Mangrove Jack's M05 Mead Yeast?

[Toxxyc]

Hi guys,

So I'm itching for another mead. I have a pretty good recipe and process using 71-1122 to make a semi-sweet mead that comes out really well in a short span of time. However, due to COVID and people buying up all the stock pretty much everywhere, I'm having trouble getting my hands on 71B and I want to use something else. I see my local brewshop has Mangrove Jack's M05 Mead Yeast in stock. Has anyone ever used it, or have any info on it? It seems to ferment quite warm, and looks to be way more forgiving than the typical wine yeasts I've used and seen to date, hence me asking.

To clarify, I'm making a traditional mead, but I'm not opposed to backsweetening it with a fruity syrup in order to boost the colour and sweetness when it's done. I don't mind at all, and I'd actually not mind a melomel in the end at all, I'm just asking about the yeast.

 

[Miraculix]

Hi guys,

So I'm itching for another mead. I have a pretty good recipe and process using 71-1122 to make a semi-sweet mead that comes out really well in a short span of time. However, due to COVID and people buying up all the stock pretty much everywhere, I'm having trouble getting my hands on 71B and I want to use something else. I see my local brewshop has Mangrove Jack's M05 Mead Yeast in stock. Has anyone ever used it, or have any info on it? It seems to ferment quite warm, and looks to be way more forgiving than the typical wine yeasts I've used and seen to date, hence me asking.

To clarify, I'm making a traditional mead, but I'm not opposed to backsweetening it with a fruity syrup in order to boost the colour and sweetness when it's done. I don't mind at all, and I'd actually not mind a melomel in the end at all, I'm just asking about the yeast.

Have a read in the bomm thread. Somewhere in there, loveofrose compares different dry yeasts using his bomm protocol, slightly tweaked (it's actually even easier for dry yeasts).

I think I remember that he also used the mj mead yeast and that it gave him really good results.

Thanks for reminding me btw. I always wanted to try this yeast because of what I read there and I completely forgot about it.

 

[Toxxyc]

I need to find loveofrose's stuff on here. GotMead isn't that active anymore (where I know him from originally) and it's a bummer.

Think I'll give that yeast a shot then. I discovered a well-know, but never knew it was there, homebrew shop close to my office and I think that's going to be a problem for my wallet. I already bought stuff I don't strictly need there yesterday. Some oak, a new hop bag, etc...

 

[Miraculix]

I need to find loveofrose's stuff on here. GotMead isn't that active anymore (where I know him from originally) and it's a bummer.

Think I'll give that yeast a shot then. I discovered a well-know, but never knew it was there, homebrew shop close to my office and I think that's going to be a problem for my wallet. I already bought stuff I don't strictly need there yesterday. Some oak, a new hop bag, etc...

Luckily, I found out that I do not like oak in mead. I really don't. So no money to dump in there for me

I think there is no lhbs within my city at all, not so common in Germany anyway.

Still plenty of online possibilities though!

I might start my lutra mead today. Otherwise I would buy myself some mj yeast and also give that one a try.

 

[Toxxyc]

Oak is for my whisky. Hop bag for my beers. The tophhat grommet is for the fermenter I use to make mead though, so there's that

I actually want to oak a mead as a tester. I've got the oak, I'll be making the mead, so no reason why it shouldn't work. I've got virgin and ex-bourbon oak here, so I think it'll be great to check.

 

[Miraculix]

Oak is for my whisky. Hop bag for my beers. The tophhat grommet is for the fermenter I use to make mead though, so there's that

I actually want to oak a mead as a tester. I've got the oak, I'll be making the mead, so no reason why it shouldn't work. I've got virgin and ex-bourbon oak here, so I think it'll be great to check.

Don't throw it in for too long, I think I might have done that actually.... There was a small timeframe where the oak gave me almost marshmallow flavour, I should have bottled at that point!

But it was a big experiment anyway.... Haven't even unpacked the parcel since I came back from the UK over a year ago

Let's see, maybe in ten years I'll discover the greatest attic mead ever beneath all those forgotten boxes.

