Had some Nottingham lying around, and managed to take this macro photograph with my iPhone. Looks quite different from either the lighter or darker granules in terms of shape. Either they would do something special to them during repackaging/mixing to change that, but I doubt it.
Here is W-34/70
And W-34/70 (top), Nottingham (bottom). (There is grain of Nottingham that fell on the top left of W-34/70.) Neither of these look much like the M54.
Revisiting the Mauribrew track for M54: It could be a mix of Mauribrew Ale 514 and Mauribrew Lager 497, both known to ferment relatively cleanly at 18–20. Cooper’s used to mix their Cooper’s Ale Yeast with their “lager” yeast in a lot of kits, so it’s a tried and true combination. There’s some strong indications that these two yeasts are exactly 514 and 497. If 514 was M10 workhorse and 497 is M84, as it seems, it was also rather trivial for MJ to introduce this combination. If I can get my hands on some M84 I can check out the grains and see if they match those from M54.
The plot thickens. I managed to get hold of some M84 and M76. Here they are next to each other together with Nottingham and W-34/70. My tentative observations:
- M76 is a mix, as suspected. I have separated the grains of different color with a tweezer, the lighter ones are rounder while the darker are more rodlike.
- The lighter grains of M76 look suspiciously like the ones of M84.
- None of the grains in M76 look anything like Nottingham (which are much smaller)
- The darker grains of M76 are similar in shape as W-34/70 but different in color.
- M84 looks similar to the light grains of M54 in the image a few posts up.
Would be nice to get hold of some Diamond for comparison, but here are my takeaways so far:
- M76 doesn’t contain Nottingham. The cerevisiae part is most likely the same as M84 (suspected Mauribrew Lager 497).
- The lighter grains of M54 are likely the same as M84.
- Given that Mauribrew didn’t offer any pastorianus, this likely means that MJ mixes yeasts from different manufacturers. This opens up a lot more possibilities.
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The plot thickens even further… I got a delivery of yeast, and here’s how they look. My observations and thoughts below. I thought I would confirm some hypotheses but instead I am even more confused.
- M76 is consistent with M84 + Diamond. Diamond has two types of grains shapes. These are also present in BRY-97, so I wouldn’t take it as an indication of a mix.
- Brewferm Lager seems different than M84, which is supposedly Mauribrew Lager 479. If anything it looks like Nottingham, which would actually be a plausible option.
- Nottingham doesn’t really look like M42 at all. Maybe they have different factories with different shapes (although all my Lallemand is listed as products of Austria)?
- M44 is consistent with BRY-97, although they have different color that might be due to being from different batches.
- M15 and Windsor don’t really look the same either. M15 has the same look as BRY-97, M42 and Diamond though so might be another batch/machine for the Windsor?
- M36 gives no indication of being a mix at all and doesn’t look anything like M15 or M42.
Some pairings that could plausibly be considered are:
- Mauribrew Draught for M42? Matches roughly for attenuation, recommended temperature range and flocculation.
- S-04 for M36?
Now I have some beer to brew with all these yeasts…
Overview
Close-up around M76
Close-up around M42 and M44
Close-up around M15 and M36
M36
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