"They" is pretty much every site that sells this yeast has in the description that its similar to Rogues Pacman yeast.
Not concerned with using 05 or 1056, and i want to try out new yeasts which is why i got this one. not a fan of 05 anyways. id use wlp001 over it.
I'm aware of pitching rates and all that. I'm just trying to find out the optimal fermenting temp for this yeast.
WLP001 is said to be liquid US-05. Some may say US-05 and WLP001 have distinctly different tastes and others disagree. YMMV. I've yet to test that theory but if I am using 001 then US-05 is a substitute in my eyes if dry is preferred.
Not to argue who identifies this as similar to pac man but Rebelbrewer.com is the only site I've found thus far to make such a claim. Midwest, Northern, Williams, my LHBS, Mangrove Jack's site and AIH.com do not seem to make such claims. For that, I would say that "they" aren't correct in identifying this as similar to pac man unless the intent was to say that pac man is a nice yeast that cleans up well and leads to bright flavors in IPAs. If that is the reason for the comparison then I may be able to get on board with that.
My recommendation is to try it. Having used it already i can see myself using it again. For purposes of being able to say that I used that and prefer it over something else in an IPA though, my next IPA will use another yeast like I mention below. I also wanted a yeast for my next IPA that was identified as leaning towards a fruity/citrus flavor which is not what I got from M44.
I am aware of the range. That doesnt tell me the optimal temp. like 05 and other chico strains like it 65-68 as optimal temp. Notty is great at very low 60s. so yeah while the range is a good starting point, it doesn't tell me whats the best temp within that range.
Well since you overlooked my comment, I want to write it again. 60 for me was too low. 65F worked better. I oxygenated for 30 seconds with O2 and found that at 60, the beer did not take off as intended. I was concerned and bumped the heat up to 65F 2 days after brew day. It took off. It took a long time to fully ferment and flocculate in my opinion. It looked like mud nearly 2 weeks in and I was thinking my first IPA was a dumper. It turned out clean and "bright" but dark in color due to high boil off which ultimately caramelized the crystal malt. That is not a product of this yeast of course. I think "bright" can be a misnomer if your hops aren't necessarily bright. If that makes sense. If they're grassy hops then I'm not sure bright is a good description. It is unfair to blame the yeast though. This is just a yeast that we should all try and test, IMO.
It being my first IPA, my second one is planned in 3 weeks with a different yeast, I cannot attest to it being cleaner and brighter than some others. In fact, this is pretty new to the market and my LHBS is pushing it (they do not identify it as "similar to pac man"). I find data to be scarce even from the source of the yeast so best that can be done is have people discuss in threads like these so we can all learn.
Report back after you brew and finish your beer. I am very curious about this yeast as well as others from Mangrove Jack. I've used another and it was okay. It was used in a wheat beer but the flavor is overshadowed by a lousy fruit extract that I used.