 

[Toxxyc]

You would. I took my first good batch of mead, bottled a bunch of bottles and purposefully hid them around the house after "having a few". I managed to dig up most of them, except for one that was discovered around 2 years later. It was the best mead EVER. Sweet, but not cloying, rich, full and absolutely crystal clear. Here's a pic of a Doritos bag through it for reference:

I'm trying to do the same, but my new meads simply don't last long enough. I've got 3 bottles going on 18 months now, but only one is a traditional one. The other one I can't even remember what I did with it, and the last one was mixed with a cranberry juice concentrate before bottling to backsweeten a bit. It looks OK, so I guess we'll see.

 

[Miraculix]

You would. I took my first good batch of mead, bottled a bunch of bottles and purposefully hid them around the house after "having a few". I managed to dig up most of them, except for one that was discovered around 2 years later. It was the best mead EVER. Sweet, but not cloying, rich, full and absolutely crystal clear. Here's a pic of a Doritos bag through it for reference:

I'm trying to do the same, but my new meads simply don't last long enough. I've got 3 bottles going on 18 months now, but only one is a traditional one. The other one I can't even remember what I did with it, and the last one was mixed with a cranberry juice concentrate before bottling to backsweeten a bit. It looks OK, so I guess we'll see.

Hahahaha, could have been my own idea actually.

The mead I made was super high og, wanted to max out the abv back then, which I did. Ended at over 16% and obviously it tasted hot. So far, the taste has already smoothed out quite a bit after almost two years in the bottle, but there is room for more!

 

[Toxxyc]

I made a IDK% ABV mead before. Step-fed a tiny batch (1 litre) over the course of almost 6 months. I kept feeding until I stopped seeing bubbles rising from the bottom, when I stopped, wrapped the bottle top with tinfoil and slipped a rubber band over it. There it stood for more than year.

The end result was a sweet, super-strong dessert wine that reminded me VERY much of a white muscadel. It was really, really good. I need to do that again.

 

[Miraculix]

I made a IDK% ABV mead before. Step-fed a tiny batch (1 litre) over the course of almost 6 months. I kept feeding until I stopped seeing bubbles rising from the bottom, when I stopped, wrapped the bottle top with tinfoil and slipped a rubber band over it. There it stood for more than year.

The end result was a sweet, super-strong dessert wine that reminded me VERY much of a white muscadel. It was really, really good. I need to do that again.

These step-fed meads can get rediculously high in abv, I threw it in all at once the last time. For experimentations sake, but did the step-feeding before.

 

[bwible]

Luckily, I found out that I do not like oak in mead. I really don't. So no money to dump in there for me

I think there is no lhbs within my city at all, not so common in Germany anyway.

Still plenty of online possibilities though!

I might start my lutra mead today. Otherwise I would buy myself some mj yeast and also give that one a try.

I know this is an old thread but I am making an oaked mead. And was looking for anything about Mangrove Jack yeast. This will be my first “brew” of 2023. I’ve read about oaked mead in a number of places and its something I’ve had on a back burner for awhile.

I got to thinking and wondered if I might be able to make something comparable to oaked chardonnay. There are a few of those we really like, one is a rum barrel aged chardonnay - but I didn’t want to go there. Yum though.

I looked up yeasts that they say would be good for chardonnay, keeping with that idea. And I got some Mangrove Jack BV-7. I put the mead together yesterday and so far so good. Anybody tried BV-7 in a mead?

https://mangrovejacks.com/products/bv7-wine-yeast
After fermentation finishes I have a bunch of oak cubes soaking in bourbon that will go in secondary.

 

[Miraculix]

I know this is an old thread but I am making an oaked mead. And was looking for anything about Mangrove Jack yeast. This will be my first “brew” of 2023. I’ve read about oaked mead in a number of places and its something I’ve had on a back burner for awhile.

I got to thinking and wondered if I might be able to make something comparable to oaked chardonnay. There are a few of those we really like, one is a rum barrel aged chardonnay - but I didn’t want to go there. Yum though.

