the trooper, I bottled it up anyways. I could have thrown some gelatin in there or played with cold crashing, but I didn't think it will be worth the effort. I have low expectations for this one. I've made the same recipe before and I loved it. I'll give it 3 weeks to bottle condition before I pass final judgment, but it doesn't look good so far.

OG 1.057
FG 1.020 (yes, it finished fermenting)

Daddymem said:

Bottled up my Haus Pale Ale from Brewmaster's warehouse. This was fermented with the 1080360088V 08-2010 Notty that Danstar does not have in their recall. Wrong I say. This packet has been clearly punctured by their stamping machine. They also claim there is no worry, just a slow take off. Wrong again I say. Took in the 60 hours to take off. Stunk up the basment. And now after 5 weeks, this is the cloudiest I have ever seen a pale ale. Being the trooper, I bottled it up anyways. I could have thrown some gelatin in there or played with cold crashing, but I didn't think it will be worth the effort. I have low expectations for this one. I've made the same recipe before and I loved it. I'll give it 3 weeks to bottle condition before I pass final judgment, but it doesn't look good so far.

OG 1.057
FG 1.020 (yes, it finished fermenting)

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Your tears made it really wet outside.

Geez, it looks like orange juice.

I've suspected that there were issues with other lots. I thought back on the whole sequence of events with Nottingham, and I realized that it was about a year ago that I first started hearing of issues. It was unavailable from my regular LHBS, this right on the heels of the hops shortage. I work in the city, so I went to the guy at 22nd and Sansom looking for it there. He steered me away from it, saying that there were reports of production problems and saying that there were rumors that all Nottingham on the market at that time was from previous production batches. This was last fall - October or November.

Any time I've used it since then, it has not lived up to expectations.

I expect it will be OK to use again in the future, but I am skeptical that we have gotten the whole story.

I got the same thing with my non-recall sachet in a Brown Porter. I don't remember the number, but it was stamped "Denmark," and it's from after the recall batch.

OG was .052, and FG was .020--probably from bad yeast health, because I kept everything else absolutely perfect. If fermentation picks up again in the bottles, I'll have to dump the batch

I'll go with the WLP London Ale next time for a brown porter.

hmm... odd. I had my english IPA go from 1.063 to 1.013 in 10 days without much trouble with a new packet of notty.

Well, this explains my English Mild Brown that didn't take off after 48 hours. I bought a new Notty, pitched it, and it took off in less than 12.

I'll send my old Notty back. I have another pack and could always use more.

Daddymem said:

Bottled up my Haus Pale Ale from Brewmaster's warehouse. This was fermented with the 1080360088V 08-2010 Notty that Danstar does not have in their recall. Wrong I say. This packet has been clearly punctured by their stamping machine. They also claim there is no worry, just a slow take off. Wrong again I say. Took in the 60 hours to take off. Stunk up the basment. And now after 5 weeks, this is the cloudiest I have ever seen a pale ale. Being the trooper, I bottled it up anyways. I could have thrown some gelatin in there or played with cold crashing, but I didn't think it will be worth the effort. I have low expectations for this one. I've made the same recipe before and I loved it. I'll give it 3 weeks to bottle condition before I pass final judgment, but it doesn't look good so far.

OG 1.057
FG 1.020 (yes, it finished fermenting)

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My messed up batch was also edwort's haus pale ale. Our resulting beers could be twins. Exact same color and clarity. I hate to tell you but a few weeks in the bottle didn't do much to improve mine.

Zaxenexaz said:

My messed up batch was also edwort's haus pale ale. Our resulting beers could be twins. Exact same color and clarity. I hate to tell you but a few weeks in the bottle didn't do much to improve mine.

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My Blond Ale looks the same and uses the same 8-2010 batch. It did clear a little bit 3-4 weeks at room temperature.The bottled version tastes like crap. The kegged version tastes a little bit better although I threw in a new packet of Nottingham.

How does your pale taste?

I notice that Keith Lemke has not posted any response lately. Hmmmmmmm.

I am holding two unused Notty packets from lot 1080360088V (exp 8-2010). There is considerable 'indentation' around the batch specific information. What really makes me nervous is that I can't 'feel' that air isn't gettting in and out of the pack. Some packs feel like they are inflated and you can tell that they hold pressure. These don't feel that way.

I won't be using them because, as someone pointed out earlier, it is madness to ruin 4 hours of enjoyable work and 40 bucks of malts and sugars over a questionable $2 satchet.

I think I'll opt for the 2 bucks to send them back where they belong, regardless of whether Lallemand will honor a request for a replacement of Windsor!

nutty_gnome said:

I am holding two unused Notty packets from lot 1080360088V (exp 8-2010). There is considerable 'indentation' around the batch specific information. What really makes me nervous is that I can't 'feel' that air isn't gettting in and out of the pack. Some packs feel like they are inflated and you can tell that they hold pressure. These don't feel that way.

I won't be using them because, as someone pointed out earlier, it is madness to ruin 4 hours of enjoyable work and 40 bucks of malts and sugars over a questionable $2 satchet.

I think I'll opt for the 2 bucks to send them back where they belong, regardless of whether Lallemand will honor a request for a replacement of Windsor!

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Amen, I think I've gone through at least three bad packets of notty. Two were from the batch that was recalled, but I just brewed 10 g of a dale's pale ale clone this weekend, pitched US-05 into one brew bucket sat night (it's chugging along really good), but the bucket that i pitched the notty into is doing jack schmidt, and this was the 8-2010 batch from denmark (don't have the package any more). No more notty for me. Going to repitch with US-05 tomorrow night if there's still no activity.

njnear76 said:

My Blond Ale looks the same and uses the same 8-2010 batch. It did clear a little bit 3-4 weeks at room temperature.The bottled version tastes like crap. The kegged version tastes a little bit better although I threw in a new packet of Nottingham.

How does your pale taste?

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Terrible. I can drink about a half of one if I've had 3 or 4 very hoppy beers beforehand and kinda kill my taste. I think I'm going to keep them around and open one up every time I consider buying Nottingham yeast.