[beersk]

I used the MJ Newcastle brown in a 1.048 northern English brown, rehydrated, oxygenated, Wyeast nutrient, mashed at 152, fermented at a constant 68f, and it quit at 1.028. Lame! Wlp007 finished the job.
A friend used it in a 1.040 extract beer, not rehydrated, aerated, no temp control, and it finished at 1.006. The beer kind of sucked but we won't blame the yeast on that one.

I forgot to mention that I used Wyeast nutrient in my Oktoberfest this weekend as well. Not terribly impressed so far with this company and their yeast. But I'm giving them a chance. I have some of the Newcastle Dark Ale yeast, as well as a packet of the West Coast Ale and Hefe yeasts. So if this kind of business continues, I'll be going back to Fermentis yeasts.

You really jumped in with both feet on this mfg.  I hope most, if not all, turn out well.  I have noticed that first generation pitches of dry lager yeast have been a bit slow (even with 34/70), but on repitch they usually take right off, so you may want to see if a second gen goes quicker for the lager yeast.  Keep us posted, Beersk, and thanks for the willingness to go this route on a new company's strains.

I guess I did, didn't I? Well, I like that there's another dry yeast option. I don't like to use liquid strains much during the warmer months. But upon repitch, I'm sure they're be a lot better. I've brewed with the Bohemian lager, Newcastle Dark, and Hefe yeasts now. But, the time of liquid yeast is coming with the awesome fall weather. Can't wait...

[dee]

I've tried the hefe yeast at 62 and 72 and it produced more banana at 72 but it isn't as good as WLP300 in my opinion.  Dry weizen yeast always seems to lean one way or the other.  I'm not a clove fan anyway, I want banana bombs.  I think pitching WLP300 at 68 and letting it free rise to 76 makes the best all around weizens.

[beersk]

I'm pretty frustrated with the Mangrove Jack's yeast. I've had almost every beer under attenuate, even with oxygenation with pure O2, mashing low, doing step mashes, etc. The only beers I've had attenuate properly were an Oktoberfestbier and Schwarzbier, both finished at 1.014. The Newcastle Dark finished at 1.016 on a 1.038 beer. And repitched into an oatmeal stout it finished at 1.024 with an OG of 1.059. That was also oxygenated with pure O2, mashed at 154 for 90 minutes. ANNOYING. I have a faux helles fermenting now with Workhorse at 64, I hope to hell that beer gets down to at least 1.012.
I think it's either liquid yeast or the occasional US-05 or 34/70 for me, here on out.

[quattlebaum]

I'm pretty frustrated with the Mangrove Jack's yeast. I've had almost every beer under attenuate, even with oxygenation with pure O2, mashing low, doing step mashes, etc. The only beers I've had attenuate properly were an Oktoberfestbier and Schwarzbier, both finished at 1.014. The Newcastle Dark finished at 1.016 on a 1.038 beer. And repitched into an oatmeal stout it finished at 1.024 with an OG of 1.059. That was also oxygenated with pure O2, mashed at 154 for 90 minutes. ANNOYING. I have a faux helles fermenting now with Workhorse at 64, I hope to hell that beer gets down to at least 1.012.
I think it's either liquid yeast or the occasional US-05 or 34/70 for me, here on out.

I Agree! NewCastle MO3 very poor attenuation 52%. I even read your post and reduced my mash temp a significant amount and still 1.046 to 1.022. My conditions where perfect with amount, temp, o2  and yeast date on package was 12/2014. Should have been better i think. O well down the drain it goes. I will not use it again.......sorry. For those who use beware and adjust to only get 50 to 55% att. 

[beersk]

I'm pretty frustrated with the Mangrove Jack's yeast. I've had almost every beer under attenuate, even with oxygenation with pure O2, mashing low, doing step mashes, etc. The only beers I've had attenuate properly were an Oktoberfestbier and Schwarzbier, both finished at 1.014. The Newcastle Dark finished at 1.016 on a 1.038 beer. And repitched into an oatmeal stout it finished at 1.024 with an OG of 1.059. That was also oxygenated with pure O2, mashed at 154 for 90 minutes. ANNOYING. I have a faux helles fermenting now with Workhorse at 64, I hope to hell that beer gets down to at least 1.012.
I think it's either liquid yeast or the occasional US-05 or 34/70 for me, here on out.

I Agree! NewCastle MO3 very poor attenuation 52%. I even read your post and reduced my mash temp a significant amount and still 1.046 to 1.022. My conditions where perfect with amount, temp, o2  and yeast date on package was 12/2014. Should have been better i think. O well down the drain it goes. I will not use it again.......sorry. For those who use beware and adjust to only get 50 to 55% att. 