View attachment 810947

I looked up yeasts that they say would be good for chardonnay, keeping with that idea. And I got some Mangrove Jack BV-7. I put the mead together yesterday and so far so good. Anybody tried BV-7 in a mead?

https://mangrovejacks.com/products/bv7-wine-yeast
After fermentation finishes I have a bunch of oak cubes soaking in bourbon that will go in secondary.

I think the difference between a good red and a mead are the grape skin derived tannins. These complement the oak flavour very well and it just fits well together. I love Spanish red wine or French that was in a barrel. But these are heavy and dry. Does not work this way with mead, which is much lighter and no so intense. So the key to make oak work in a mead is really moderation. It is so easy to overdo it and the doses that work in a Tempranillo or Chardonnay will definitely overpower a mead completely. My advice would be to use very little oak and taste every three days. When you think that it's enough, immediately pull the oak. Two days too long and the mead is gone.

 

[bwible]

I think the difference between a good red and a mead are the grape skin derived tannins. These complement the oak flavour very well and it just fits well together. I love Spanish red wine or French that was in a barrel. But these are heavy and dry. Does not work this way with mead, which is much lighter and no so intense. So the key to make oak work in a mead is really moderation. It is so easy to overdo it and the doses that work in a Tempranillo or Chardonnay will definitely overpower a mead completely. My advice would be to use very little oak and taste every three days. When you think that it's enough, immediately pull the oak. Two days too long and the mead is gone.

Chardonnay is a white wine on the heavier end of the scale as far as whites go. Suggested food pairings are often salmon and heavier seafood. I can see where a mead aged on oak could compare favorably.
My previous experience with aging beers like barleywines on oak is a little more than an ounce per gallon worked well. Now its interesting to note that I measured today - 10 dry oak cubes out of the package measure about a quarter of an ounce. 10 oak cubes soaked in bourbon are a little more than double that weight. I was thinking of combining the 2 about 50/50 for a total of about 3 oz for a 3 gallon batch. And not include the liquid (bourbon). I like oak. Somebody once told me “you like hoppy ipas, why is it a surprise you like oaky wines?”

 

[Miraculix]

Chardonnay is a white wine on the heavier end of the scale as far as whites go. Suggested food pairings are often salmon and heavier seafood. I can see where a mead aged on oak could compare favorably.
My previous experience with aging beers like barleywines on oak is a little more than an ounce per gallon worked well. Now its interesting to note that I measured today - 10 dry oak cubes out of the package measure about a quarter of an ounce. 10 oak cubes soaked in bourbon are a little more than double that weight. I was thinking of combining the 2 about 50/50 for a total of about 3 oz for a 3 gallon batch. I like oak. Somebody once told me “you like hoppy ipas, why is it a surprise you like oaky wines?”

I mixed up Chardonnay! In my head I put it into these heavy French reds and Spanish basket. My last oaked mead had two little cubes of Hungarian oak on about five litres. That one had a time window of about four days where it tasted really beautiful, almost like marshmallows. Myself, being someone's a bit dumb, thought it might get even better and I left it on the cubes for one week further. The result was way too much oak. Almost ruined. Did not age out until last time I had one.

A white wine is pretty similar to a mead, I agree

 

[bwible]

I mixed up Chardonnay! In my head I put it into these heavy French reds and Spanish basket. My last oaked mead had two little cubes of Hungarian oak on about five litres. That one had a time window of about four days where it tasted really beautiful, almost like marshmallows. Myself, being someone's a bit dumb, thought it might get even better and I left it on the cubes for one week further. The result was way too much oak. Almost ruined. Did not age out until last time I had one.

A white wine is pretty similar to a mead, I agree

Its funny - for the longest time I thought I didn’t like Chardonnay. I must have got a bad one at some point. Its also like a wine snob thing. They talk about “buttery” and things like that. Then I discovered a few we really like. Coppola - pretty much anything that winery makes. Beringer. Woodford. The art is in pairing with food.

Now these bottles I like are about $11 each. So if I can make a 3 gallon batch (14 750ml bottles) for right about $40, I’m feeling pretty good.