Nottingham Yeast recall

[Gremlyn]

I wonder what about the yeast caused this, would be interesting to know for someone like me who intends on yeast farming and has cultured a lot over the years.

 

[Edcculus]

I wonder what about the yeast caused this, would be interesting to know for someone like me who intends on yeast farming and has cultured a lot over the years.

I think it had to do more with the package than the yeast itself. They switched suppliers. If you remember a little while ago, there was a semi shortage of Notty. They stopped producing it because they were having quality control issues with the pouches. They switched suppliers, and apparently they are still having issues.

 

[Gremlyn]

Ah gotcha, I do remember hearing about a shortage, didn't know that was the reason.

 

[DD2000GT]

Crap - I just got two in last week from AHS - both are in this recall.

 

[bob1852]

guys - it still works fine - there's just a longer lag time than normal

(but I sent my two packs back )

 

[MBasile]

Hmm, I almost went with Nottigham because my LHBS was out of US-05. I'm glad I went with White Labs instead since I pitched a few hours before reading this

 

[david_42]

My favorite yeast and not a single package from that batch!

 

[Homercidal]

So THAT'S why my Blonde ale isn't clearing! I KNEW it wasn't from my process!

 

[wildwest450]

woah. I was about to pitch Notty with this batch# today. Thank you!
Safale-05 not a close substitute, but that's what I got...

I didn't find a recall release on their web. This applies to the US as well?

Safale 05 is a fine substitute for Notty.

 

[Munsoned]

I know it is way too early for this, but I think we should update this thread if/when the company actually sends us back the replacement(s)...

 

[nyer]

I brewed 10 gals. of pale ale last Friday and I split the batch into two carboys. 3 days later I had to re-pitch a second pack of yeast into one carboy and a few hours later it was bubbling away. The other batch started fermenting the first day. I had no idea about this recall until I found this thread, I will have to dig in the trash and see if one of them has the right number.

 

[Phunhog]

I was a little nervous using my Notty yeast yesterday. I pitched the packet I had, which of course was the recall batch. I am happy to report though that fermentation began within 24 hours. So as long as it doesnt poop out or something, all is well.

 

[bendavanza]

I had a pack from AHS that never started

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Ya know what I think is kinda sad...there is nothing about the recall on their site. I went into my LHBS today looking to get some stuff and swung through the dry yeast. There is a bin full of the recalled yeast.

 

[Evan]

interesting, i had some slow to start batches with notty. but my last beer did finally start and seems to be doing well, i haven't checked the gravity though, i'll have to do that tomorrow or sometime soon.

 

[dontman]

I picked up a notty just to keep it around last week and wouldn't you know it is one of the bad batch.

At least I found out before I pitched it.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

MOD EDIT: Threads merged.

 

[portlandbeergeek]

Pitched a packet from this batch a few days ago and fermentation took off fairly quickly. But, still have the other three packets i got at my LHBS from the same lot and will be returning those and alerting the shop about their recalled yeast.

Kudos to Danstar for letting this be known!

 

[yeoldebrewer]

Thanks for the heads-up. I found one bad packet in my small stock.

Notty's reputation as a great dry yeast is obviously well earned. Here's hoping the problem is resolved. The more options, the better.

 

[skeeordye11]

I brewed yesterday and when I went to pitch the yeast, I had 3 satches purchased at 3 different times. All from the recall lot. Still nothing today. I'm going to the LHBS tuesday on my lunch break so I'll just grab something else when I'm there and ship my other 2 back. I could probably find the one I pitched yesterday in the trash and send that one too.

 

[KayaBrew]

Too late for me...

Back in late July I brewed 15 gallons with this lot of Notty...

A Nut Brown never really finished-FG was .021 should have been .012

An American Amber-again finished at .016 should have been .011-.012

A Maris Otter Irish Red. Never started....051 OG, .051 after 76 hours. Finished at .016. I even mashed this one low at 151F to get it to dry out more.

None of these really "took off" like any other Notty brew. I'm going to switch over to S-04 and S-05 for a while.

 

[njnear76]

I've been having problems too for months. The beer seems to finish off well, but the lag has been unusually long.

I brewed my last beer on a Sunday and it was not until that Wednesday when it started to take off.

 

[dcs]

guys - it still works fine - there's just a longer lag time than normal

(but I sent my two packs back )

I've been waiting a few weeks to see if I can confirm the sentiment above.

I disagree.

My 5-gal porter is ruined. It has an overriding flavor that is hard to describe: something akin to old bananas with aromas of trash-can.

I've been brewing for 4 years. I'm careful and meticulous, and this is my first bad batch of anything.

