Rossnaree
Well-Known Member
I brewed up my version of an American Ale (sentimentally dubbed "Blackstone Pond American Ale"), my wife and daughter gravitate toward those tastes... Anyways - I used Nottingham yeast that I bought a few months ago and had kept in the fridge until then. I rehydrated exactly according to the package instead of just pitching it into the wort. OG was 1.043, temp at pitching was 83*F.
30 friggin' hours later, nothing. Not just no airlock activity, there was NO activity. Lot No. 1080961099V, Exp. Date 12-2011. I got kind of panicky, looked in the yeast bin in the fridge, the only two beer yeasts I had were another Notty and an old Manchester both of which had been given me by a guy who was quitting brewing (ultimatum from wife). The Notty in the fridge was Lot No. 108036(I think it's a 6, might be an 8, can't make it out even with magnification)0088V, Exp. Date 08-2010. I took half and made a starter with DME and the other half and made a starter with the wort. I also took some of the wort and put it in a glass flask with foam just to see if the first Notty would take off, that way I figured I'd have a good control.
NEXT DAY: Nothing. In any of the starters. Not one stinking blip. Once again, late at night, no way to get new yeast and the wort is getting old and I was concerned about infection. I know that we're supposed to let the yeast do whatever it's supposed to do, we're not in charge the yeast are, etc. etc. yadda yadda yadda ad nauseum... So, in desperation I took out the old package of Danstar Manchester, Lot No. 13504230413211M, Exp. Date 04-2003. Yessireebob, 8 and a half year old package of yeast that I had only kept on hand to use as yeast nutrient in a mead someday after boiling it just as a safeguard in case any yeast or other critters might still be alive. So, I made a starter of that with DME. 4 hours later, it was working like a new package of yeast. I pitched it. Still nothing with the other 3 Notty "starters;" maybe non-starters would be more appropriate.
This morning (I pitched the yeast at about 3AM today), the airlock is gurgling along quite pleasantly. The starters - still nothing. So I pitched them anyways. They smelled fine. Just no activity. I wish I could still get Manchester. Maybe White Labs.... I prefer local purchases though.
I remembered reading about issues with the Nottingham yeast and so I did a search. None of the Lot Nos. matched what I had, and I had one for 2010 and the other for 2011. So, I don't know what the problem is or was, and maybe they're about t take off like a rocket now, who knows. All I know is that while it MAY be the original Notty working in the primary, it sure as heck wasn't doing a thing in the wort starter of it's own nor the wort starter that had both old and new, while the Manchester starter was working well and I have to presume that it's the Manchester working in the primary.
Am I wrong? I'm sure I've missed some sort of detail and maybe someone can point it out, I don't care about looking stupid for this as long as I learn something from it. It's amazing to me that a package that was supposed to have expired more than 8 years ago (definitely packaged long before that) was still viable, unless there were other critters in there that were going to town. BTW, the Notty smelled like normal dry yeast, but the Manchester smelled exactly like a One-A-Day vitamin cracked in half, when I first opened the package but by the time I pitched the starter that smell had disappeared. The airlock smells absolutely fantastic right now (3PM EDT).
Anyways, I just wanted to talk about this. I KNOW from reading all the stuff that was produced by the search, as well as other recipes etc., that zillions of brewers have had ZERO problems with Nottingham and they swear by it. This is NOT a therad about bashing Nottingham and saying it's no good or this or that, just something that happened in MY kitchen, with THIS brew. I thought it was weird enough to share.
- Tim
30 friggin' hours later, nothing. Not just no airlock activity, there was NO activity. Lot No. 1080961099V, Exp. Date 12-2011. I got kind of panicky, looked in the yeast bin in the fridge, the only two beer yeasts I had were another Notty and an old Manchester both of which had been given me by a guy who was quitting brewing (ultimatum from wife). The Notty in the fridge was Lot No. 108036(I think it's a 6, might be an 8, can't make it out even with magnification)0088V, Exp. Date 08-2010. I took half and made a starter with DME and the other half and made a starter with the wort. I also took some of the wort and put it in a glass flask with foam just to see if the first Notty would take off, that way I figured I'd have a good control.
NEXT DAY: Nothing. In any of the starters. Not one stinking blip. Once again, late at night, no way to get new yeast and the wort is getting old and I was concerned about infection. I know that we're supposed to let the yeast do whatever it's supposed to do, we're not in charge the yeast are, etc. etc. yadda yadda yadda ad nauseum... So, in desperation I took out the old package of Danstar Manchester, Lot No. 13504230413211M, Exp. Date 04-2003. Yessireebob, 8 and a half year old package of yeast that I had only kept on hand to use as yeast nutrient in a mead someday after boiling it just as a safeguard in case any yeast or other critters might still be alive. So, I made a starter of that with DME. 4 hours later, it was working like a new package of yeast. I pitched it. Still nothing with the other 3 Notty "starters;" maybe non-starters would be more appropriate.
This morning (I pitched the yeast at about 3AM today), the airlock is gurgling along quite pleasantly. The starters - still nothing. So I pitched them anyways. They smelled fine. Just no activity. I wish I could still get Manchester. Maybe White Labs.... I prefer local purchases though.
I remembered reading about issues with the Nottingham yeast and so I did a search. None of the Lot Nos. matched what I had, and I had one for 2010 and the other for 2011. So, I don't know what the problem is or was, and maybe they're about t take off like a rocket now, who knows. All I know is that while it MAY be the original Notty working in the primary, it sure as heck wasn't doing a thing in the wort starter of it's own nor the wort starter that had both old and new, while the Manchester starter was working well and I have to presume that it's the Manchester working in the primary.
Am I wrong? I'm sure I've missed some sort of detail and maybe someone can point it out, I don't care about looking stupid for this as long as I learn something from it. It's amazing to me that a package that was supposed to have expired more than 8 years ago (definitely packaged long before that) was still viable, unless there were other critters in there that were going to town. BTW, the Notty smelled like normal dry yeast, but the Manchester smelled exactly like a One-A-Day vitamin cracked in half, when I first opened the package but by the time I pitched the starter that smell had disappeared. The airlock smells absolutely fantastic right now (3PM EDT).
Anyways, I just wanted to talk about this. I KNOW from reading all the stuff that was produced by the search, as well as other recipes etc., that zillions of brewers have had ZERO problems with Nottingham and they swear by it. This is NOT a therad about bashing Nottingham and saying it's no good or this or that, just something that happened in MY kitchen, with THIS brew. I thought it was weird enough to share.
- Tim
