# mead yeast



## Alex.Tas (15/6/13)

Hi,

thinking of making a mead in a few months once i cen get some good cheap(ish) honey. I'm wondering what the maximum alcohol tolerance of WB06 would be?
I've recently made a german wheat beer, and it gave some great flavours (clove and some banana). It made me think of mead flavours. Has anyone used this yeast before for mead?
any other foreseeable issues?

cheers,


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## Airgead (15/6/13)

The WB06 spec sheet doesn't say what the tolerance is. You could assume around 12%. That seems to be average for a beer yeast.

The main problem is that the esters produced by the yeast are at least in part dependent on the various precursor chemicals available in the wort. A honey/water mix has a very different chemical profile to a malt/water mix so the ester production by the yeast may be very different.

So the yeast may or may not put out banana/clove esters fermenting a mead. The only way to be sure is to give it a go. Try a small batch and see what happens.

At least clove is easy to add if the yeast doesn't produce it.

Cheers
Dave


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## barls (15/6/13)

to get the bananna/ clove you need the pv4 precursor to be present, this is created in the mash. so you wont get it in the final product.
ive used both english and belgian strains and they both work well if you want a lower alcohol version


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## Alex.Tas (16/6/13)

What is pv4?


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## Mardoo (16/6/13)

I find myself wondering whether adding some DME or a liter or two of wort might provide any ester precursors without being too apparent in the mead.


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## Thefatdoghead (16/6/13)

Just put cloves in your mead if you like cloves. Not sure about banana though.


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## barls (16/6/13)

Alex.Tas said:


> What is pv4?


its the precusor that is created in the mash that determines how much of the clove/banana you have.
i got it wrong as well its 4vg thats the flavour and its caused by ferulic acid in the mash
. 
have a read here
http://www.bacchus-barleycorn.com/catalog/article_info.php?articles_id=122


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## Airgead (16/6/13)

Yep. That's why a ferulic acid rest when making a heffeweizen gives more clove flavours in the finished beer.

In a mead, no ferulic acid so no clove from the yeast.

As Gav said, just throw in some cloves. Actually, one clove will probably do. Cloves are strong stuff.

Not sure what to do if you want banana though (other than recommend counselling). The ester is isoamyl acetate but I'm not sure what precursors give that flavour. There is a paper on this - http://www.asbcnet.org/meetings/proceedings/2012/AbstractsDetail.cfm?AbstractID=420




> This showed that the more FAN (free amino nitrogen) in the wort, the more isoamyl acetate was produced. We analyzed the relationship between the quantity of this ester and the amount of the amino acids valine and leucine, which are biosynthetic precursors of isoamyl acetate. As expected, in the wort with low FAN content, valine and leucine were depleted during fermentation, inhibiting the formation of isoamyl acetate.


My guess is that amino acid levels in honey are very low so very little ester will be produced. I suppose you could mash up a banana...

Cheers
Dave


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## TNT650R (18/6/13)

I make good mead but I suggest that the best mead yeast are the ones for white wine...In past I tasted some mead made with beer yeast but the esters that thay will form are not armonious with the flavour of mead....when you drink that u can feel this esters that go in an other direction...
I done mead with champagne yeast and you can obtain a dry mead with lots of alcol they survive untill 18%abv
or sweet wine yeast and the result will be a mead more sweet and with less alcol 14%abv...
I've also try the white labs and wyeast yeast for mead and they give good result too.
above the beer yeast...
mead is more similar to wine than beer...

Maybe but I never try to do that you can use your Idea for make a particular braggot with a weizen yeast...


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## TNT650R (18/6/13)

Where can I buy a bottle of mead in Australia?
are there any productor?
Is mead important in Australia?

unfortunatly in Italy is near to be forget...there are only some beekeepers(is it the right word?!) who produce the drink of the gods!


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## Alex.Tas (19/6/13)

Bws and dan murphys both stock it. Thanks for the sdvice everyone


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## barls (19/6/13)

having had at least one of the two at dans and bws, i say forget maxwells and go for a proper mead.
try mudgee or tassie for a good example.


