Fermentation temp?

What temp. should mead be fermentated at?

During the day my apartment is around 85 degrees and when I get home goes to around 76 degrees.

Is that too warm & would the temp changes cause any problems?

Thanks
Cregar

What yeast are you using?

85 sounds pretty high for any fermentation. the white labs sweet mead yeast and their champagne yeast recomend 70 to 75 degrees.

- magno

I was planning on using a champagne yeast. Im just starting to research mead and from what I have read... champagne yeasts are standard.

Also, does the fermentation of mead need a blowoff tube or would a fermentation lock work ok?

I've used an airlock on both of the batches that I have done (or am currently doing)

- magno

you might want to consider using lavin K1 - V1116 yeast. It is a general wine yeast, not a champagne, but it has a very large temperature range and should work fine in your apartment.

A wide temp swing could cause a stuck ferment. The smaller the batch, the more sensitive the yeast get due to the heating/cooling properties of liquids.

I would stick with the lalvin's also (1116, 1118). The few batches I tried with Liquid Mead yeast were too picky on nutrients and I had a hard time getting them going.

Although it is a pain also think about incrementally adding honey to the must. Less strain on the yeast and you can build up a nice population to finish the primary ferment cleaner.

They are well worth the effort.

BB

Cregar, I just finished my first mead batch, and I had some off (phenolic) flavours. The second batch, I've been keeping the temps cooler, but you know the weather we have to deal with. (Air conditioning is expensive enough when I'm home, but it's worse when I'm gone!)

Try for a 70-75 degree temp, and watch out for temp swings. Also, the larger the fermenter (and batch) the easier it is to keep temps steady.

steve

Cool... thanks all for the advice. I think I am going to wait another month or so till it cools down more.

Thanks again