mead yeast

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