Beginner Mead Maker - Yeast Comparison

[DJbrewer]

Hi all!

well, i have tried a couple of meads, well melomels, but they failed as I did not sterilise the fruit enough...

I have decided to go back to first principles: honey, water, yeast
will try a metheglin next.

And i was going to try different strains/manufacturers of yeast ( I ahve 2 x 15 L containers for this).

My considerations:
- my house is not well insulated so the temperatuure can vary widely. With the cooling temperatures now i guess the temp can drop to 10-12 degrees at night and get up to 30 degrees during the day but hotter if the days are very hot in Melbourne.

- I want a dry-ish mead. I have no real experience drinking mead (well, just a little) so do not really have an idea about this.
In terms of wine- i like dry whites, as well as semi-sweet wines. Sweet wines are ok, too, but not sure what that would be like in a mead.


The yeasts I have are:
- EC-1118
- Vintner's Harvest SN9

both are the same strain and have broad temperature range tolerance. But they ferment very dry, I believe. In a cider, the EC-1118 was too dry to drink...

Questions:
1. how dry is dry when talking about these yeasts? any comparison to a dry wine will be appreciated (easy way to gauge, i guess)

2. Should I compare two similar yeasts (SN9 and EC-1118) or just use one and try something like the D47 or the Vintner's Harvest equivalent CY17. My LHBS does not sell the D47. The temperature range for the D47/CY17 is not as broad as the others so am a little concerned about that.


thanks for any feedback.

 

[Wolfy]

Unless you already know what type(s) of mead you like, I'd suggest trying yeasts with different qualities, that way you can make a Sweet, Semi-Sweet and Dry meads and find which you prefer - I'd personally not see the point in trying two almost identical yeast strains.
The champagne yeast you mentioned will ferment all the sugars you give it, as long as you don't reach its alcohol tolerance - so dryness is really a balance between the total amount of sugar, and the yeast you use (and the yeast's alcohol tolerance) - all the more reason IMHO to run a few tests before making large samples - you could even run multiple small (5l) batches too.

Most of the yeasts should be fine at resonable fermentation temperatures, but even then you should try to control the temps to keep the yeast from producing off flavours etc. You could use a water-bath or old fridge or other insulation to keep your fermentation at resonable/constant temperatures, most of those solutions work well.

While it sounds like your LHBS has a bit more range than mine, but you could also look at the bulk-buy for dry yeast I'm trying to organise since there is a range of different yeasts there.

 

[barls]

personally i like the sweet mead yeast from ether wyeast or whitelabs.
the belgian 1388 does alright as well.

 

[DJbrewer]

good idea about trying different types of mead, Wolfy. I think I will use the EC-1118 since it seems to be a favourite and no-one seems to have used the SN9.

I tried 5L batches but I found it difficult to manage, also, if one works then I only have a small quantity of mead- and it takes so long to make.

Now that the weather is cooling down i think the temps in the house may stabilise a bit...

 

[DJbrewer]

personally i like the sweet mead yeast from ether wyeast or whitelabs.
the belgian 1388 does alright as well.

thanks, barls.
I do not think i can afford the wyeast mead yeast, and i read you had to watch the nutrient addition carefully to get a good mead. Now, I am going to try my best on that but I am just not that careful! :lol:

actually, perhaps I will get dry and/or semi-sweet meads on and then try the wyeast when I feel a bit more confident. I have had good success with their dry cider yeast so should give it a go.

not even sure where to get whitelabs or belgium 1388.

thanks,
djbrewer

 

[Airgead]

thanks, barls.
i read you had to watch the nutrient addition carefully to get a good mead. Now, I am going to try my best on that but I am just not that careful! :lol:

Don't be too fussed on the nutrient addition thing. I use a single addition as per the packet at the beginning of fermentation and it works fine. There are others who prefer a much more complex addition schedule in order to speed up fermentation and apparently get fatter aging. I don't see the need to do that and prefer to have a longer, slower, more controlled fermentation. The jury is still out as to whether the more complex method has any negative effects on the storage characteristics of the mead.

