Over Use Of Yeast

[Miller1]

Ray1 here,

Have just found this site and am hopeing it may answer a few questions. Firstly I have no experience with home brewing, but, I am a very enthusastic sideline beekeeper. Decided to use some of my honey to brew some mead.
Added (4) litres of mineral water to (1.1) litre of Coachwood Honey.
Mixed the sachet 12.5 g of mauribrew Y1433 when it was bubbling away added it to the glass fermenter. Into the hot box and held it at 25degrees.
Day 3 added 20g of mauriferm nutrient
Day 5 added 10g of mauriferm nutrient
day 8 added 5g of mauriferm nutrient
Fermentation process took 17 days until SG stable with no decrease.
During fermentation I added 745ml of Coachwood honey to keep the SG above 1.01
Start SG 1.0865
Finish SG 1.014
Racked it off into 2x2litre glass flagons & 1 litre glass bottle. After one week no sediment at all in the flagons or bottle. There is still some very slight fermentation going on but no change at all in the SG.
A friend who has worked in a big commercial wine manufacturer's lab wanted a taste. Her verdict"hell, you are going to have to do something about the yeast taste", I would not know a yeast taste if it bit me on the bum, to me it tastes like a $1.00 bottle of chardonay, just take out the grape taste and add honey. Sorry to be so longwinded, any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Ray1

 

[Wolfy]

The longer you let it condition the more the yeast will settle out, and reduce the 'yeasty' flavour.
Even storing it in the fridge a few days will help a great deal.

 

[superdave]

I can't seem to find any specs on a Y1433, but 25C might have been a touch too warm.

 

[Miller1]

The Spec says it is fine in the range of 15/30 degrees. I thought I may have gone a bit overboard with the nutrient. I will take your advice and leave it in the cupboard for a couple of months and see what it looks like. I have some very dark black honey in the cupboard, I will start a new batch next week and keep a closer eye on the nutrient addition. I am in no hurry to drink it, Thanks guys.

 

[superdave]

The Coopers* yeast that comes with the tins says it is fine between something like 18 and 30C; but makes much much better beer at the bottom end of that range, throws off some bad cider flavours at higher temps. Maybe try and brew it at 20C?

*Using this as an example based on my experience with hot brewing with this particular yeast.

I guess this advice depends upon if you are getting the cider flavours from your beer or not.

 

[sjwt]

A friend who has worked in a big commercial wine manufacturer's lab wanted a taste. Her verdict"hell, you are going to have to do something about the yeast taste", I would not know a yeast taste if it bit me on the bum, to me it tastes like a $1.00 bottle of chardonay, just take out the grape taste and add honey. Sorry to be so longwinded, any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Ray1

how long did you let it age after fermentation stoped? a ''quick'' and dirty mead needs somethign like 2 months. A good meed should be aged for a year to two years from what I ahve herd.

 

[rich_lamb]

Sounds like you did pretty well for your first crack at it, and as the others say stick it away for a while (maybe 6-12 months!) and it may clean up and be pretty nice.
I've never heard of that yeast either - is it a mead specialist?

You're probably right about the nutrient. You'd need more than a beer as it's all just simple sugar, but stick to one addition at the start, and as suggested go for a cooler ferment - ALWAYS makes for better brew (personally I would use about 17-18).
At the higher temps with just sugar, you could have a bit of yeast autolysis - dead yeast - which makes for a pretty horrible yeasty, rubbery effect, and may not improve.

And see if you can get some others to taste it; don't get fixed on one diagnosis. Good luck!

cheers,
B&T

 

[Supra-Jim]

Not a mead expert by any measure, but have heard the technique of adding yeast nutrient every couple of days during the initial ferment (BrewerPete may be able to shed more light here).

Temp does seem high, I'd be aiming more for about 18degC.

Cheers SJ