Mauribrew Lager 497 - Anyone tried it?

[Al-Loves-Wine]

When I was in Toronto a month ago I was able to stop in and see Bob Latimer from beerandwinefilter.com and pick up a few pounds of hops. He gave me 4 packs of this yeast to try out, but I can't find hardly any reviews of the yeast or experiences others have had with it.

Anybody here used it before?

I'm gonna give it a go when the cooler months are in full swing so I can keep it at consistently lower temps in my basement.

[Kyle]

I have a pack of it, but I haven't used it yet. I'll post here when I do.

[Al-Loves-Wine]

So now having used both packs of this yeast I had, I can make a better call on what I think of it. I've found some pros and cons with it. As far as attenuation, it sucks pretty bad. I tried with a pilsner and an amber lager both brewed a week apart. The pilsner was an Imperial which I expected to clock in at 7.5%, I split the batch and hit target gravity 1.008 without problem using the WLP815, the Mauri yeast finished at 1.018 and made the beer so sweet it was disgusting. So I'm leaving it to bottle age with hopes it dries out more in the bottle.

Second batch one week later Sept 27th, the amber lager had and OG of 1.050 and it only finished at 1.012 and that was tested today right before I kegged it, however beer does taste good. And the pro I have found with the yeast is how well it cleans up after itself. Both recipes had pilsner malt, both batches dropped out completely clear without any agents, just secondary in my basement. I don't think I would make a point to ever buy it though.

[jamie_savoie]

1.012 isn't bad imo
Did you put one or two packs per batch?  Lagers need almost twice as much yeast as ale and probably that's why the imp pils finished high

[Chris Craig]

I agree with Jamie.  More yeast!

[Al-Loves-Wine]

Well in comparison with the WLP815 on the Imperial it was pretty high, I do realize I would likely have a much higher cell count with a liquid yeast and starter. I don't think that yeast would perform much better with two packs, and it actually go 1.010, possibly with rehaydration. However it was just a side by side with the WL yeast. The amber lager finished high in my opinion having and OG of 1.050 compared to similar lagers I've done with a single packet of outdated S23 that finished at 1.008. I didn't think 1.012 was bad either, and the beer tasted quite good. But didn't dry out as much as I anticipated after nearly 4 months, and being mashed for 90+. In my limited experience, this yeast isn't even comparable to other lager yeasts I have used in attenuation. But cleans up awesome.