Especially for a beginner at this, go the simple way.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Wolfy]

good idea about trying different types of mead, Wolfy. I think I will use the EC-1118 since it seems to be a favourite and no-one seems to have used the SN9.

I do not think i can afford the wyeast mead yeast
...
not even sure where to get whitelabs or belgium 1388.

At least you can buy EC-1118 mostly anywhere, however it will ferment out very dry.
To make something sweeter, D47 appears to be hard to find, however you can get R2 and 212 (or equivalents) which may be worth trying.
For a sweater mead you can also try US-05 - which (the liquid equivalent) was actually one of the favorites on Basic Brewing Radio's mead yeast comparison show.

Grain and Grape sell most of the Wyeast liquid yeasts including 1388, but I don't know anyone in Melb who sells Whitelabs yeast.

 

[DJbrewer]

.

Don't be too fussed on the nutrient addition thing. I use a single addition as per the packet at the beginning of fermentation and it works fine.

sounds fair enough. plus, the simple nature of this second attempt lends itself to simple techniques...

At least you can buy EC-1118 mostly anywhere, however it will ferment out very dry.
To make something sweeter, D47 appears to be hard to find, however you can get R2 and 212 (or equivalents) which may be worth trying.
For a sweater mead you can also try US-05 - which (the liquid equivalent) was actually one of the favorites on Basic Brewing Radio's mead yeast comparison show.

yes, D47 is hard to get and still waiting to see fi your Bulk Buy goes ahead. hopefully more people come on board.
Funnily enough, I have some US-05 in the fridge when I was goign to do a cider with it.
that means i have an EC-1118 (or SN9) and the US-05.

so, now have the honey (Orange blossom from archibalds) and have to pick up the two 15L fermenters today, put it all on tomorrow.

thanks for your advice!

 

[Wolfy]

Funnily enough, I have some US-05 in the fridge when I was goign to do a cider with it.
that means i have an EC-1118 (or SN9) and the US-05.

I've not tried US-05 in a mead - yet, however you can listen to what BBR think of it in their "November 8, 2007 - Beer Yeast Mead" show found here: http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page...wing-radio-2007
The 9 yeasts they compared included Wyeast Sweet and Dry mead, 1056 (US-05) and the 1388 mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

[DJbrewer]

I've not tried US-05 in a mead - yet, however you can listen to what BBR think of it in their "November 8, 2007 - Beer Yeast Mead" show found here: http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page...wing-radio-2007
The 9 yeasts they compared included Wyeast Sweet and Dry mead, 1056 (US-05) and the 1388 mentioned earlier in this thread.

thanks, will check it out.
good resource!

 

[leiothrix]

yes, D47 is hard to get and still waiting to see fi your Bulk Buy goes ahead. hopefully more people come on board.

Silly question, where is the bulk buy thread? I could do with some D47. There doesn't appear to be a bulk buy forum any more.

Thanks,
Rob.

 

[barls]

funnily enough in the bulk buy section but heres the link
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=42247

 

[leiothrix]

funnily enough in the bulk buy section but heres the link
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=42247

I don't see a bulk-buy section in the list of forums and haven't done for a while. The link you posted doesn't appear to work either.

Thanks anyway though.

 

[barls]

works fine for me. its under the market place just under the items for sale.

 

[DUANNE]

just for curiositys sake i tried the link as well and it worked.

 

[leiothrix]

So it should be between 'The AHB Marketplace' and 'Retail Shop' ?

I've got nothing.

I'll go bug an admin, sorry for the off topic.

 

[barls]

interesting

 

[Wolfy]

I don't see a bulk-buy section in the list of forums and haven't done for a while. The link you posted doesn't appear to work either.

Did you do something bad and get banned from the Bulk Buy forum?

 

[leiothrix]

Did you do something bad and get banned from the Bulk Buy forum?

Not as far as I know, although I did participate in the first Chinese hop buy . And buy participate I mean pay some money and receive some goods, not slagging everyone off for the fun of it. And if I had been banned I would hope that I would at least get an email/PM to let me know.

Rob.