Wilko Gervin Ale Yeast = Danstar Nottingham

[snakepie@hotmail.com]

Hi guys. The Wilkos Gervin Ale Yeast is the same as Danstar Nottingham and is just repackaged. No need to pay 3 times the price any more!
Is Danstar Nottingham any good?

See below from confirmation of this from a Wilkinsons buyer:

" soupdragon wrote:Hi Steve

Can you confirm that Wilko Gervin Ale Yeast is still the same yeast as Danstar Nottingham?

Cheers Tom


Hi Tom.... Yes it is the same thing

Cheers
Steve"

[Blackaddler]

Hi guys. The Wilkos Gervin Ale Yeast is the same as Danstar Nottingham and is just repackaged. No need to pay 3 times the price any more!
Is Danstar Nottingham any good?

Many micros use it. The answer is "yes".

[seymour]

The answer is "yes".

+1. It's very good. You can sprinkle it right on top of your wort, it's highly attenuating, highly flocculating, good for cask-conditioning and has a good firm settlement in bottles, so overall, it's extremely handy for homebrewers. The trade-off in my opinion is this: as English ale yeasts go, this one is very neutral, almost like US-05/Chico or a lager yeast. That seems to be what many brewers want, but I still much prefer an old-timey English ale strain which leaves behind a little caramelly, malty sweetness and produces more fruity esters, reminiscent of rising bread dough, etc.

If nothing else, it's definitely worth having several packets in your fridge as a great stand-by.

[Dr. Dextrin]

It also attenuates a lot more than most good ale yeasts. That means less sweetness in the beer, especially if you leave the beer on the yeast for a while as many homebrewers do.

[jonnyt]

Perhaps this would be useful for re-yeasting jobs like Belguims and RIS for bottling?

[seymour]

Perhaps this would be useful for re-yeasting jobs like Belguims and RIS for bottling?

Nottingham is very popular for reseeding bottle-fermented beers.

Although it's relatively alcohol-tolerant, I wouldn't necessarily think it's ideal for really alcoholic Belgians and Imperial Stouts. In those cases, I'd recommend you stick to a fresh reseed of their primary strain, or something with higher alcohol tolerance such as Champagne yeast.

[steward]

Interesting stuff. I've just used Danstar Nottingham for the first time, in a fairly ordinary pale ale OG1047. Pitched with a 3 hour(!) old starter on Saturday 4pm. Was worried that I had a stuck fermentation on Monday evening as the head had almost disappeared, just as I was getting ready to drop it. Was somewhat surprised to see it had reached 1011.

I'm used to taking at least a week to see fermentation get this far. I don't really know whether to leave it 'headless' in a closed fermenter for another few days before casking.

[Belter]

Nottingham has its uses but I'm so fed up with it. It seems every beer these days has Nottingham yeast and they're all beginning to blend into eachother. I understand the principle.... But cost cutting should be last resort on the most important ingredient in beer.

[CJR]

The Summerskills Brewery uses Nottingham I believe. They have a nice few tipples.

[Nashbrew]

Not sure if Wilkos is winding down but they have had no Wilkos Gervin for several months now

[Rookie]

Nottingham works down close to 52f/11.1c and makes a nice "lager".

[Northern Brewer]

Not sure if Wilkos is winding down but they have had no Wilkos Gervin for several months now

Wilko stock control has been a disaster for a year or two - one suspects they have no working capital for inventory - and it's always a bit of a miracle that they survive past each quarter day. I can't imagine it will be too long before they go pop.

[bitter_dave]

Wilko has no doubt been a good entry route into the hobby (as Boots would have been years back). A real shame all round.

[MashBag]

Just for info cross my loof 'midland' yeast is also Nottingham. And indistinguishable from the original imo.

And amazing price too.

https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk/onlin ... p371759031

[Meatymc]

Just for info cross my loof 'midland' yeast is also Nottingham. And indistinguishable from the original imo.

And amazing price too.

https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk/onlin ... p371759031

And a great bunch of guys. Tried quite a few of their yeasts and not been disappointed yet. And don't forget their hops prices are one of the lowest around if not the lowest. Great selection and no postage unless you're in a mega rush