So I just brewed last weekend and exhausted my supply of Danstar Nottingham and Fermentis US-05. I normally shop with Northern Brewer so I pull up the dry yeast page, low and behold Nottingham has tripled in price!! US-05 went up a few cents, no big deal. I checked one of my old invoices, sure enough, Nottingham was only $1.39 the last time I bought it. Which was several months ago, mind you. But a 300+% increase, really?
Some of the chatter on homebrewtalk is saying changes in the packaging ( i.e. vacuum sealing ) is increasing the quality of the yeast, therefore increasing the price.
edit: Here’s the link to danstar’s press release: http://www.danstaryeast.com/contact/brand-new-package-same-great-yeast
I’m sure the new packaging and procedures are a response to the quality issue they had a year or so ago (I don’t recall the details).
Reliability improvements come at a price, I suppose.
But they’ve still got a great product that’s relatively cheap.
Their Windsor packs are $4.59 at my LHBS. I was like Holy Cow! They were less than $2 a year ago. The guy working told me he had to get them shipped from Australia. However, I had one of my shortest lag times ever when they got pitched. Less than 8 hours.
Yes after reading the Danstar press release link above, I understand why the price increase. Yes, I have had great results using Nottingham in the last year. I most recently didn’t rehydrate and just sprinkled into the wort, and it took right off! Less than eight hours, it is a great yeast.
Rebel brewer’s prices are $1 cheaper than northernbrewer’s. $3.49 for danstar, $2.95 for s-04 and $1.75 for s-33 and t-58.
Northern brewer’s flat rate shipping means I don’t usually buy from them, since I buy my grain in bulk and rarely place orders large enough for it to be worthwhile.
True Dat! Thanks!