Nottingham dry yeast

[eastbaybrewer]

I doing a pale ale and local homebrew store guy talked me into trying it. Any thoughts or reviews?

 

[brewkinger]

Not enough good things to say about that yeast. It is an absolute beast when it comes to sugar eatin'

Keep the temp of fermentation down in the low 60's and it has a very neutral profile.

Get yourself a blow off setup if you do not already have one, this stuff will test an airlock.

 

[BigJack]

I use Notty in 90% of my brews. It is my house yeast. It works great for all American ales.

It also plays nicely with others. I like pitching Notty and either Windsor or US-04 together for my English-style ales.

 

[evanmars]

+1 for the Notty

 

[catdaddy66]

Love it! Has never failed to work better than expected whether pitched dry or from a starter. My brother's Scottish ale dropped to 1.004 (estimated 1.014) and gave 7.5% abv! Woop woop!!! Lol

 

[Psylocide]

Yeah... it's pretty awesome, ferments out super quick (starts a little slow), floccs great, great attenuation.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Another +1 for Notty.

I use it WAY more often than anything else and even get several uses out of a packet.

 

[ArrogantDusty]

+1 Every time I help someone get started homebrewing, I give them a few packs of Notty along with a few other things. It's hard to mess up when you are pitching this yeast.

I use it for a lot of experimental stuff and keep it around just in case something ever needs a jump start.

 

[ThreeSheetz]

+1 for Notty. There's a lot to like about Nottingham. It's exceptionally clean when fermenting at low temperatures ((56 - 60) but you must control fermentation temps) and I make a great tasting "counterfeit lager" with it since I'm not set up to make actual lagers. BigFloyd really helped me fine tune my lager's evil twin with the following advice:

"I'll slowly ramp up a Notty batch to mid-60's after the first 4-5 days in the 55-57*F range. Step-up fermentation encourages yeast to clean up any normal byproducts of fermentation."

If you properly rehydrate Notty, pitch it close to fermentation temps and closely control the fermentation temperature, it'll make a knock out lager type ale.

On the other end of the spectrum, I'm currently making BeerMunchers Centennial Blonde which ferments Notty at 68* F. This adds an excellent profile to the beer without making it ester centric.

Nottingham is truely one of my favorites!

 

[sablesurfer]

I have a Belgian Strong'ish going right now with Nottie at 73F. Tasted it this weekend going to secondary, it has that finish (already) that makes you go...Oh, MMMmmmm. The whole thing is so full and round without being cloying. Bottling that next weekend.

 

[phyllobeddo]

+1. I use it for most of my brews. I got three packs in the mail yesterday. I like to keep it in the low to mid 60s.

 

[dkevinb]

Great stuff, but don't fail to have a blow-off ready. It can be explosive.

Kevin B.

 

[Conehead]

I stopped using it when my local malting company raised their Notty brick price from $58 to $180.00 when Danstar had quality problems.

 

[solbes]

I've made 5 batches with Notty. The two malt forward beers, I liked it. Too neutral for me in the 3 APA's/IPA's I used it in. I like my hoppy beers with some light/moderate esters and I get none of that with Notty. Even tried raising the temp in my 2Hearted IPA into 65 - 68F range about halfway through. Still neutral.

So I am going back to Bells yeast for my hoppy brews (ramp to 68 or so). I use that for most other ales also because you can get it fairly neutral fermenting at 64-65 when desired.

 

[eastbaybrewer]

Wow sounds like a great yeast. Looking forward to trying it now. Thanks

 

[BeerCityBrew]

+1 again here. I have my first all-grain batch fermenting right now. After a long and worrisome day trying to ensure that I was following all the new steps correctly, I got into the fermentor at about 2 AM only to find out my smack pack of whitbread yeast appeared to be dead. At that point I was out of options so I pitched and waited 72 hours. After no signs and unchanged gravity, I got a pack of Nottingham and pitched that. I fell asleep to the glorious sounds of a very rigorous bubble coming out of my blowoff. I am due to bottle next week and fully expect to see glorious results.

 

[brewkinger]

I've made 5 batches with Notty. The two malt forward beers, I liked it. Too neutral for me in the 3 APA's/IPA's I used it in. I like my hoppy beers with some light/moderate esters and I get none of that with Notty. Even tried raising the temp in my 2Hearted IPA into 65 - 68F range about halfway through. Still neutral.

I had noticed the same thing with Notty and my IPA's.
I always tended to stay at the lower end of temps with Notty and never above 67 degrees.

So as an experiment, I split a 5 gal batch of APA and fermented one at 67 and the other at 73.

I am currently enjoying a bottle of each every couple days to compare them but I can tell you that the estery profile that I got from the higher temps is perceptible and it blends well with the grain and hop profile for that beer.

It is possible to get esters with notty, but you have to force the yeast to struggle a little.
Still say it's one of the most versatile yeasts out there.
I can ferment lager - like at one end of the temps and off neutral ales at the other end.
There is always a packet of this (and 2 other goto dry yeasts) in my fridge.

