Mangrove Jack's M10 Workhorse Resurrected?

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Die Schwarzbier Polizei
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I was searching interwebz for yeast package labels and here's what I found, to my surprise: a brand new package of M10 Workhorse.
We know well that M10 was discontinued and didn't get a new livery (it had a grey one, you may remember) when MJ updated their product range. And still we have this:

M10_resize.jpg


It's not an old collectable label. It's a new product on sale. With expiration dates in 2022 and 2023.

Zero mentions of the resurrected Workhorse on MJ's website or on Amazon, or on Ebay. Image search only returns (numerous!) results from webstores in Soviet republics, like Ukraine, Russia and others. I wonder, why mangrovejacks.com is silent about the return of the yeast.
I'm tempted to order a pack, whatever's the shipping cost.
 
I don't know really... I have the yeast already, ordered it along with some Russian hops, just of curiosity. The packaging looks totally legit, same material and make as in all my original MJ sachets. On the flip side, there's print in Russian, same text as on the original ones. Made in UK.
I think if it was a knockoff, they'd just copy the English print without translating it. It looks more like Mangrove Jack's repack their yeasts for the regional market.

Rather it's hops that look fake. Never seen hop pellets of such a brown shade.

Now I'm thinking, which recipe to try this yeast in.
 
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It's a mystery. The hops (the "Faworit" variety) are vacuum-sealed and are 2 years before their stated BBF date. They smell normal and hoppy, not cheesy like old hops. And still they look ugly and brown, almost no green hue at all. I hope it's just the way these Russian hops are and that they didn't mix some foreign filler weed into the pellets. Will try them in a small 1G/4L batch first.

Now my snapshots of the "Russian Workhorse" sachet :

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02.jpg


So, what all that might mean? Probably, MJ is going to produce different strains of yeasts for different regional markets? That would be sad. I've spent a little fortune to import this sachet from the USSR.
 
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Interesting. 10543 was the old product number so 10543RU_V1 would make sense.

I wonder if it's a response to Brexit screwing up their markets in the EU and so they're putting a toe in the water in other markets, starting with a "top-fermenting yeast...for brewing a range of styles from pale lager to Baltic Porter"?

I've asked a retailer here in the UK and they've not heard anything about it.
 
Rather it's hops that look fake. Never seen hop pellets of such a brown shade.
There are some beutifull russian hops from saazer type such as Rannij Moscovskij, to more morden perle/ternager fruity honey type such as fovorit.
But the problem that most reateilers store and package the poorly. I usually buy my directly from manufactiure in factory packaged kilo foil bags.
 
There were three varieties on offer in the store: Rannij Moskowskij, Podwiazny and Faworit. They said these three were the only hop varieties grown in Russia nowadays and recommended Faworit as their best selling one.
Won't call it "beautiful" neither for the aroma nor for the look, but hey I haven't tried it in a beer yet.
Next time Mangrove Jack's churn out their new strain exclusively for the Eastern market, I'd buy the other two hops as well. If it isn't the Chinese market next time, of course.
 
There were three varieties on offer in the store: Rannij Moskowskij, Podwiazny and Faworit. They said these three were the only hop varieties grown in Russia nowadays and recommended Faworit as their best selling one.
Won't call it "beautiful" neither for the aroma nor for the look, but hey I haven't tried it in a beer yet.
Next time Mangrove Jack's churn out their new strain exclusively for the Eastern market, I'd buy the other two hops as well. If it isn't the Chinese market next time, of course.
Rannij Moskowskij- is SaaZer type hops
Podwiazny- is bittering only if used for arome has dill like aroma and taste.
Faworit- is perle like.
Regular brew kolsch, Altbier, Baltic Porter with it. But i buy by kilo directly from manufacturer.
 
I speculate Russian hops might be very similar to Ukrainian hops (after all, all Soviet varieties must have been selected and standartized by the same Politburo). I've tried several varieties of Ukrainian hops, and they too were supposed to be substitutions to European noble hops. Actually, they were in a way quite similar to their European counterparts (Slowjanka for Saazer, Zahrawa for Tettnanger, Promin for Perle, Nacionalnyj for Hallertauer Tradition) and nicely aromatic too, but boy what a harsh bitterness they had, even the lowest-alpha varieties!
Finally I came to using them up (I got plenty!) in my longest-matured beers. After a year in the bottle they tasted like a charm.
That's my limited experience with the Soviet hops. I hope to expand it now with the Russian varieties.
 
a harsh bitterness they had, even the lowest-alpha varieties!
Well that's the case. I assume harsh bitternes is coming form large amount of cohumalone, which is bitter by itself but not counted by IBU calcutors.
I never use them as early boil hops( like to use Yakima Magnum or Summit in FWH for half of projected IBUs.). Try to add them 30 minutes or even late in the boil lik 30,15,5,3 minutes.
 
A good reminder! I read the book. So, probably will try those brown russian hops in a small batch of Kveik. I think, Kveik is the perfect style to try rustic exotic lower-grade hop varieties. They may lovely imitate local Nordic hops (or may not; in any case, putting Chuvashian hops into a Kveik seems more to the style and less risky than probably spoiling a quality Pale Ale).

Now, what to brew with the New Workhorse to try it out?
Maybe, I'll brew a pseudo-lager iteration of Carlsberg Elefant Strong Lager.
 
I am wondering whether it is repackaged US-05. I don't currently have an "equivalency" match for US-05 on my yeast list. To anyone who uses the newly resurrected M10, please provide either OG & FG, or apparent attenuation percentage. That's the real key AFAICT.
 
