Empire Ale Yeast

[Tony Dyer]

Does anyone else use Mangrove Jack's M15 Empire Ale Yeast? I've just done 2 brews in a row using it (a stout and a dark bitter, neither with specially high OG - about 1045). Each are in 500ml swing top bottles with priming sugar (40g/litre for the stout and 20g/litre for the bitter). To pour a bottle of either you need a bucket to catch the foam! Or at least a large jug. Now I know it's always nice to have large jugs to hand but I'd like to be able to pour a pint without risking decorating the kitchen.

On both occasions (and in a previous brew with M15) the attentuation (?) was low - only taking the SG down to 1015 (and initially only to 1020 fro the bitter). Should I be fermenting it for longer before bottling? I tried reducing the priming sugar for the bitter but that doesn't seem to have worked.

Both brews taste fine.

Any ideas?

 

[Sandimas]

How long did you ferment for? And how long have they been bottled?

Thread on it here I started late last year
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/m15-empire-ale-yeast.91629/
It's quite a low attenuating yeast as you can see, I had to bottle at FG 1025 which scared the hell out of me, but it was winter so cold in the garage storage. But the bottles were starting to foam at the end and I drank the batch quickly. There's a theory that some of the MJ yeasts have a very long ferment tail-off, I've had ones in the past that have gone beyond 3 weeks and one batch I bottled on day28, and some people have had them re-start after bottling.

The fact you have excess CO2 suggests it's still going in those bottles. Be very careful, store them somewhere cool to reduce the chance of more fermentation and exploding bottles.

 

[Tony Dyer]

Thanks Darrell, that's interestng. I ferment for 2 weeks or a little longer, in a jar with an airlock. In both cases the fermentation started strongly and was apparently over (in terms of bubbling airlock) after 3 days. I store the bottled brew in an unheated room - at about 10 - 15C.

I'm torn between avoiding M15 altogether or (as you suggest) giving it a bit more time in the FV.

 

[chthon]

I had the same problemen in the past, I indeed decided not to use it anymore. Same symptoms, despite low priming sugar, long term getting gushers. That was three years ago.

 

[Oneflewover]

Did I read right; 20g and 40g of priming sugar per LITRE!!!!! How many volumes of CO2 were you aiming for?

 

[phillc]

Maybe a slightly fascetious response, but put it in a keg, with a spunding valve and bleed off excess CO2 as required.

If you don't want to pour from the keg, transfer to bottles later with a counter pressure filler.

Probably an unsatisfactory response I know, but I've been habitually transferring to kegs recently on about day 4 or 5 of fermentation and allowing it to finish in the keg (kegs kept at approximately same temperature as FV for a few weeks).

 

[Didge]

I tried M15 for 2 brews and was dissapointed with the overly sweet outcome due to its low attenuation.

Even more annoying is the way the sediment rises when the bottle is opened. I use 1 litre bottles and can only get 1 glass out of each bottle, unless I put it in the fridge for 5 days to settle again.
I have recently tried Mj66 Hophead yeast, and had exactly the same problems, although it did enhance the flavours as claimed.

MJ44 is my yeast of choice.

 

[MickDundee]

Did I read right; 20g and 40g of priming sugar per LITRE!!!!! How many volumes of CO2 were you aiming for?

 

[StoutWolf]

Interesting thread. In the oatmeal stout that I brewed last sunday, I used rehydrated MJ 15 at ~3.5g as a substitute for a liquid yeast in an 8l batch. Fermentation stared quickly but there's been minimal airlock activity for a couple of days and nothing in quarter hour this morning. I'm satisfied the FV has a good seal.
So, having read this thread and the thread linked by @darrellm above, I decided to take a reading and it's currently sat at 1020. Consequently, I've increased the water bath to 23c and theres some activity in the airlock again.
I was thinking of using it in a Scottish 80 shilling tomorrow as well... not sure what to do now, would pitching 2:1 with a Nottingham be an option to keep some of the MJ15 flavours but reduce the chance of potential bottle bombs and increase flocculation?
Since most of each mini batch goes in a 5l keg, maybe I'll just drink the bottles quickly!

 

[Sandimas]

I don't think I'll be buying M15 again, it's too hit-and-miss. Looking at my records I've used it 5 times and got 80, 72, 69, 67 and 51% attenuation: admittedly some of the variation could be due to other factors, but all the other yeasts I use are generally within a few % of each other across multiple brews.

I love the other MJ yeasts especially M36 Liberty Bell.

 

[StoutWolf]

M36 is what I'd used in my 3 previous brews and a replacement packet has just arrived in my brew to bottle delivery.
I guess I'll just persevere with the M36 for tomorrow and see how things go. Don't think I'll be in a rush to reorder it though based on what I've read about it today.