Nottingham Discontinued? - Nope - All is good!

Just got off the phone with William's Brewing... I placed an order this week which included Danstar Nottingham dry yeast... A wonderful customer service rep called me because the Nottingham was backordered, but they expect it next week. No problem, wasn't going to brew for a few weeks.

She just called again with the message that Danstar told them that it wasn't being produced "at this time" and "might be indefinitely discontinued"...

Anyone else hear about this? Pretty popular yeast around here.

wtf? how in the hell could they discontinue nottingham??? that would be absolutely retarded.

SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

Guess I'll be buying the Brew Hut out of Notty....

Anyone going to be culturing it...and selling it Black Market?

i don't believe it. they were misinformed.

I put it in this order because my LHBS has been out for over a month. Plenty of Windsor and Munich, but no Notty.

Danstar's website doesn't say anything about notty being discontinued.

I can see it now, you're walking past your local brewpub and in the alley is this sketchy looking guy with a trench and dark sunglasses. "psst, hey buddy, need some notty?" *opens trenchcoat to reveal slants of yeast covering the inside* "and I got pac-man too, pure as you can get it man"

DubbelDach said:

I put it in this order because my LHBS has been out for over a month. Plenty of Windsor and Munich, but no Notty.

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Heck my LHBS has notty but hasn't even been able to get Munich yet from any of the three wholesalers they buy from. The store might have to try getting it straight from Danstar.

No way!

Not Notty


HOMEBREW Digest #3471 Mon 06 November 2000

Lallemand Danstar London.....
Yes, it is true, London by Danstar is being discontinued. I waited to
post this response, as I needed more info from higher up the Lallemand
'food-chain.'
London is one more of the many yeasts dropped from the production line
in reaction to sales figures pointing to the need to maximize output of the
most popular products. In fact each year, up to ten of the wine yeasts are
dropped ...as their numbers are studied, and plans for each new year's
production runs are planned.
I am told that Production had been requesting the drop of London for 2
years now...yet my boss tried to stave this off. Unfortunately, this year,
the news is bad for London, outsold by it's brethren Nottingham, Windsor,
and Manchester, by a factor of 20 to 1.
But the good news is obviously, if one of the beer yeasts is being
retired...perhaps some new strains might pop into the line-up? Like the long
over-due dry strains advanced to Jethro some 2 years ago...like a
Weihenstephan lager? Lord knows, Jethro is still waiting....
Well, time will tell on this score...but some new things ARE coming to
shake up the beer world....like.....

Wow, i guess it is true. I wonder if Forrest can help us out. Someone needs to culture some of that. I used to brew all my early batches with that stuff! I'm gonna hoist one for old Notty.

Well so they are 8 years late on discontinuing it . I'd venture a guess that they have had record sales of Notty to homebrewers.

The yeast they are getting rid of in the article is Danstar London, not Nottingham.

McKBrew said:

The yeast they are getting rid of in the article is Danstar London, not Nottingham.

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Ahh yeah, I am lazy reading today

None at my local either.

McKBrew said:

The yeast they are getting rid of in the article is Danstar London, not Nottingham.

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Yeah I just wasnt sure if I was reading it correctly.......thanks orfy I was just about out the door to go get some.

I just sent an email to Keith and Danstar, asking to either confirm or deny this....I'll let you know if I get a response.

Revvy said:

I just sent an email to Keith and Danstar, asking to either confirm or deny this....I'll let you know if I get a response.

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He's pretty good at responding, at least that's been my experience. I'd imagine he'll reply.

Wow, I can't believe they may discontinue Notty. I'll have to switch to Safale-05 for the Ol' Haus Ale once my stash of Nottingham runs out.

I may even have to pull a BierMuncher and start using yeast cakes as a form of rationing.

Oh the infamy!

I wrote that I could not find it and wanted to save my last yeast cake, and everyone said I was crazy for saving a 2buck yeast. Not so crazy now.

The last I heard was that they were moving the production facility, and an infection occurred, and so they were going through their stores to find a healthy specimen to build the stock back up from. As to the TRUTH of that rumor, I do not know. Only the reply from Danstar will clear it up.

@camiller, I think Kirk's Brew has both the Munich and the Windsor in stock. I will check next time I'm there. You say Cornhusker has it? I've been thinking of stopping by there anyways. Hmmm. *evil grin*

I've got 4 jars in the fridge, I guess its' time to see how many batches I can get out of it!

It's still in stock at the LHBS last time I checked.

I have a few packets; guess I'll grab a few more just in case.

I have doubts, though, that it's really being discontinued.