 

[chickypad]

I have a Belgian Strong'ish going right now with Nottie at 73F. Tasted it this weekend going to secondary, it has that finish (already) that makes you go...Oh, MMMmmmm. The whole thing is so full and round without being cloying. Bottling that next weekend.

You're making a "Belgian" with Notty?

OP I don't think you'll be disappointed with if you're looking for a strong fermenter and a fairly neutral profile - I've used it in pales, browns/milds, stouts, porters and I love it. As mentioned, if you're looking for something with a lot of yeast character you may want to choose another yeast. Or tinker with the temps as others have noted, though I've heard so many reports of off flavors too high that I don't ever let it get above 65.

 

[jdanderson1449]

My Strong Scottish ale got nottied. I'm gonna give it another brew with a tiny bit more hops and send it to competition so there...

 

[Brewtah]

I have used Notty a lot. It has to be fermented under 65f in my opinion. The esters over 65f are undesirable in my opinion. My only bad experience with this yeast has been fermentations in the high 60's. I just pitched S-33 with Notty in an Imperial IPA. I am bored with the profile, I may have to quit being so lazy and make starters from liquid yeast.

 

[fastengine]

It is great at cool fermenting temps. Tastes horrible at warmer temps, tons of clove flavor warm. Lager like at cool temps. It is the only yeast I need a blowoff hose for. Ferment is like a volcano if you aren't carefull.

 

[masaba]

Just a warning that if you dig through threads about fermenting with Notty, several folks have reported hot alcohol/fusel flavors if you ferment above 65. I personally haven't used it over 65 so I can only report that it makes a nice clean profile around 60. My first beer fermented too warm with a different yeast and ended up with the fusel off flavor. It is definitely not something I want in another beer.

 

[joshesmusica]

wow i had no clue this yeast was so versatile. i would've been using it a long time ago. i just got it for a black ipa. it's not been bottled yet. i tried it before i dry hopped it (at about two weeks in the fermenter). at first i thought i could smell the fusels, but upon tasting it (i always refrigerate before i taste), it was a great flavor. i was fermenting in the mid- to upper-60s, and i think this beer is going to be great. gonna definitely be harvesting this one!

 

[JohnSand]

I like it. I've used it 5 times. Compared to US05 it it slightly less hoppy (I split a batch between the two yeasts) and slightly more malty. It flocculates well. I have had poor results with it twice, both times it fermented about 73. Those beers improved over time, but it took 6 months.

 

[sablesurfer]

Just a warning that if you dig through threads about fermenting with Notty, several folks have reported hot alcohol/fusel flavors if you ferment above 65. I personally haven't used it over 65 so I can only report that it makes a nice clean profile around 60. My first beer fermented too warm with a different yeast and ended up with the fusel off flavor. It is definitely not something I want in another beer.

Interesting, will I guess I will see in a week, but on it's way to secondary, already past it's estimated FG it tasted great overall. Not hot at all, which is actually a bit surprising for a young 8.5%.

 

[Oceantendency]

Makes a great Old Ale

 

[Howiedw]

I have used it for both beer and cider. It will finish all available sugars and still carbonate in bottles. I recently made my wife a batch of Drunken Emu cider that finished at 12.7% abv. Might have been pushing the limits of the yeast, but it still carbonated after bottling. A champ yeast!

 

[Psylocide]

Just a warning that if you dig through threads about fermenting with Notty, several folks have reported hot alcohol/fusel flavors if you ferment above 65. I personally haven't used it over 65 so I can only report that it makes a nice clean profile around 60. My first beer fermented too warm with a different yeast and ended up with the fusel off flavor. It is definitely not something I want in another beer.

The Centennial Blonde I brewed peaked at 69° on Notty, no off flavors what-so-ever. It would be very noticeable in this brew if there were.

It was only at 69° for a couple of hours during initial fermentation, until I knocked it down to 63°... so, maybe if it was high for the duration, it may have thrown off some fusel alcohol flavors, but that wasn't my experience.

 

[Chadwick]

If you want to see the monster in Notty, brew it in the mid 70's. I've done this and I can assure you that nobody should ever allow Notty to ferment in the mid 70's.

But yeah, everything everyone is saying about Nottingham is true. It is clean and plays nice if you keep the temperature down where it needs to be. If, for any reason, you think you might not be able to keep the temperatures down; well, you've been warned.

 

[masaba]

Interesting, will I guess I will see in a week, but on it's way to secondary, already past it's estimated FG it tasted great overall. Not hot at all, which is actually a bit surprising for a young 8.5%.

Well, that's good to hear. The data sheet does say that it can be fermented up to 70. I brewed a robust porter with Notty and kept it at 60 due to the fact that others had reported fusels if you go much higher. The porter turned out awesome, but maybe I will try 68 or so next time to do a comparison.