Good, I'm not the only one! I have an oatmeal stout on tap right now that finished at 1.023 or 1.024 from 1.059 with the Newcastle Dark Ale yeast...it's not good, sadly. Just too sweet and almost worty tasting. Ugh. Never using that freakin' yeast again. It was a brew in a bag batch, mashed for 60 minutes at 154F, no heat applied. Should've been fine, but nope. I have weird issues with brew in a bag batches not fermenting very vigorously anyway...it's weird. Wonder if that's a pH issue.

I also brewed a "helles" recently with Workhorse. OG was 1.051, aerated with o2, rehydrated yeast, fermented at 64F, FG was 1.016. Not crazy high, but too high for the style. Taste is fine, but still, it's frustrating that I can't get any of the yeast to attenuate properly no matter what I do.

Anyway, down with Mangrove Jack's!

[chezteth]

I've used the Workhorse yeast so far in an imperial Stout OG 1.110. It stopped at 1.032. It seems slightly sweet but not bad. I started a maibock on Sunday with the Bohemian Lager yeast. I still don't see any krausen on it. I rehydrated and pitched 3 sachets. The verdict is still out on this one for me.

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[dmtaylor]

Hopefully my LHBS will get it.  The cost + shipping = more than liquid.

And then there's this...

Is Rebel the only big online store to carry it?

I am pretty sure William's has got the Mangrove yeasts for cheap (plus shipping).

[beersk]

I've used the Workhorse yeast so far in an imperial Stout OG 1.110. It stopped at 1.032. It seems slightly sweet but not bad. I started a maibock on Sunday with the Bohemian Lager yeast. I still don't see any krausen on it. I rehydrated and pitched 3 sachets. The verdict is still out on this one for me.

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I'm not crazy about the Bohemian lager strain. It has a very dominant flavor profile, not really in a good way.

Also, Farmhouse Brewing Supply carries Mangrove Jack's.

[yeastmaster]

I've used the Workhorse yeast so far in an imperial Stout OG 1.110. It stopped at 1.032. It seems slightly sweet but not bad. I started a maibock on Sunday with the Bohemian Lager yeast. I still don't see any krausen on it. I rehydrated and pitched 3 sachets. The verdict is still out on this one for me.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

I did an IPA with Workhorse.  The beer tastes good but it finished a little high (1.018 from 1.056, 66.7% attenuation).  Curious to see if other people have had similar attenuations with this yeast.

I did a porter with the West Coast IPA yeast and got 77.6% attenuation which I was pretty happy with....

[rallenhall]

My results have been more positive than most. I used the Workhorse in a Baltic porter Christmas Ale ... went from 1.065 to 1.023. That doesn't seem especially good, but there was cocoa nibs, cherrys and other stuff added to the secondary that affected the FG. Flavor and body is good. Also did a side-by-side, splitting 6 gals. of lager wort between rehydrated MJ Bohemian Pils and Fermentis S-189. Really didn't care for either, but went ahead and repitched the slurries ... Bo Pils into 5 gal of Bo Pils wort and S-189 into 5 gal of Vienna lager. Both came out much better. The Bo Pils especially is aging beautifully and is crystal clear. Confirms my previous experience with dry lager yeasts that the second pitch/generation is often better than the first (in spite of the warning not to repitch). No doubt, the massive yeast count from the slurry helps too.

[beersk]

I've used the Workhorse yeast so far in an imperial Stout OG 1.110. It stopped at 1.032. It seems slightly sweet but not bad. I started a maibock on Sunday with the Bohemian Lager yeast. I still don't see any krausen on it. I rehydrated and pitched 3 sachets. The verdict is still out on this one for me.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

I did an IPA with Workhorse.  The beer tastes good but it finished a little high (1.018 from 1.056, 66.7% attenuation).  Curious to see if other people have had similar attenuations with this yeast.

I did a porter with the West Coast IPA yeast and got 77.6% attenuation which I was pretty happy with....

I've only heard of a couple of people having good attenuation with the Workhorse. Just do yourself a favor and don't use Mangrove Jack's!
I especially didn't like the Bohemian Lager yeast. It has a strange flavor that is too dominating.

[tommymorris]

Do folks do starters with dry lager yeast? It seems like a 2L starter might improve the cell count and help  alleviate some issues. Especially in light of rallenhall's experience re pitching a slurry.

[klickitat jim]

I've made 5 gal starters with dry yeast.

[erockrph]

I've made 5 gal starters with dry yeast.

+1 - but that's the only kind of starter I make with dry yeast.

The whole point of using dry yeast (for me at least) is that I don't need a starter. If I'm going to take the time to make a starter, then I might as well use liquid yeast.

[klickitat jim]

You could make a 2L starter but a whole package would be like ten times too much yeast. The pros of using dry are cost, storage, ease of use. The con is limited variety, or used to be.