American Ale Yeast for Mead

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MikeRLynch

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Has anyone tried this before? I got the idea from Basic Brewing Radio, and they said that the Wyeast 1056 yeast lent a nice fruity ester profile and didn't have any of the sulfur or diacetyl problems some other meads have. Some of the other beer yeasts they tried were terrible apparently. I've got a gallon in the closet right now, I was just wondering if anyone has been down this road before.

mike
 
I've used Safale US-05 for some 8% meads and had little trouble. One came out very clean and the other developed some hefe-weizen clove and banana aroma.
 
I was wondering how a hefe yeast might do in a mead, it might warrent some investigation. The banana clove thing might go well. Well I've got all 8 of my one gallon jugs full and popping, so I guess that idea will go on the back burner :)

mike
 
It tasted great with the clove and honey, but I doubt that the flavours will remain. Even at 8% I plan on aging this at least 6 months.
 
MLynchLtd said:
I was wondering how a hefe yeast might do in a mead, it might warrent some investigation. The banana clove thing might go well. Well I've got all 8 of my one gallon jugs full and popping, so I guess that idea will go on the back burner :)

mike

We used 3068 for a cyser. It's been in secondary for quite a while now, but tasted it a few weeks ago and it's dang fine. Highly recommended.
 
I used a lot of Edme ale yeast back in the day. Now it goes by the name Saf-ale S-33 from Fermentis.
 
Moonpile said:
We used 3068 for a cyser. It's been in secondary for quite a while now, but tasted it a few weeks ago and it's dang fine. Highly recommended.

Here, here. I second the 3068 in Ed's apfelwein. Very good flavor.
 
I just started a batch of mead, my first one, it is basically Yooper's JOAM except I used the yeast from a couple of my bottle conditioned belgian wheat homebrews. I figured that the belgian abby would compliment the orange in the mead well, and it has an alcohol tolerance of 12% abv so it would ferment enough to leave a nice level of sweetness but not too much.
 
I used a lot of Edme ale yeast back in the day. Now it goes by the name Saf-ale S-33 from Fermentis.
Hey, malkore! I remember the EDME yeast with fondness, and I still have an unopened pack of it, although after over 10 years of storage it probably isn't good for anything except possibly yeast nutrient! ;)

I also fondly remember their cans of DMS, Diastatic Malt Syrup, which I used for many partial grain recipes in the past because they processed it at a low enough temperature that the diastatic enzymes were not denatured -- great stuff for problematic mashes! Unfortunately some issues with salmonella in canned goods (peanut butter, not malt! GRRR!!!) resulted in it being withdrawn from the US market. Our loss.... :(
 
I like Edme/S-33 because it can hit 13% abv. You can easily make a sweet mead with this stuff by taking no more than 3lbs of honey per gallon (more of a dessert mead, drop to 2.5lbs if you don't want it that sweet).
 
Has anyone tried this before? I got the idea from Basic Brewing Radio, and they said that the Wyeast 1056 yeast lent a nice fruity ester profile and didn't have any of the sulfur or diacetyl problems some other meads have. Some of the other beer yeasts they tried were terrible apparently. I've got a gallon in the closet right now, I was just wondering if anyone has been down this road before.

mike

Yes but I usually don't for one simple reason. My fermentor is full, and hot temps and beer yeast do not mix.

I works just great if you can keep it at 67 degrees.

The nice thing about wine yeasts is they do just fine at higher temps. I keep my house at 78degrees and don't get any off flavors from mead.
 
I'm piggy-backing on an old thread: What FG can I expect from a melomel brewed with 1056? OG is going to be around 1.077.

I hope someone sees this.
 
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