Mangrove Jack Craft Series Yeasts

[Dan Pratt]

fucken hell. I've never had a yeast not kick off in 24 hours. I hope this m44 is all it's cracked up to be. making me worried. no sign of any krausen yet

Mate I've had M44 take up to 48hrs to start up, results are great though!

It's a real test of your sanitation skills.

 

[fletcher]

Mate I've had M44 take up to 48hrs to start up, results are great though!

It's a real test of your sanitation skills.

ugh, yeah so i've been reading. oh well. fingers crossed. left this morning and it had a smallish top layer of krausen. the fermenter was covered in star san before the beer went in. i'm hopeful.

 

[Dan Pratt]

ugh, yeah so i've been reading. oh well. fingers crossed. left this morning and it had a smallish top layer of krausen. the fermenter was covered in star san before the beer went in. i'm hopeful.

dont be worried if you get home today and it still hasnt taken off......

 

[wereprawn]

Well the M10 brew Is smelling more like a sulphury fart today. Powerful stuff. And it has been stalled for the last 3 days on 1018.I'll rouse the yeast tomorrow to see if i can get it to drop a few more points. The samples taste fine (although still too sweet) but the smell !!! If it has not improved significantly by kegging time i suppose i will just chill ,as tim suggested, and also burp the keg regularly to try and scrub the DMS (if thats all it is).

 

[Spiesy]

Well the M10 brew Is smelling more like a sulphury fart today. Powerful stuff. And it has been stalled for the last 3 days on 1018.I'll rouse the yeast tomorrow to see if i can get it to drop a few more points. The samples taste fine (although still too sweet) but the smell !!! If it has not improved significantly by kegging time i suppose i will just chill ,as tim suggested, and also burp the keg regularly to try and scrub the DMS (if thats all it is).

DMS?

DMS is vegetable vibes, usually due to unmodified malts (such as Pils) not boiling off enough during the boil.

If it's sulphur, lagering is your friend.

 

[fletcher]

dont be worried if you get home today and it still hasnt taken off......

finally took off the other day. not an aggressive krausen but at least it's there. excited to try it soon

EDIT: spelling

 

[TimT]

I've had a few bottles now of my pale ale I fermented over the MJ British Ale yeast. From the first bottle I got bready flavours and just a hint of apple, but now I think that is partly because I just opened it up at room temperature without cooling for a few days. Opened up two more today - one hadn't fully carbonated but made quite a pleasant drink anyway, the other given to a guest who pronounced it 'spicy'. From mine I didn't get a bready vibe, but did get a lingering sweetness, partly from a combination of malt sweetness and the apple esters.

The pale ale was very lightly hopped with some hops we picked ourselves from a wild growing bush in Bright and we certainly didn't treat the cones in the optimum way, so while we did get some bitterness and flavour from them, I think they weren't particularly obtrusive in the brew. As it turns out it didn't matter because the character the MJ brought to the party is quite enough to make the ale flavoursome and distinctive. Brilliant, I'm looking forward to finding out a lot more about this yeast.

 

[TimT]

Tried the Old Ale which I'm fermenting over the MJ Newcastle yeast today too - took a sample for gravity (still a way to go there) and taste testing.

Nice caramelly-fruity flavouring, and none of the unpleasant sulfur smells that were coming from the fermenter for a while. Excellent.

This one has some funny problems -

1) What the hell is its the alcohol content really? The predicted OG was 1.074; the actual OG was more like 1.110. No idea why - well, actually my theory is some sediment that got into the wort (some of it was quite ropy) is mucking around with the gravity readings. Like, adding 40 points to them.

The gravity on the brew today - 1.055. Knock 40 off that and you're down around the 1.014 range, but the Irish Moss added to this brew did knock out a fair bit of precipitate, it has noticeably clarified in the last three days, and it's still quite sweet.

2) How much funny business is the yeast getting up to now? The fermentation started quickly - overnight; by the afternoon the bubbles were practically tumbling over one another to get out of the airlock. Went out for a few hours to a thing (we've all got *things*, y'know?) and when I came back they were super slow again. So it looks like most of the fermentation was done in a small window of about 6-8 hours; the rest of the time has just been clearing up. So how much further has the brew got to go?

