I love the idea of the bread yeast. I would love to see what variants people have tried with that yeast too! I have s04 s05 Nottingham and champagne Yeast in the fridge most times but never the bread yeast. It intigued me and I can't figure out why it works in this recipe nut not in others. Do you know why? Is it just be use of the exact ingredients?
Well, I don't know how much researching and experimenting Joe Mattioli actually did when he was working out the JAO recipe, but there must have been at least a few precursor batches.......
So, as for the different yeasts ? Well yeast is just yeast right ?
Well, yes, but equally no. The yeasts, seem to be chosen for different properties. Yes, I do suspect that it was historical accident that showed that different yeasts had different properties i.e. that the wine yeast from one area produced alcohol, but did different things to the flavours that had been produced in the wine/grapes in different areas..... Whether that's how it was worked out with beers I don't know.
Of course, we now have quite a lot of research led findings that go some way to explain exactly how the different yeasts affect the ingredients - whether the experts actually know why they do that, again, I don't know.
Most of my efforts and learning have been plagiaristic cheats - using ideas and suggestions of those more knowledgable that I could ever be.
For example, over at Gotmead, we (well it was just a couple of us who were curious enough) who wanted to know what the hell the "Maury" yeast was, that the late Brother Adam had written about etc. So I was the person who got part of the info from the Apiary Manager at the time, who explained that he didn't know so much about that, rather that when Brother Adam could no longer obtain the "Maury" yeast, that he'd used a locally packed version of the Montpellier strain - which I found out was Gervin Varietal "E" (which I believe is still available but most Gervin stockists don't keep it). Equally, I don't recall who it was that established that it's "usually" available version from a different maker, is K1-V1116.
As most of us who've made a fair bit of mead "know", K1V is a very good yeast for meads, particularly for traditionals. While it does have a number of properties similar to EC-1118 (18% tolerance, low nutrient requirement, low sulphur producing, etc), it's better in many ways. It doesn't seem to blow a lot of the volatile aromatics straight out the airlock, produces better esters (especially if fermenting a honey must at the lower end of the temperature scale), is more capable of handling differences in temperature range, etc etc.
Yet those two yeasts come from opposite ends of France (are they exclusive to those regions ? Don't know).
We then find out that Lalvin D21, while isolated after Brother Adams' death, IS a "Maury" yeast (wikipedia has a good entry about the AOC region of Maury, and why it's different to the surrounding area of Rousillon), so whether it's the same yeast that Brother Adam used originally, I can't say, but there seems to be more than just a circumstantial connection of Lallemand marketing it as "Maury" yeast etc. Plus it does seem to make bloody good meads......
That analogy might not be the best example, but it does explain some of the differences of yeasts. Are beer yeasts as varied ? I don't know.
What I do understand (correctly or not, I can't say) is that with wine and beer yeasts, they seem to have been selected (deliberately or by chance) for their flavouring properties. While what's sold as bread yeast, is chosen for it's ability to produce CO2 and "prove" bread doughs very well. It just so happens that it also produces alcohol given enough sugars (bread dough, the sugars will still be in the form of unfermentable starches - they'd need converting as in beer making techniques for alcoholic bread doughs).
The one property of bread yeast that is, or at least can, be an issue, is that it doesn't flocculate out very well. Yes, it does seem to make about 12 or so percent alcohol (on par with many ale yeasts) before it hits it's tolerance, but it makes a very light, fluffy sediment, that will come back into suspension if it thinks you've looked at it in a funny way.
It's one of the main reasons why, when making a JAO batch, I will let the fruit drop completely. Yes, Joe does point out that once the yeast has dropped in JAO it's "ready" (IMO that's relative, as I've found that I like it aged at least 6 months to be very good, though it can be OK to drink once clear), but if you then pass a racking cane through the layer of floating fruit, the yeast that has settled on the fruit will come back into suspension and make it cloudy again, so you end up (if you're feeling impatient) that you have to rack it, then let it clear again.
Even then it seems best to move the fermenter/container/racking or bottling bucket, to the place where you're actually gonna conduct the bottling a couple of days before, to allow any sediment to drop out again.
Sorry if I've "gone on" a bit about this, but I can't think of any quick way of explaining some of the bits I've picked up about this, let alone how to get round some of them........
Just that I hope it helps explain some of the issues.
Yeasts and their ability/properties, is a very complex subject. So far be it for the likes of me to skim the subject and pass it off as any kind of expertise. I'm lucky to have read some excellent info about yeasts from a mead making point of view and assimilated enough of it to have been useful to me. I just don't mind passing on what I've learned if it's likely to be helpful to other newer mead makers.......
Oh, and one of the few changes to JAO that I found is quite nice, is to use lemon instead of orange. Just don't fall into the trap that just any citrus fruit will make as good a batch as orange. It doesn't. I found that using lime instead of orange was bloody hideous - at least to my taste anyway.......