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## TNT650R (20/6/13)

really they have mead???
I can't immage that!!
wow!I always look only if they have some good beers..tomorrow I will have a look!mudgee and tassie!right!!
thanks guys!


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## Airgead (21/6/13)

They usually only have Maxwell's which iisn't really mead. Its lolly water flavoured with honey. Mead (good stuff) is almost impossible to get here. Which is why we make it.

There used to be a good mead maker in mudgee years ago. Not sure now though. A lot of them only sell cellar door so you need to go there.
Cheers
Dave


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## TNT650R (21/6/13)

Yeah right..the situation is like in Italy...I m lucky because I was near to one of the best meader in italy..massimo barbiero is his nane...and he teach me how make a good mead..the first rule is....
BE PATIENT!
He gave me a bottle(like xmas present)of his reserve mead 6year in bottle.....WOW!!
Anywa in Italy there are other 3good mead:Taurini, luna di miele, and another one but I don t remember the name...sorry!


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## TNT650R (23/6/13)

I saw the maxwell on liquorstre in surry hills, not expensive 16$ but I left it in the shop and I bought a bottle of bigfoot of sierra nevada.. :drinks:


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## Airgead (23/6/13)

Good choice.


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## boonchu (12/8/13)

Kangaroo Island does a nice mead
http://kangarooislandonline.com.au/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=204
Also dont rule out the red wine yeasts, they can bring a nice complexity to your mead.
Stay away from the so called meads in DMs they suck.


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## Airgead (12/8/13)

Yep... 71B which is my go to yeast for mead was developed for Beaujolais and other light, fruity red styles. Hard to get in a homebrew size though.

Cheers
Dave


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## Mardoo (12/8/13)

How about for a sweet mead? What's your preferred yeast? Time to make one for my wife!


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## Airgead (12/8/13)

71B...Same as I use for a dry mead.

Thing with a mead is that its all simple sugars so pretty much any yeast will ferment it out dry unless you go over the yeasts alcohol tolerance or stop it early some other way. 

the advantage of 71B is that it has a fairly low tolerance (13%) so if I want a dry mead I aim for 13% or lower. If I want a semi sweet I am for 14-15% and if I want a sweet on I aim for 15% or higher. The mead ends up around 13% (give or take a little) and the remainder of the sugar is left to sweeten the mead.

Same technique works for any yeast but as a lot of wine yeasts will tolerate 16% or more, it makes for a very strong mead if you want to max the yeast out. That's likely to put your missus to sleep before it has the desired outcome. Unless your desired outcome is to put your missus to sleep in which case go for it.

Cheers
Dave


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## Mardoo (12/8/13)

Thanks Dave. Those percentages are exactly the information I needed. (I realize they're yeast dependent.)


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## Airgead (12/8/13)

Yep. Very yeast dependent. Also depends on nutrient levels, pitch rates, etc etc (phase of the moon.. how you hold your tongue).

I have my process pretty well down pat now. Its takes a good few years of trials though. Keep working at it and be systematic. Change one thing at a time and you'll nail it.

If I were to do the experimentation again I would buy a big batch of honey (consistent ingredient). make a batch at just under the tolerance and another just over using the same nutrient and pitch. Taste the results. Using the just under as a reference, tweak your slightly sweet recipe until that comes out just right. Then tweak again to get a fully sweet recipe. After that you can play with nutrient levels etc.

Cheers
Dave


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## mmmyummybeer (12/8/13)

Don't know if it helps much but as to where to get Mead, we have a local Meadery about 15minutes from Echuca.

http://www.farmhousedirect.com.au/theoldschoolwinery

The Bards reward was very nice last time I had it and they also sold a mix spice for mulling the mead (ie you warm it up and add a herb splice mix).


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## boonchu (13/8/13)

We use D - 47 which gives consistantly good results. Only downside is the alcohol tolerance is at roughly 16% so even the sweet meads take a bit of aging.


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## Airgead (13/8/13)

D47 is another good one. I also used DV10 and CRU005 before settling on the 71B. 

I still pull out the D47 if I want a mead over 13%.

Cheers
Dave


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