I am using Danstar Nottingham for the first time and so far it is a beast. I have had some active fermentations before (Ringwood) but this stuff took off like a rocket and has not slowed yet. After three days i’m starting to finally see a gap in between bubbles coming out of the airlock.
I think it’s the best stuff going. It’s reliable, ferments clean, and you can do almost any kind of beer with it. It’s cheaper than the liquid yeasts, and you don’t have to do a starter.
ferments clean? did they change it again? Havent used it in a while
I do not believe they have changed it. I suppose clean is a relative term. Compared to US - 05 I’d say it finishes far from clean. I do still use it a lot and have no real issues with it. I actually like it for most British stuff over the 04.
I keep this and US-05 on hand at all times. It’s great in British beers and makes a damn good British IPA. Recently, I did an experiment with it at high temps and it came out really fruity. A buddy of mine doesn’t control temps and got it even fruitier, around 80*F. Besides the phenolic fruitiness, there were no perceivable fusels, even at those high temps.
Whats its ABV tolerance and why do all these beer yeasts never list that very important statistic?
I also find this yeast fairly temperature sensative. And it can also get very estery if overpitched. Too warm and it gets fruity as you mentioned, but it also does not ferment well at lower temperatures either(I’d say 16 C might be the lowest I would go with it).
But as long as you keep it on the lower end of its prefered range, results are usually fairly good.
I’ve never used a dry yeast before, but I’m looking forward to giving this one a try in a couple weeks. Planning an Old Speckled Hen clone at my uncle-in-law’s request.
I would guess around 12% like most ale strains. the tolerance of a yeast is tough to predict. even under perfect conditions, one generation may die out earlier in an alcohol rich environment. for example: There was a TV show about dogfish head - where they had to dump and batch of their 120 minute IPA because the yeast crapped out too early.
how high ABV are you trying to make? in my experience it’s difficult to get a beer in the 12%+ range
In four years of brewing I’ve used this yeast five times. I have never liked the end result 
. Early on I made so many mistakes I figured it was my fault. Three weeks ago I brewed an old speckled hen recipe that called for notty. I rehydrated, aerated with pure O2, and fermented in a temp controlled fridge at 67F ( figured I’d give it one more chance). It was easily the worst beer I’ve made all year. Very tart and fusely, and into the ditch it went. Just made the exact same recipe with wyeast 1318 and it is fantastic ( did everything the same just different yeast). Everyone else seems to have great luck with this yeast, and they love it. I on the other hand will not use it again, because I can’t figure out how to make good beer with it. Sorry I had to vent a little after dumping beer out.
About 15 months ago I brewed a nut brown with Nottingham. About three months ago I had the last bottle and it was awsome. Last week I tapped a mini keg that held the very last of this batch, It was past it’s prime, but still pretty good.
Agreed. I just made a batch of milk stout with Nottingham ale yeast. I came home from work on the second day of fermentation to discover the airlock and carboy stopper blew off the top! I was using a 6.5 gallon carboy for a 5 gallon batch.
To be fair, this could happen with nearly any yeast when you only 1.5 gallons of headspace. Use of a blowoff hose would have brevented the blowout.
how high ABV are you trying to make? in my experience it’s difficult to get a beer in the 12%+ range[/quote]
Not really trying to make a super strong beer, just trying to under stand the beer making process.
Done plenty of meads and the wine yeast list the exact tolerance. Course things can happen to make it stop lower or higher but generally they are very accurate.
That’s pretty warm for Nottingham. Low 60s is better. The manufacturer doesn’t recommend aeration. Not saying that’s why your beer didn’t turn out, but I don’t do more than shake the carboy or bucket and have never noticed Notty producing tart beers.
One of my favorite yeasts. I always ferment in the low 60s. I think you can even go down into the 50s with this one. I fermented a mild with it in the summer and didn’t worry about temps. It got into the upper 70s…changes this yeast (for the worse imo). Highest ABV I’ve done is 10% and it had no problems finishing. Keep it cool.
So it seems like this is a relatively good yeast. But you should be careful about letting temps get too warm.
Just to follow up on a few comments on the upper range, what temp would people say should be the upper temp for this yeast?
Well it appears I am the only one that has a problem. I have read on the Danstar website that aeration is not needed, but have done the same steps with US-05 and made great beer. It has crossed my mind that maybe I’m just treating this yeast too well. If I am ever without options, and must use notty here is what I will do:
Ferment in the low 60’s
Direct pitch without rehydration
No aeration
It’ll probably be the best beer I’ve ever made :lol:
Happy Holidays