Synopsis:
***
In August, I pitched a hydrated Notties onto a porter wort. At 48 hours, nothing was happening. So I hydrated another pack of Notties with precise temperature management and pitched that.

At 84 hours, nothing was happening, so I racked to a clean carboy (to leave the sediment behind) and pitched a hydrated packet of Coopers. Bang - it took off in 6 hours.

The beer spent 10 days total in primary, a week in the secondary, and a week in bottles.

It's not toxic or poisonous. It doesn't smell bad. It smells like beer. But it tastes really bad.
***

I googled "slow start with Nottinghams", and discovered the recall.

Both packets that I pitched were from the bad lot. I also had one more unopened packet from that lot.

According to what you read on this and other brew forums, some of that lot of Notties works fine, and some doesn't.

That seems curious to me. It's possible that some of the lot was killed somehow during transit, but honestly, dried yeast is pretty hard to kill. Another possibility is that Danstar's recent packaging change has been accompanied by some QC problems: perhaps more than one lot of yeast actually made it into the "bad lot", or the packaging job went bad, etc.

Lot's of folks are saying that this yeast "is okay, it just starts slow".

That's a nice spin, but probably untrue.

If a yeast takes 4 days to start, that's 4 days during which undesirable bugs have an opportunity to gain a foothold in the absence of competition. Not good. We rely on our yeast to launch quickly. A quick launch means billions of "good" organisms that interfere with the development of significant populations of undesirable organisms. That's a primary goal of yeast fermentation.

If a yeast takes 4 days to start, it's not brewers yeast. It's more likely a pack of dead brewer's yeast that also contains a tiny percentage of some other strain of yeast that is still viable. It starts really slow because it is few in number, and it makes rotten beer because it's not actually "Nottingham's yeast", rather, it's the ugly cousin "Rottingham's" that unavoidably accompanies Nottingham's as a tiny percentage of total volume. And it makes bad beer.

Anyway...

A week ago, I mailed my two empty packets and one full packet from the recalled batch to the Lallemand address in Canada. Mail from USA to Canada is SLOWWW.

Today, I emailed Keith Lemcke at Lallemand to tell him my porter is ruined and ask how his company might make it up to me for my lost time, effort, and ingredients.

I'm interested to see whom else here has had a beer ruined by this bad lot of yeast, and also how they've been treated by Lallemand-Danstar after the fact.

Lot's of folks are giving kudos to Lallemand for "standing behind their product." Maybe it's a bit soon for that just yet...

Let's see how they handle folks with ruined beers.

DCS

 

[bob1852]

The beer spent 10 days total in primary, a week in the secondary, and a week in bottles.

It's not toxic or poisonous. It doesn't smell bad. It smells like beer. But it tastes really bad.

No offense, but judging a porter that's been in the bottle for only 1 week may be pre-judging.

What happened with me was the fermentation happened in the normal time - I just didn't notice as much airlock activity as normal, but the hyrdometer didn't lie.

Sorry about your beer if it is indeed ruined...

 

[dcs]

No offense, but judging a porter that's been in the bottle for only 1 week may be pre-judging....

None taken.

I usually go 2 weeks in secondary and 2 weeks in bottle, but I've "hurried" this beer a few times in the past with no ill effect.

A young porter drinks fine, it just tastes immature. It makes you want to stop drinking it for a while to allow it to reach its prime. Whether or not you actually do that depends on what else is in the fridge.

This particular Notties-porter is not immature, it's plain bad.

I should add that I'm pretty new to dry yeast. I started experimenting with it a few months ago. I've made the same porter with Coppers and Safale, and they have been just fine.

I should also add: I've never taste-tested from the bottling bucket in the past, but I definitely will in the future.

Bummer.

 

[The Pol]

Anyone gotten thier replacement packets yet? I sent mine out a few couple weeks back, just curious.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Nothing here yet, but that doesn't surprise me. It takes forever to send mail to Canada. Customs is probably still trying to figure out why there are a bunch of envelopes full of yeast packets coming through.

 

[DKershner]

Just as a note, I just used packet of Notty that I had bought earlier this week. It started fermenting in 4 hours and was so vigorous that it blew the top off of my fermenter. This is with a blow-off tube in place. Just thought I would add this to add some balance to the conversation.

Didn't catch the batch #, but I will check my LHBS tomorrow, should all be the same. Didn't read it until today or else I would've checked...

 

[wildwest450]

Anyone gotten thier replacement packets yet? I sent mine out a few couple weeks back, just curious.

How much was postage. Can you just chuck 2 packs in an envelope and slap on a forever stamp?

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

I believe regular postage to Canadia is more than the current $.44 rate anyway, so I say no. Don't recall what postage actually was though.