I reckon this one's got a way to go yet. But could be an interesting brew when done.

 

[Screwtop]

This reminds me of the BRY97 thread. Have not had a problem with lag time using this yeast. It's great, prefer it to BRY97, use it at 1g/l and rehydrate. It's going within 24Hrs and has a great flavour profile. Never had a slow start using BRY97 either, wonder why?

Screwy

 

[TimT]

I've just started a brew on MJ M44. It's almost a day old; a goodly proportion of it is wheat malt (about 1/4 to 1/3). My plan is to get some of the flavours - combination of wheat and barley malt, and some herbs (yarrow and mugwort) added during the boil - shining through without too many esters, so I'm trying to ferment low.

There's a few signs of action - few frothy splotches on the surface - but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a few days before significant fermentation begins, going from other people's experiences.

We'll see.

 

[Screwtop]

I've just started a brew on MJ M44. It's almost a day old; a goodly proportion of it is wheat malt (about 1/4 to 1/3). My plan is to get some of the flavours - combination of wheat and barley malt, and some herbs (yarrow and mugwort) added during the boil - shining through without too many esters, so I'm trying to ferment low.

There's a few signs of action - few frothy splotches on the surface - but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a few days before significant fermentation begins, going from other people's experiences.

We'll see.

A really clean yeast which allows malt and hop flavours to shine, less muddled. Doubt if you need low temp. 19C is good for this yeast, cooler ferment = longer lag time!

 

[TimT]

Great advice, thanks. Precise temp control will be hard anyway - the heat pad is crowded out! But I'm trying to give it comfortable temps to ferment at.

Several hours on there's a comfortable layer of froth on top; I expect tomorrow sometime it will solidify into a mushy brown cloud, with significant fermentation to start some time after that.

Probably sad of me to admit this but I *really* enjoy watching a beer slowly going through the stages of fermentation. It's almost as exciting as watching grass grow!

 

[fletcher]

I'm drinking a darkish mild with Newcastle dark ale and really enjoying it.

It has thrown the dark fruit flavours and esters.

Will definitely use this again.

Also, have just cracked a keg of weizen using the Bavarian wheat. Typical weizen flavours and esters, with some very low vanilla flavours. Banana and spice, ticks all the boxes for me. I ran this at 19', so would be interesting to try it at higher fermentation temp to see what it throws.

Impressed again by this range.

sorry if this has been asked of you before now jyo, but what was your dark mild recipe when using this yeast? would you mind sharing?

i'm thinking of making a northern brown ale using the newcastle yeast myself

 

[Screwtop]

Great advice, thanks. Precise temp control will be hard anyway - the heat pad is crowded out! But I'm trying to give it comfortable temps to ferment at.

Several hours on there's a comfortable layer of froth on top; I expect tomorrow sometime it will solidify into a mushy brown cloud, with significant fermentation to start some time after that.

Probably sad of me to admit this but I *really* enjoy watching a beer slowly going through the stages of fermentation. It's almost as exciting as watching grass grow!

Haha, grass growing results in work, fermentation results in relaxation - satisfaction. If you're seeing those little clouds of bubbles after 12 - 24 hrs that's phase 1 budding/cell growth. Layer of froth/krausen - phase 2 Fermentation. Many incorrectly believe this to be the start of yeast activity.

Screwy

 

[going down a hill]

Great advice, thanks. Precise temp control will be hard anyway - the heat pad is crowded out! But I'm trying to give it comfortable temps to ferment at.

Several hours on there's a comfortable layer of froth on top; I expect tomorrow sometime it will solidify into a mushy brown cloud, with significant fermentation to start some time after that.

Probably sad of me to admit this but I *really* enjoy watching a beer slowly going through the stages of fermentation. It's almost as exciting as watching grass grow!

That's why fermenting in demijohns cant be beat.

 

[TimT]

Day three just beginning and we've got definite fermentation, after a relatively cold night. Excellent.

