[thepalmhq]

I was extremely put-off to find that two of my go-to dry yeasts, Danstar Nottingham and Munich Wheat, have more than doubled in price (the Nottingham tripled) in the past few months! A call to Northern Brewer gleaned the info that Danstar has "changed their packaging" to try and get a better shelf-life. Well I had no problem with shelf-life before and these are wildly over-priced now, IMO.

Three months ago I bought Nottingham for $1.40 and it's $4.50 now. I bought the Munich Wheat for $2.35 and it's $5.25 now. The Munich is a real loss--I just tried it in a honey wheat and loved it. It was the only decent dry wheat yeast.... Do these guys really think their "better package" is going to sell more dry yeast, when liquid is just $1.00 more? This is lunacy. I really hope they their customers send them a clear message and they return to their original package and price point. I'll be willing to go back if they do, but for now I'm done with Danstar.

If you agree, maybe you can do as I did and drop a line to the Danstar people suggesting that they need to return to their originally well-priced products. I told them I won't be buying any more, unfortunately, until they do.

homebrewing@lallemand.com

[denny]

So if you don't buy those, what will you use instead?

[Joe Sr.]

For less than $2 per package these yeast have been great insurance to keep around.  I've usually got a small stack in the fridge even though I don't do much spur of the moment brewing anymore.

At prices comparable to Wyeast, one of the main incentives for me to buy them is gone.

However, I think they certainly had room to bump up their price and still be a deal.

[hamiltont]

I found the best way to deal with it (justifying the cost in my own mind) is by planning consecutive brews using the same yeast and pitching a thick slurry from a prior batch. It's good for 3-4 batches easy. How many is debatable. Most I believe stop at 5 but I've never gone that far. Cheers!!!

[hamiltont]

Doesn't look like everyone has jumped on the new price bandwagon... http://www.williamsbrewing.com/NOTTINGHAM-ALE-DRY-YEAST-P558.aspx

[thepalmhq]

So if you don't buy those, what will you use instead?

S04 for English ales.  It's still reasonably priced.

There is no substitute for the Danstar Munich.  I have not brewed many wheat beers, but I liked the outcome from that yeast so much that I was going to start.  I had already noted what another poster above did, that Williams Brewing still has the Danstar yeast at the pre-gouging prices, so I just ordered 6 packets of the Munich.  That'll last me a while and, after that, well I guess I'll just brew other styles or go with liquid yeast for wheat beers.

[dhacker]

Doesn't look like everyone has jumped on the new price bandwagon... http://www.williamsbrewing.com/NOTTINGHAM-ALE-DRY-YEAST-P558.aspx

Yep . . . I say shop around.
http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shoppingcart/products/Munich-%252d-Dry-Yeast-%2811-gram%29.html

[thepalmhq]

Doesn't look like everyone has jumped on the new price bandwagon... http://www.williamsbrewing.com/NOTTINGHAM-ALE-DRY-YEAST-P558.aspx

Yep . . . I say shop around.
http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shoppingcart/products/Munich-%252d-Dry-Yeast-%2811-gram%29.html

Williams still has it at a reasonable price (they've already shipped 6 packets to me), but Rebel Brewer is out of stock.  It's only a matter of time.......

[a10t2]

Supply and demand. I don't know why it took them so long after Fermentis raised prices, but they're back in line with their competitors now.

Regarding liquid vs. dry, the dry packets (when properly rehydrated) still have twice as many cells as the liquid products.

[gimmeales]

My two nearest LHBS's have kept Danstar prices pretty competitive (~$2 per 11g sachet), even in the new packaging.  They are still 40% less than the Fermentis Yeasts here.  Prices online are all over the board, so I don't know what to think of what's 'fair'.   There's certainly some latitude for the retailers.

At the end of the day, they're low-hassle, high performance yeasts, that are still well below liquid culture prices, so still represent a good value for many styles of beer

[thcipriani]

Either way, if their new packaging helps prevent fiascos like the one from a few years back from happening I say the new price is well worth it.