Chriso said:

The last I heard was that they were moving the production facility, and an infection occurred, and so they were going through their stores to find a healthy specimen to build the stock back up from. As to the TRUTH of that rumor, I do not know. Only the reply from Danstar will clear it up.

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This seems legit on the surface, but it also stinks of being a fish story.

Even if you have a massive infection in your yeast culture, it's possible to recultivate from one single yeast cell. Pasteur figured out the process in the 1860's. It seems unreasonable that 150 years later we can't isolate a single cell and re-culture it, and would have to go through their stores for a "healthy specimen" (which implies that it's difficult to find healthy notty yeast, which further means we're being sold crap.)

well, my notty sure hasn't been crap. there's plenty at the LHBS too. i call BS.

Went to my LHBS today and saw about 10 packs. Not as many as some of the other yeasts, but also not sold out like some of them.

I started wondering about this after AHS had none my last 3 trips there. So after using my last packet I washed it. Everyone was giving me crap for doing that, but now I have some I can use a few more times while everyone freaks out.

My LHBS was also out of Notty the last time I went there.

screw those people for giving you guys crap about washing nottingham. with ONE packet you can wash enough yeast to save you hundreds of dollars.

I emailed Keith at Danstar and told him of the rumor started by they guy at Williams Brewing. Here is his response.

He is incorrect!

​

The company that packaged the yeast for us closed without notice several months ago without packaging all the yeast , so we had to find a new packager (highly specialized) and get all the packages redesigned & reprinted which takes months. We should be back on the market with fresh sachets in the coming weeks so watch your local retailers for Nottingham soon!!!

​

Please send this information out far & wide....we are working our hardest to get Nottingham back on the market.​

Thanks very much.

​

Keith Lemcke ​

Sales & Marketing Danstar & Lalvin Dry Yeast
Guaranteed Performance.

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Excellent news. Thanks.

sweet. i needz mah notty.

Phew...I can sleep now

Thanks for getting to the bottom of things, Ed.

I was really bummed I couldn't get any Notty for my Xmas beer. I'll be pitching two packets of US-05 instead.

Here's the email I got from Keith, though evidently someone got the same info as well...

Looks like Ed beat me to it...(damn hour commute)

The company that packaged the yeast for us closed without notice several months ago without packaging all the yeast , so we had to find a new packager (highly specialized) and get all the packages redesigned & reprinted which takes months. We should be back on the market with fresh sachets in the coming weeks so watch your local retailers for Nottingham soon!!!

Please send this information out far & wide....we are working our hardest to get Nottingham back on the market.

Thanks very much.


Keith Lemcke



Sales & Marketing

Danstar & Lalvin Dry Yeast

Guaranteed Performance.

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lol, that would really suck if he typed that all out every time someone asked about notty.

I've never used a dry yeast. I have one packet of Nottingham in my fridge with an expiration date of next month. Also two packs of Safale-04, two Safale-56, and two Safale-05 (same as 56). I just keep dry yeast around for an emergency, but maybe I should give them a try.

billtzk said:

I've never used a dry yeast. I have one packet of Nottingham in my fridge with an expiration date of next month. Also two packs of Safale-04, two Safale-56, and two Safale-05 (same as 56). I just keep dry yeast around for an emergency, but maybe I should give them a try.

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I wish liquid yeast was as readily available up here.

Unfortunately the Brew-On-Premises places have put most of the Home Brew stores out of business in Canada. There is one place nearby that does 15 gallon batches of almost any style (including moderate gravity!) for $84 including bottling. All you have to do is show up to pitch the yeast, cap the last bottle and pay. It is cold filtered and carbonated before bottling. (It is actually a micro brewery that that supplements its volume by selling a couple of brands and doing the Brew-On-Prem). In a city full of University students, where most decent beer is $40 a 24 (pronouced "two four"), the opportunity to get 6 24's for $14 each with virtually 0 effort is very attractive.

I was all set to make some Hob Goblin but can't get my hands on any Nottingham. All I've got is Windsor, Coopers, Montrachet (a boat load) and a starter recovered from a bottle of Aventinus. What am I to do?

P

Chriso said:

@camiller, I think Kirk's Brew has both the Munich and the Windsor in stock. I will check next time I'm there. You say Cornhusker has it? I've been thinking of stopping by there anyways. Hmmm. *evil grin*

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When I was in there last Saturday they (we) had it. I can let you know for sure tomorrow. In the interest of full disclosure I work there part time. In fact I order ALL of the homebrew stuff, so we always have what I need.

still gonna hoist one for old Notty!

Ed thank you. (I think I love you)

I keep a culture of all the yeast I buy... well not for this reason... more because I'm cheap, but hey if they ever discontinued something... I could black market it.