Mauribrew Yeast

I had a comment on my post recently regarding Mauribrew yeast, asking what the outcome was of the test. My response is sufficiently large that I thought I might as well post it as a new post for the benefit of other readers. The original post was here.

We did two brews with Mauribrew yeast – one with 514 ale yeast, and one with 497 lager yeast.

We used Mauribrew Ale 514 for a brew with First gold hops.

My notes say that the flocculation and clarity were nowhere near as good as Fermentis Safale S-04 (our “standard” ale yeast). S-04 drops like a stone, whereas the yeast cake from the Mauribrew 514 was much dustier, and the clarity was not as good, even after being fined with Kwik Clear.

Attenuation was 71% (1.045 down to 1.013)

Taste-wise I don’t recall having any strong feelings about it. It was fine – it made a drinkable English ale. But to be honest since then I’ve gone back to S-04 because it clears better and still tastes good.

We used the Mauribrew Lager Yeast 497 to make a Rauchbier. This turned out to be a stunning brew and we are still enjoying drinking it. But with it being such a forthright beer (36% smoked malt) it is a little hard to reach a totally clear view of what the yeast tasted like. Attenuation was again 71% (1.058 down to 1.017). I made a starter with the yeast, because one sachet just isn’t enough for lagers (same with Saflager S-23). The fermentation ran fine. I’d be happy enough to use it again, but given the choice I’d go back to S-23 because I know it can make a clean lager.

In summary, I’d certainly use Mauribrew yeast again. I just tend to use Fermentis yeast because I know what I’m getting. Having said that, Fermentis yeast is getting ridiculously expensive these days (£3.95 for a sachet!?). Maybe I need to reconsider that…

One final note – I saw in my local homebrew shop that they now have some Mangrove Jacks yeast. I’ve never heard of that or tried it before. Maybe time for another test…