Nottingham Yeast

[SteveM]

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.

 

[Prionburger]

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.

 

[Donner]

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.

 

[Mattbastard]

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.

 

[Zaxenexaz]

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)

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.

 

[njnear76]

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.

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?

 

[KopyKat]

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

 

[nutty_gnome]

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!

 

[shek]

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!

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.

 

[Zaxenexaz]

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?

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.

 

[njnear76]

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.

Hahaha. Yeah. I've been drinking that rancid OJ like stuff from the keg the last couple of days.

It's awful. I'll never serve it to anyone else, but I'm too much of a cheap bastard to throw it away.

To add insult to injury, I saw the keg lid was leaking CO2 yesterday morning. Hopefully I did not lose too much gas.

Truly this beer deserves it's new name: "Disaster Blond."

 

[Daddymem]

I kept a sample in a glass in the fridge to taste cold. Blech. This sucks. This batch got all the harvested hops off my first year rhizomes too. It was supposed to be special....

 

[Daddymem]

Phenols in my braggot. This really sucks, this wasn't a cheap brew to do and it was my first braggot. Thanks Danstar. I won't be using Notty for a very long time.

 

[daveotero]

I'm planning on using Notty for the first time for a Raspberry Chocolate Stout based on the BYO Fuller Double Chocolate Stout clone. I'm using 3# of homegrown berries and plan and giving these as gifts so I really don't wanna screw it up.

My packet doesn't match the recall but I just took some closeup pictures and it looks like it might be punctured.

What do you guys think? Should I just pitch with US-05 or pick up a packet of US-04?

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz332/daveotero/IMG_3029.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz332/daveotero/IMG_3032.jpg

Update:

I sent a email to Rob at Danstar with the pictures and asked his opinion on weather or not the yeast was still good. He advised against using the yeast
and send me a package with 5 EACH of Notty, Windsor, and Munich! Also included was a postage paid return envelope to send the suspect package back to him.

That is pretty awesome customer service!

 

[Daddymem]

Wish I could back the customer service up. The rep I dealt with was adamant that there was nothing wrong with any of the packets from that 08-2010 batch. Over $50 of ingredients and 16+ hours of my time wasted...a few $3 packets is not going to cut it.

 

[SteveM]

Wish I could back the customer service up. The rep I dealt with was adamant that there was nothing wrong with any of the packets from that 08-2010 batch. Over $50 of ingredients and 16+ hours of my time wasted...a few $3 packets is not going to cut it.

I am convinced that their problem went well beyond just one specific batch.

 

[agroff383]

I sent 4 packets of the recall batch back last week, did anyone recieve free yeast other than the poster above who got the windsor, notty, etc for free? Just wondering what they will do to make up for it, I have been using a yeast cake for the last 3 brews that was originally nottingham but i didnt want to risk ruining a batch...

 

[nutty_gnome]

You got some satisfaction, thats great. I would be happy to have heard anything from Danstar by now. Sent my packs in Sept. 3 and haven't heard anything yet. I am beginning to wonder if I ever will.

Frankly, this whole experience means that I have to open each Brewer's Best kit I buy from the local shop in front of the owner to check the yeast and ask for a replacement. A hobby shouldn't be such a hassle.

 

[The Pol]

ANYONE recieved thier replacement packs? None here, doubt I will. Though I doubt I will use Notty again either as there are other varieties in this niche that work plenty fine.

FWIW I sent mine out three days after they posted the address here.

 

[jspence1]

I'm in canada shipping should be three days max and I still have yet to see anything from them either. I'm starting to get a little annoyed about this, the reality is that is would only take a few minutes a day to do get replacement yeast out. I can count 20 packages and print a label in less than five minutes. Just get it done and try and repair your name. I was at the LHBS and I passed on the notty they had because I was afraid of using a questionable yeast on 5 hours of my work. Unfortunately I'm very limited on what yeasts I can get around here.

 

[daveotero]

Wow, seams like my experience was different than most so far. I hadn't even used my yeast yet and I actually have never used Notty before. I'm fairly new to homebrewing and have only used US-05 and 04 for dry yeast. I'll copy my original email below along with the address I sent to. Maybe it will help you guys out.

to [email protected]
date Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 11:15 PM
subject Notty Recall
mailed-by gmail.com

Rob, I'm sure you're getting loads of emails like this everyday. I'm sorry to burden you with one more.

I am planning to use Notty for the first time in an upcoming brew. These are being brewed for gifts and will contain 3 pounds of my own homegrown raspberries so I want to make sure it turns out right.

After seeing the information about the recalls on homebrewtalk.com I inspected my packet. Although the batch number does not match it looks as if it might suffer from the same defect. Could you please take a look at this linked pictures and advise me on whether to use the yeast or not.

Thanks for you time and expertise.

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz332/daveotero/IMG_3029.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz332/daveotero/IMG_3032.jpg

I got the email address for Ron Moline from the Danstar contact page and he responded quickly and professionally every time. I hope the rest of you get taken care of as well.

 

[phatuna]

ANYONE recieved thier replacement packs? None here, doubt I will. Though I doubt I will use Notty again either as there are other varieties in this niche that work plenty fine.

FWIW I sent mine out three days after they posted the address here.

Pol or anyone else out there, is Safale 05 a recommended replacement for Notty? I am brewing Ed's Bee Cave Porter today which calls for Notty. I have a few packs of 05 in the fridge which I will pitch if it is a good replacement.

Thanks!

 

[jbambuti]

I've been subsituting us-05 for Notty with good results. Depending on what you're brewing s-04 could also be a substitute.

 

[wildwest450]

Pol or anyone else out there, is Safale 05 a recommended replacement for Notty? I am brewing Ed's Bee Cave Porter today which calls for Notty. I have a few packs of 05 in the fridge which I will pitch if it is a good replacement.

Thanks!

If it calls for Notty, 05 is a fine sub.

 

[phatuna]

teriffic, thanks!

 

[jspence1]

Well on Wednesday I broke down and bought some Nottingham from the LHBS, This was from a 500g package with an exp of 08 2011. I'm at at 48 hours with no signs of fermentation. This is really starting to bother me, I'm quickly getting to the point of no return with them. This will be the first time I haven't had another yeast to pitch so we'll se how this plays out. If they don't get the replacement yeast to me in the next week I'm going to have to switch to liquid yeasts. Unless I can get some positive reviews of coopers yeast.

 

[Daddymem]

Safale 05 will do you just fine, and in some cases the 04. IF you choose to purchase Nottingham, look at the package for the batch stamping, if it looks deep, do not buy it! Beware of stickers placed over the stamp and new date stamping on it, I found a package like that and when I removed the sticker, the stamp was deep.

 

[jspence1]

If I had someone local who has S05 I would be buying it, I have two local choices notty and coopers, it sucks but what can I do. I would have expected my replacement yeast to have gotten here long ago. If I had known it was going to be this long I would have ordered some.

 

[Memorex88]

If I had someone local who has S05 I would be buying it, I have two local choices notty and coopers, it sucks but what can I do. I would have expected my replacement yeast to have gotten here long ago. If I had known it was going to be this long I would have ordered some.

I would DEMAND US-05 or warn them of on-line shopping.

 

[nutty_gnome]

Today is Nov. 3. Two months and counting since I sent my tainted yeast back. Nothing new to report. - N_G