Recent Nottingham Woes

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Have you been having problems with Nottingham?

  • No problems here, it's still a madman

  • I have many problems, but yeast isn't one of them.

  • Me too, I miss the Nottingham that I know and love.

  • I don't use Nottingham

Results are only viewable after voting.
enderwig

enderwig

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I'm starting this thread to see if I am alone with a problem I have been having recently. Ever since the problem last year when danstar had to find a new packaging company for nottingham, I have been having nothing but problems with it.
Some of you know that Nottingham is (was) my go to yeast, it's cheap and it was a madman, but recently, with no change in my process, I have been seeing lag times up to 48 hours, under attenuation ranging from annoying to just plain disconcerting.
I really have tried everything to eliminate the yeast itself as the problem, I have tried new fermenters, adding yeast nutrient, replacing all my tubing, and many other things. I also have had the same predictable results with all my other yeasts in this time period (S-04, US-05, WLP029 and 400).

Chime in on the poll and feel free to toss me some pointers on something I may have missed. I am nearing the point that I want to email the manufacturer, but don't really want to do that if its just me having some strange "house" issue.
 
enderwig said:
I'm starting this thread to see if I am alone with a problem I have been having recently. Ever since the problem last year when danstar had to find a new packaging company for nottingham, I have been having nothing but problems with it.
Some of you know that Nottingham is (was) my go to yeast, it's cheap and it was a madman, but recently, with no change in my process, I have been seeing lag times up to 48 hours, under attenuation ranging from annoying to just plain disconcerting.
I really have tried everything to eliminate the yeast itself as the problem, I have tried new fermenters, adding yeast nutrient, replacing all my tubing, and many other things. I also have had the same predictable results with all my other yeasts in this time period (S-04, US-05, WLP029 and 400).

Chime in on the poll and feel free to toss me some pointers on something I may have missed. I am nearing the point that I want to email the manufacturer, but don't really want to do that if its just me having some strange "house" issue.
Click to expand...

Notty is pretty much all I use.yesterday I pitched at 2pm and saw action by 9pm, that's pretty average from my experince.
 
I have seen some lag time as of late so I know what your talking about, makes me think that I should start making a starter, never had problems in the past. Like you said I used to get action within 6 hours now I'm seeing more like 24 to 48 and I've had some under attenuated beers. Notty is pretty much my house yeast so I know what it should do and it's not performing like it used to.
 
I used Nottingham a few times this winter. I had a longer than average lag time two out of those three times and one beer, a nut brown ale, came out very tart. I thought it was a recipe or fermentation issue but I read a few others on another forum (maybe Northern Brewer?) with a similar problem. I can't complain about the flavor in the other beers though. I got pretty good attenuation two out of the three beers but one only achieved 66%. So basically, my experiences with Nottingham haven't been consistent at all and I've stopped using it for the time being.
 
RCCOLA said:
Are you guys who are having trouble re-hydrating or pitching directly in the wort?
Click to expand...

I always rehydrate. Nottingham is basically my house yeast. I have probably used 50 packets over the last year and half. These problems are recent, within the last few months or so.
 
I've used 2 pks in the last month and both took off well and fermented at 58F.No problems.Maybe a supplier mishandling problem?
 
No issues here. I'm not even rehydrating, just sprinking and getting great results. I've also been pitching in the low 60s and fermenting in the 60 degree range.
 
Just did a 10% IIPA with two packs and re-hydrated for the first time EVER after using notty in 8 batches. It lagged for about 16 hours and then flat out exploded. I ended up with better than expected attenuation. No problems here.
 
I brewed a cream ale with Nottie last week. I rehydrate and aerate.

It was bubbling within an hour. Like an idiot, I put on an airlock instead of a tube. Next morning the lock was full of foam and it was spraying out the little holes like a sprinkler.

When I went to put the blowoff tube on, the pressure shot foam to the CEILING (I am not kidding).

Personally, I think the Nottingham is working just fine.

;)

(US-05 is my go to yeast, but Nottie is a close second)
 
It was bubbling within an hour. Like an idiot, I put on an airlock instead of a tube. Next morning the lock was full of foam and it was spraying out the little holes like a sprinkler.

When I went to put the blowoff tube on, the pressure shot foam to the CEILING (I am not kidding).
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks for the heads up! I'm about to use Nottingham for the first time. I'll opt for the blowoff tube.
 
I'm actually looking at my airlock move up and down as we speak....it's...mesmerizing. :rockin:

Ive only used it twice but both times it went crazy. Started to ferment after 4 or 5 hrs both times.

I re hydrated with a tablespoon of corn sugar.

:mug:

-Nick
 
No problems. It's my Haus Ale yeast and I still have over a dozen packets from prior to Danstar's packaging problems.
 
I used the pack EdWort gave away on his birthday (still not sure why someone would give away Notty on his birthday duing a shortage?!? :mug:) and it worked great
 
I used it for the first time since my very first batch back in December in a Nut Brown. I pitched at 60 and it laged for like a day and a half, then took right off. I don't care about the lag as long as it tastes great, and that beer went on to win me a silver medal at babble.
 