OK, I will post here a detailed review, as soon as the first fermentation is complete.

I may add that M10 was noticeably cheaper in the Russian online store than the rest of the MJ range. Price differences were like everywhere: MJ lagers the most expensive, saisons (M29, M31) go next, English strains the cheapest. And this one was even cheaper than any MJ English.
I don't remember unfortunately how the Old M10 compared to the rest of the range. Was it cheaper than any other MJ yeast, anyone remembers?

I expect it to be a Mauri 514 variation rather than US-05. Will see what comes out.
 
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Well, the yeast is working now. 3.3 gms sprinkled dry onto a small 6L 1.061 batch at 15°C. First signs of life just 4 hours after pitching! Vigorous fermentation afterwards. The smell from the airlock is doughy. Definitely not like US-05. If anything, it's redolent rather of T-58 sans phenols. What little knowledge I managed to squeeze from the interwebz, it seems M10 (along with Mauri 514 and T-58) likely descends from the baking yeast realm. The fermentation aromas seem to corroborate that.
Will ferment my Strong Pseudo-Lager for 3 weeks. Then will update on the results.


The brown ugly russian Faworit hops thrown in the kettle smelled yucky and fishy. I recall I have had a fishy-smelling hop once, some years ago. I don't remember which variety it was but I remember the odor aged out quite soon. Hopefully it'll be the same this time as well.
 
If anything, it's redolent rather of T-58 sans phenols. What little knowledge I managed to squeeze from the interwebz, it seems M10 (along with Mauri 514 and T-58) likely descends from the baking yeast realm.

Well the whole concept of dedicated baking yeast is rather a new one, historically bread was made with yeast that was multiplied at home by brewing beer. It doesn't make a huge amount of sense in the context of yeast history.

But T-58 without phenols is another name for S-33 and Windsor.
 
Yep, surely, both brewing and baking yeasts are historically from the same stock. It might be better then to define the group as "the brewer's yeasts least divergent from the baker's yeasts as we know the baker's yeasts today".
I wouldn't say it's too close to EDME, Windsor and London. I have an S-33 batch (1913 Fuller's X from SUABP) fermenting right along with M10. London and Windsor are estery (Windsor more so) and slightly fruity. Workhorse smells not estery at all. Just doughy, very doughy. A feature I've seen only in T-58 and which I like a lot.
 
Yep, surely, both brewing and baking yeasts are historically from the same stock. It might be better then to define the group as "the brewer's yeasts least divergent from the baker's yeasts as we know the baker's yeasts today".

Except there's no such thing as "the baker's yeasts". There's the group of brewing yeasts from which one US company selected a single yeast that is now very widely used in US breadmaking - but from what I can tell, it seems to have very different brewing characteristics to the most common bread yeast in the UK (which actually works quite well in beer).



Workhorse smells not estery at all. Just doughy, very doughy. A feature I've seen only in T-58 and which I like a lot.

"Doughy" is a classic description of S-04, at least historically.
 
Interesting. Didn't know about the difference between British and American baker's yeasts. Never noticed it in the taste of British and American bread (although, I perhaps haven't lived long enough in either country to notice). For bread, I'm more familiar with French and German bread yeasts, and for bread-yeast-fermented beer, only with Scandinavian. No idea whether they are closer to British or to American bread strains. There's certainly a distinction between the modern baker's and brewer's yeasts, at least at practical level. Even if there wasn't any in the past.
Doughy S-04... Well, M10 is giving sorta similar note right now. But if I was to seek for parallels in the Fermentis range, I'd say S-33 stands closer to M10 (less fruity than S-04) and T-58 even closer (more "doughy" than S-04) in that and also in some other regards - like medium-plus attenuation (unlike S-33) and powdery sedimentation (unlike S-04).
Could be M10 a POF- cousin of T-58?
I think it'd be more productive to compare M10 to the Mauri range, particularly 514, rather than to Fermentis.
 
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Well, time to add a follow up to my thread.
I brewed a Festbier with my M10 Soviet Workhorse.
26 days in primary at 15°-16°C. 67% apparent attenuation, very slow flocculation. No discernible yeast character in my beer. No sulphur whatsoever. They weren't kidding when they promised a very neutral beer at cooler temps. The beer is not too much lagery. It's very clean and neutral (too much neutral, I'd say, bordering with blandness) but it won't pass as a Lager, not even a Pseudolager. It's definitely a clean ale.

The yeast behaves much like S-33 and Lal London dry yeasts, though smells differently during active fermentation (no esters, just "doughiness"). The whole experience makes me think that M10 might be the missing Mangrove's counterpart to Danstar's London. It's not exactly the same (all MJ repackings differ slightly from the "originals"), but it's quite close in my opinion. Definitely not a T-58: the yeast flocculates very slowly but compacts tightly, unlike the powdery T-58.

Next I will try it (I made a stepped starter and froze some vials) at different temps: at 21° and then at 30°. They said it will cope. Will see.
 
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Another update on the yeast. I'm fermenting a historical smoked Danish Skibsøl recipe with it, that requires low attenuation. In two weeks at 20°C, the yeast fermented and almost fully flocculated. I left the beer in the primary vessel for one more week for the yeast to clean up. All of a sudden, by the end of the third week I have vigorous resumed fermentation, Kräusen and all. No rousing the yeast, no opening the fermenter, no gravity measuring, no moving the carboy, nothing to provoke it, from my side. Definitely, not just degassing. All signs of a true fermentation.
Two-strain mix? Infection? No idea.
I've heard (though haven't experienced) that S-33 may sometimes behave like that.
 
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