it fits the criteria of the next beer i want to make really well. low esters, dry but not chico.
but i had a bad experience with it early on in my brewing history. tell me im wrong? some people said there were bad batches a long time ago even (mid 2000s), i figured thats what i had gotten.
it comes in a new stylish package even now.
I’m the self appointed pope of Nottingham… yeast. I’ve done at least 60, maybe 80 batches with Notty and love it. Your description is accurate. In many sensory experiences it is judged cleaner than Chico. FWIW I love it’s versatility and fermentation properties.
When underpitched, especially in dry form not a slurry, and fermented at the high end of its range it throws some nice apple pear esters. If you want clean 64F is nice but don’t be afraid to ferment at 60-61. Do that plus a good pitch rate and it’s very neutral.
I’m drinking a batch of bitter brewed with Nottingham that fermented in the mid-upper 50s. Yummy.
A number of years ago there was a problem with Nottingham. It was found to be a packaging problem that was fixed with a new process. It’s been a great produce ever since. Had I not discovered Mangrove Jack’s Liberty Bell, Notty would be my house strain.
think im convinced now, especially the last post.
good, its a dollar cheaper than other yeasts and im hoping to use two sachets on a higher OG wort
Hi used mangrove Jack liberty bell and loved the first pitch. But on the next generation it was an awful eatery mess. I really liked the first pitch but repitching is important to me. What’s been your experience with repitching mangrove jack products?
I had similar experiences with their other yeast strains. They actually say their yeast is not intended for repitching. Conversely I’ve repitched Notty for 7 generations.
I don’t hate it but I prefer other English strains to it. It’s a convenient dry option but with how expensive dry yeast seems to be these days and how inexpensive wyeast remains I’d rather spend another $2-3 for a yeast I would want to repitch several times over saving $2-3 and not reusing the yeast.
I think Nottingham might be my favorite from Lallemand. It’s also probably the most versatile too. Over the years I have used it in many beers and have come to my realizations with it, especially recently. I like it best in hoppy styles, to me it seems it can strip some hop character by being SO flocculant, besides being so neutral it’s also so attenuative that it can make a beer too clean and crisp at times for what I may be shooting for.
I love that it gets in, gets to work and cleans up and clears so well, it makes for a great house yeast because of this and it’s versatility. For some, they say there is a tart character and for a while I didn’t understand that until recently. I have read that Nottingham is similar to S-04 in that it is an acid producer which can lead to that tartness in the finished product. For me it’s more of the attenuation properties, but I just have to remember to be heavier handed on the unfermentables and a higher mash temp if I am looking for that in the finished beer. I typically keep it at the lower-mid 60’s, reports indicate it can go much lower with higher pitch rates. I want to try it at Lager temps, with a larger pitch rate or a re-pitch, maybe not for true Lager styles but maybe Cream Ale, Pre-Prohibition style Lagers and Ales, Cali Common, Kentucky Common…you know those hybrid Lager/Ale styles, I bet it would be right at home there.
That wouldn’t be because they want to sell more of their product would it? There’s no reason you couldn’t repitch any yeast.
I love the mangrove jack yeast but you’re right repitching is really a problem, the most extrem case of they yeast is the empire ale, I made a bitter with this yeast and it is incredible but for what I saw and read this is 2 yeast strain, one quicker with low attenuation and another with slow start but get the remain sugars, the package say low attenuation but my was never low than 78%, and one day I did a summer ale with this yeast and try to do a dry hop, when I open the fermenter was weird smell, not really good but nothing spoil or contaminated, so I let the beer sit and wait to see if was contaminated, but the other day I try to check, it was like 9 days after the pitch, so I can dump it, the beer or the hops, but for my surprise it was forming a second krausen, I didn’t know what it mean so I keep the beer, bottled and drinked and again awesome beer, not a off flavor of contamination, stable fg to check I send to a friend of my that have a lot of exprience and he said the beer was really good. After that I try to use the slurry to check if you can repitch, and complete different yeast profile, not was good. The one I had sucess with repitching was the california lager and bohemian lager, I try the bavarian wheat, no sucess, and the empire ale, gonna try some others to check if you can repitching with sucess
I’d be interested in feedback from anyone who has attempted fermenting Nottingham in the 52 to 54 degree F. range in the fermentation of Lagers. Particularly German Pils and/or Bohemian/Czech Pilsner Lagers.
i would search for nottingham pseudo-lager posts, i know people do it. but if you have those temps, why not just try a dry lager yeast? im a fan of them.
I’m late to the party, but…
I just declared Notty as my favorite yeast for APA. And pretty darn good for just about any ale, for that matter.
So I obviously support anybody who wants to try to use it.
Yes I know they suffered quality control problems for a year or two, this was like 10 or 15 years ago. But that was temporary. It’s been a really solid performer other than that. Very consistent attenuation of 77-78%, every single time, regardless of grist or mash parameters or anything else. Just very consistent, and clean mild esters. A hint of peach if fermented in the 50s F. US-05 seems to do that too.
Now that we are becoming made aware that (for example) WLP-800 is genetically an ale yeast, many formerly true Lagers by this standard must apparently now be reclassified as pseudo. I’d rather offer an alternative and reclassify whereby to eliminated the yeast ‘family’ from the equation and simply use cold or warm fermentation whereby to delineate between a ‘Lager’ and an ‘Ale’. But then where one draws the temperature line of demarcation between them may be debatable and open up another can of worms… But many ales have been lagered at least to some degree (or time duration) for various reasons (with one being to drop out undesired chill haze precursors), so even the term Lager itself seems to have been abused and somehow misassociated with yeast strains as opposed to cold storage.
Would Nottingham fermented at around 60 degrees F. be a decent dry yeast to attempt for the Scotch Ale (“Wee Heavy”) style (as a sub for WY1728)?
im planning on using 2 or 3 packets of nottingham in a high OG brew.
Notty will be good in a Scotch ale. However I would ferment warmer, at least 63 F, to avoid a peach ester which would be weird in a Scotch ale.
Notty will quit fermenting at about 9% ABV in my experience.
Hate it. It strips all the nuanced malt character from the beer. Also has a tart quality that’s not enjoyable except in a Cider. You can Google this experience with other brewers. I have used it in about a half dozen brews and gave up. One batch had 72 hour lag time. I have been brewing for 9 years total.
good to note. thanks. i think im aiming at just under that.