 

[TimT]

I've got four MJ brews going at the moment and they make an interesting compare and contrast:

Day four of my pale on MJ US West Coast 44 - the brew has clarified nicely; some carbonation still going on, with bubbles racing to the surface and the level in the airlock indicating there is pressure on the inside - but it's slowed to such an extent that it's probably only producing a few bubbles an hour. I find it a bit hard to believe that the fermentation could have been so rapid as to have completely finished overnight, so I may have to play the waiting game with this one.

Week four of my burnt honey bochet on the MJ Newcastle yeast; took a sample of that last night and found it had gone down to 1.014 (from about 1.100 or thereabouts). Still some fermentation but v. little, and it seems to have slowed down to a rate comparable to the MJ 44 brew - a blurp every hour or so. I might chuck some spices in soon. Nice coffee/toffee smells, and a winey/dark ale vibe.

Week two of my pumpkin ale, on the MJ British Ale yeast. Took five days to start.... three weeks in and it's still fermenting/carbonating relatively strongly. Two, maybe three bubbles a minute. Has mostly been casting up nice apple esters; they seem to have a bit more of a sulfury vibe today.

Old Ale, again on the MJ Newcastle yeast - about two weeks old. After a rapid start (kicked off in about four hours; within eight hours we had two/three bubbles a second), it slowed down to a virtual standstill within days. Still some signs of fermentation though.

Conclusions? I think the cold weather is knocking them about a bit; the MJ yeasts seem to be a bit lazy and eccentric (sometimes the fermentation will slow down and then speed up again!), but they definitely give nice/interesting results.

Reckon I'll shift my bochet off the heat pad tonight though and put the West Coast 444 pale ale/wheat thingy on heat pad.

 

[indica86]

I have a wheat beer going @ 19° with the Bavarian Wheat. This has kicked off in 12 hours to have big krausen @ 24 and looks to be going very well.

 

[Screwtop]

I've got four MJ brews going at the moment and they make an interesting compare and contrast:

Day four of my pale on MJ US West Coast 44 - the brew has clarified nicely; some carbonation still going on, with bubbles racing to the surface and the level in the airlock indicating there is pressure on the inside - but it's slowed to such an extent that it's probably only producing a few bubbles an hour. I find it a bit hard to believe that the fermentation could have been so rapid as to have completely finished overnight, so I may have to play the waiting game with this one.

Week four of my burnt honey bochet on the MJ Newcastle yeast; took a sample of that last night and found it had gone down to 1.014 (from about 1.100 or thereabouts). Still some fermentation but v. little, and it seems to have slowed down to a rate comparable to the MJ 44 brew - a blurp every hour or so. I might chuck some spices in soon. Nice coffee/toffee smells, and a winey/dark ale vibe.

Week two of my pumpkin ale, on the MJ British Ale yeast. Took five days to start.... three weeks in and it's still fermenting/carbonating relatively strongly. Two, maybe three bubbles a minute. Has mostly been casting up nice apple esters; they seem to have a bit more of a sulfury vibe today.

Old Ale, again on the MJ Newcastle yeast - about two weeks old. After a rapid start (kicked off in about four hours; within eight hours we had two/three bubbles a second), it slowed down to a virtual standstill within days. Still some signs of fermentation though.

Conclusions? I think the cold weather is knocking them about a bit; the MJ yeasts seem to be a bit lazy and eccentric (sometimes the fermentation will slow down and then speed up again!), but they definitely give nice/interesting results.

Reckon I'll shift my bochet off the heat pad tonight though and put the West Coast 444 pale ale/wheat thingy on heat pad.

Bubbles, bubbles per hour etc is not an accurate indication of fermentation, gravity readings over consecutive days are an accurate indicator of whether fermentation is done or continuing. Bubbling can be from Co2 coming out of solution as the wort warms up.

HENRYS LAW: The solubility of a gas in a liquid depends on temperature, the partial pressure of the gas over the liquid, the nature of the solvent and the nature of the gas.

 

[TimT]

Thanks Screwy. Good advice.