I'll vote in a few days. I've used it previously and always had great ferments and quick take offs.

I pitched a rehydrated packet in an IPA yesterday afternoon, she's taking her sweet time taking off, but a big thing regarding this is probably my temperature I'm fermenting this beer at 57/58F, so I'm suspecting a much slower evolution. (The gravity won't play a role, it's a low end IPA (1.055).) As of this morning, 18 hours after pitching, I'm getting the very beginning tiny specs of yeast on top of the wort. By the time I get home this evening (about 28 hours after pitching) I suspect it will have a nice yeast cover and the activity will be ramping up.

I'll let you know.
 
I just pitched mine last night was bubbling within 5hrs. I am wondering if your specific batch was bad. Given the push to get it back on the market, there might have been some less than "perfect" batches released.

Just a thought.
 
Pitched a pack (not rehydrated) in to 1.05 wort Saturday evening. Still zero signs today. I've used Notty a few times before, and always had activity by the next morning. I think I'll try another pack when I get home this evening.

Can anyone explain in more detail the packaging issues?
 
For those that are having issues, what temp are you pitching at? I've seen most ale yeasts get started quicker if you pitch in the 70s and then cool to your fermentation temp once it gets active. Every time I cool my wort below 70 and then pitch I've had much slower starts.
 
I just had a thought: do they have batch numbers on the packs?

I'll take a look when I get home. It might be certain batches that have issues.
 
I used Nottingham again for the first time since the new packaging last Sunday in a Mild Ale. Notty was always my go to yeast prior to the packaging issues. I used it in pretty much everything unless I needed liquid yeast for a specific flavor profile.

The Nottingham that I used on Sunday was NOT the same as the old Nottingham. I used an 11g packet (not rehydrated - I never rehydrated in the past with Notty either) and had a similar 48 hour lag time. This never happened once with Nottingham prior to when it was unavailable due to the packaging issues.

I thought it was just me. I figured that maybe I just got a bad packet of yeast but apparently others have experienced this too. Since not everyone has experienced this, I'm wondering if there was a bad batch resulting from quality control issues or shipping problems?? Who knows but I've decided to switch to US-05 for the time being...
 
I haven't been brewing all that long, so let me ask a question: is the "old" Notty in the smaller, darker orange package or the larger, lighter tan-orange one?
 
Teacher said:
I haven't been brewing all that long, so let me ask a question: is the "old" Notty in the smaller, darker orange package or the larger, lighter tan-orange one?
Click to expand...

the old is the smaller package, the new one is the taller glossier package.
 
Latest batch took 3 days until I saw airlock bubbles. Two days later it's blowing off like crazy. Heck it's been 3 days already of foam in the blowoff tube. I'm a happy camper.

I would not worry about the lag, but you might want to look at your aeration technique. I recently built the venturi aeration device and I think that really helped my yeast colony explode.
 
I've had no problems whatsoever with fermentation starting off. I usually pitch in the evening, and when I check on it the next morning I've got a nice krausen starting to form. My only gripe is that the new packaging seems to be statically charged or something. The damn yeast sticks to the inside of the bag which is really annoying. It's not a lot of yeast, but I'd say 1/16th of the yeast get's left inside.
 
Is it possible that the problem is not with the yeast but with the powdered nutrient stuff that goes with it? That could explain the new lag times but same fermentation vigor.
 
TwoHeadsBrewing said:
My only gripe is that the new packaging seems to be statically charged or something. The damn yeast sticks to the inside of the bag which is really annoying. It's not a lot of yeast, but I'd say 1/16th of the yeast get's left inside.
Click to expand...

I noticed that. I had to tap the bottom of the pack repeatedly to get all the bits to come out.
 
Notingham is now my favorite yeast for many recipes. I find it amazing how fast it starts (approx. 5 hours) bubbling and how active it becomes. Very thorough.

Since this is a powder yeast and should be properly established before use, could it be "user" error that it is not working properly for some people?
 
Updating my IPA that had a rehydrated pack of nottingham pitched Sunday afternoon. I've always had great success with nottingham (quick and complete ferments), I've fermented it anywhere from the 64F to near 70F. This beer (1.055) I am fermenting this quite cool, 57F, so I expect a much slower evolution.

At 28 hours after pitching there were a lot of dime sized yeast specs atop the yeast and there was light visual fermentation evident by 36 hours. At 42 hours there was a 1/4" krausen with light visual fermentation continuing.

I'll vote when I go to rack this beer to the secondary in about two weeks. But for now I'll say this is definitely slower to take off and get going than previous batches, but this is the only batch I've fermented this cold with nottingham. I can't draw any conclusions on this one data point (as far as 'new' nottingham vs 'old' nottingham).

Anyone else have experience fermenting with nottingham at 57f?
 

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