Mangrove Jack's M44 yeast

[peebee]

I decided to give this yeast a try for some of my more "contemporary" recipes 'cos I was disillusioned by the cloudy US-05 stuff.

After 24 hours passes since pitching there is not much sign of activity (I don't remember last time I had a beer not start fermenting in six hours). So I plug "m44 slow" into Google … ah. Seems M44 and "slow" are inextricably linked and I should have looked this up before. But at 36 hours things have started going and I've got off lightly compared to some.

Here's what I'm usually used to, the first block of blue represents two days (and this was described as "leisurely" in the log):

And here's the M44 (notice I started panicking and bumped the temperature up a degree - the blue line, the red line is the SG readings):

 

[chrisbjones202]

I’ve used it twice, first time panicked after 2 days and threw in a CML as it was my wet hop brew. Turned out a bit unimpressive but don’t know if that’s the 2nd yeast or hops.

2nd was an APA I kegged in the week. Had everything crossed and was almost 3 days before developed any visible signs. Tastes ok when kegging (carbonation check required later me thinks ).

 

[MickDundee]

It’s my go-to APA/IPA yeast. It flocculates better than US-05 but doesn’t start as quick. I usually have it going in 24 hours or so since I started rehydrating.

 

[chthon]

I brewed in the beginning of the year a Duvel clone with it. Yeah, weird choice isn't it? But I got two sachets of it because of a supplier error. I think I also did a three step decoction mash, and I got an attenuation of 90%. And as a Duvel clone, it was a fair success. I used the same yeast also in a Belgian witbier, where I got an attenuation of 86%. But as a witbier, I found it also successful.

A very versatile yeast in my opinion.

 

[jceg316]

I've used it a few times before but I didn't notice it being particularly better than US05. I don't remember the lag as it was a while ago since I used it.

One stand out beer I made with it was the Geterbrewed Sir Simcoe kit, I don't often go for pre-made kits but it was a birthday present, was really good! I think this is due to other factors than the yeast and if I made it again with US05 it won't be noticeably different.

 

[Saisonator]

I brewed in the beginning of the year a Duvel clone with it. Yeah, weird choice isn't it? But I got two sachets of it because of a supplier error. I think I also did a three step decoction mash, and I got an attenuation of 90%. And as a Duvel clone, it was a fair success. I used the same yeast also in a Belgian witbier, where I got an attenuation of 86%. But as a witbier, I found it also successful.

A very versatile yeast in my opinion.

Isn’t that a lot of effort to put into making beers, then to pitch the wrong yeasts and hope for the best. Just to save a few quid?

 

[chthon]

No, I didn't pitch the wrong yeast. I had to find some use for these two sachets (after complaining I had received the originals, but that was still for other beers), so I decided to use one for a strong golden ale, and after reading up on American witbier, to use part of the other sachet for this. I actually brewed some extra beers because of these yeasts I had.