Devo9

Recipes 

Is there a major difference between an ale yeast and a wine yeast? Will an ale yeast make my mead taste more like a beer? I have only used wine yeasts so far... Just curious about people's experiences.

Are mead and cider yeasts worth trying as well?

Thanks

dummkauf

Recipes 

I am pretty sure the primary difference would be the yeast strains tolerance to alcohol. Most beer yeasts will die off in the 8%-10% ABV range, where as wine is often around the 15% ABV range so those yeast strains are more tolerant of the higher alcohol levels.

If you were wanting to make a sweet mead with less than 10% alcohol I don't see why you couldn't use an Ale yeast(never tried it myself, but I would think it would work), otherwise if you're going over 10% you're probably best to stick with the wine or mead yeasts.

frydogbrews

Recipes 

each yeast offers subtle differences in flavor and body of the finished product. we all have our preferences. i make only dry mead, so i only use wine yeast, but even that is a large field to choose from.
alcohol tolerance is the biggest thing to decide, then flavor.
my favorite yeasts for mead are
k1-v1116
71B 1122
favorite for cysers are
d-47 (careful with ferm temps on this one though)
and nottingham (if you treat it right, it doesn't have a problem going up to 11%)