Nottingham, what use by dates are the bad batches?

[brewit2it]

I'm making a Kolsch right now and wanted to use Notty. I had some trouble with it in my last batch of Pale Ale, it went really SLOW, still flocing at 3 weeks and when I bottle it and sampled the hydro specimen it was mildly carbonated.

Anyway my Notty is sitting in water right now that was 90 degrees when I added it and more than half sank to the bottom? Does that mean the amount that sank is dead? WTF, I'm getting tired of this and I bought it all from the same place (Morebeer) and bought it a couple months apart and they still gave me the same batch/use by date. It is use by July 2012.

Any help appreciated. I'm going to pitch it and see what happens but I'm not overly impressed with this yeast so far

 

[Bubba]

I rehydrated a pack of notty today exp date 10/2012 and at least half of it dropped to the bottom and it took off very nicely I wouldn't have any issues with that at all.

 

[brewit2it]

I rehydrated a pack of notty today exp date 10/2012 and at least half of it dropped to the bottom and it took off very nicely I wouldn't have any issues with that at all.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully everything will go fine. I was a little surprised to see so much of it sink straight to the bottom though. I should have a good idea how things are going in the AM.

 

[sweet_corn]

Just dump it into your beer, no need to rehydrate. I use notty for almost everything, and quit hydrating. Still works great!

 

[JustLooking]

Just dump it ...

No need to wipe. Works great for me.

 

[brewit2it]

Actually all looks good this AM. Fermometer at 64 degrees, nice krausen, bubbling at a fast clip. I actually had better luck with this batch by hydrating. I think I will stick with that from now on.

 

[flabyboy]

isn't dry yeast supposed to sink as it is rehydrating? the wine yeasts I have used over the last 10 yrs all do it

 

[brewit2it]

isn't dry yeast supposed to sink as it is rehydrating? the wine yeasts I have used over the last 10 yrs all do it

I don't know for sure but I have read on here that if ale yeast sinks it means it's dead. Could be wrong though. All looks good with the batch so far