Which Yeast for Mead?

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I'm too new to realy be able to suggest a good yeast, so far I have tried Lalvin D47 and Safale s-04. My house was a bit too warm for the D47 but I wont know how well it worked for a few months yet. And the s-04 has only been going a few weeks.

I've been using these two site for most things I need:
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/
http://dorsethomebrew.co.uk/

And have had no problems with either.

Good luck with your meads!
 
Lalvins K1V-1116 is likely to give some of the best results with meads, as its got a good temp range , is a low nutrient yeast and is capable of about 18% ABV.

All of the lalvin range have merit, but they also supply more data about their products than any other yeast producer.

Oh, and achieving the stated alcohol tolerance is as much about the techniques used in making a batch as it is of the yeast tolerance.

regards

fatbloke
 
So far for mead I've only used Pasteur Champagne, with very satisfactory results. Other yeasts could possibly give even better results, but I haven't tried any yet.:mug:
 
So far for mead I've only used Pasteur Champagne, with very satisfactory results. Other yeasts could possibly give even better results, but I haven't tried any yet.:mug:
Well if it works brilliant. I just tend to stay away from champagne yeast as they do seem to blow a lot of the aromatic elements straight out the airlock.

Just like using D47 already mentioned, its good but seems to do best at lower temps. So if you're located somewhere that gets warm, there's little point in the chance of making paint thinners.

Lalvin produce a nice, clear list, that explains most of the bits we need to know, but as you'd expect, most of it alludes to grape wines.....
 
Supposedly, you should be able to use any ale or wine yeast. I've only made a handful of batches, and I've only use 71B, E-1118, and D-47. All 3 worked fine, but I preferred the flavor of the 71B the best. YMMV
 
at the end of the day, ANY yeast will work as long as its kept happy. however that doesn't mean it will taste any good. yeast is one of the main factors in altering taste so it pays to get one that matches your honey.

for me so far the biggest problem is keeping it cool enough, ideally no more than 20c, and still be in the yeast temp range. gets tricky when the yeast requires 15c or more minimum.
eg temps have been around 15c here at the moment. borderline for 71B but fine for EC1118 or K1V
 
Look up Scott lab handbook, slam full of great info.
Gives the list of damn near any yeast imaginal and their characteristics.
 

Interestingly, the Scott Labs Handbook seems to strongly recommend EC-1118 for only one particular type of white wine (sparkling base) and not at all for red wines (it's not even shown as a possibility on the chart for red wines). It does recommend it for other fruit fermentations and mead though.

Just thought I'd mention that, since many people seem to regard EC1118 as their go to yeast for almost anything.

Also, regarding temperature, it recommends avoiding both the high AND the low end of a yeast's temperature tolerance range.
 
Interestingly, the Scott Labs Handbook seems to strongly recommend EC-1118 for only one particular type of white wine (sparkling base) and not at all for red wines (it's not even shown as a possibility on the chart for red wines). It does recommend it for other fruit fermentations and mead though.

Just thought I'd mention that, since many people seem to regard EC1118 as their go to yeast for almost anything.

Also, regarding temperature, it recommends avoiding both the high AND the low end of a yeast's temperature tolerance range.
This yeast is great for dry mead, but for residual sweetness and flavor I find D47 works pretty well.
 
Here's another useful yeast comparison chart:
http://www.piwine.com/media/pdf/yeast-selection-chart.pdf

Previous revisions listed the relative H2S levels at 60 and 120 ppm of nitrogen, I dunno why they changed the chart to eliminate that.

Interesting chart. There are only two yeast strains that got 4's in all the boxes ( = highest recommendation), and EC-1118 was far from that. One of the two was the Pasteur Champaigne yeast (now known, after a name change, as Red Star Premier Blanc). The chart doesn't doesn't speak at all as to how well it would perform in a mead per se though. But maybe as a "general purpose" yeast, if there is such a thing, it would be a good choice?

According to the chart, though, EC1118 does stand out as a "very fast" fermenter, apparently faster than the Premier Blanc, which is only rated as "fast". In fact, EC1118 was the only yeast that the chart rated as "very fast." Therefore, it would seem to be the fastest of all the ones that the chart rated.

Anyhow, the chart does seem to validate the notion that some yeasts really do ferment faster than others. I think Yooper mentioned once that she hadn't noticed any differences at all in fermentation times for different yeasts, so it left me wondering.
 
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