HawleyFarms
Well-Known Member
With all of the amazing work done by folks like LoR on experimenting with quick, tasty meads, there has been a ton of requests or questions on using dry yeast strains to create a solid, tasty, quick mead.
Although I have not made LoR's BOMM myself, I have tasted it from others in the area who have made it and I love it. This led me to experimenting with several wine yeast strains using the BOMM as a basis for my recipe.
I had great luck with Red Star Cote Des Blanc and was disappointed with Lalvin D47. With that in mind I decided I would do some small 1 gallon test batch trials. I know that LoR has said that he is also going to do some dry yeast trials in the future.
In the meantime, I am going to order some dry yeasts and a pack of 1388 to test several quick meads all at one time. I decided to try these experiments for those who have trouble getting liquid yeasts for whatever reasons whether it be their location or the time of year, for newbies (of which I still consider myself having only a little under 40 brews), and for multiple other reasons.
The first experiment will be 5 1 gallon batches using 1388, Cote des Blanc, Belle Saison, M27 and at least 1 other that I have yet to decide (suggestions welcome!).
For this first group, I plan to use both the Cote des Blanc and the 1388 as the controls of the experiment. In subsequent groups I will use the 1388 and the best one from the previous group.
I am going to use this thread to report back on all of the batches.
Any suggestions on dry yeast strains are more than welcome. I used D47 and was extremely unhappy, it is just now drinkable at a few days less than 6 months. Cote des Blanc was quite good at 2 months although a touch hot. At 2 and a half months it is tasting excellent.
The basic recipe I intend to use is this:
Water and white clover honey to 1.09 feeding nutrients at start, 1.06 and 1.03 I will then rack when it reaches between 1.02 and 1.01. After it clears entirely, I will use campden and sorbate to backsweeten to 1.015 (my personal preference for mead, not too sweet but not dry either). I will provide tasting notes at 1 month, 2 months (prior to backsweetening and again prior to bottling), 3 months (from the bottle) and again at 6 months (from the bottle). With the Cote des blanc and d47, both were entirely clear without fining or cold crashing, campdened/sorbated and backsweetened at 2 months which is what I plan for most of these trials. Then bottled 1-2 weeks later.
I am using white clover honey for 2 reasons; 1) I get 5 gallon buckets at no cost and it is one of the cheaper varietals for those who have to buy it, and 2) so that the flavor of the varietal being used will have less of an impact compared to what yeast is being used.
Wish me luck!
Although I have not made LoR's BOMM myself, I have tasted it from others in the area who have made it and I love it. This led me to experimenting with several wine yeast strains using the BOMM as a basis for my recipe.
I had great luck with Red Star Cote Des Blanc and was disappointed with Lalvin D47. With that in mind I decided I would do some small 1 gallon test batch trials. I know that LoR has said that he is also going to do some dry yeast trials in the future.
In the meantime, I am going to order some dry yeasts and a pack of 1388 to test several quick meads all at one time. I decided to try these experiments for those who have trouble getting liquid yeasts for whatever reasons whether it be their location or the time of year, for newbies (of which I still consider myself having only a little under 40 brews), and for multiple other reasons.
The first experiment will be 5 1 gallon batches using 1388, Cote des Blanc, Belle Saison, M27 and at least 1 other that I have yet to decide (suggestions welcome!).
For this first group, I plan to use both the Cote des Blanc and the 1388 as the controls of the experiment. In subsequent groups I will use the 1388 and the best one from the previous group.
I am going to use this thread to report back on all of the batches.
Any suggestions on dry yeast strains are more than welcome. I used D47 and was extremely unhappy, it is just now drinkable at a few days less than 6 months. Cote des Blanc was quite good at 2 months although a touch hot. At 2 and a half months it is tasting excellent.
The basic recipe I intend to use is this:
Water and white clover honey to 1.09 feeding nutrients at start, 1.06 and 1.03 I will then rack when it reaches between 1.02 and 1.01. After it clears entirely, I will use campden and sorbate to backsweeten to 1.015 (my personal preference for mead, not too sweet but not dry either). I will provide tasting notes at 1 month, 2 months (prior to backsweetening and again prior to bottling), 3 months (from the bottle) and again at 6 months (from the bottle). With the Cote des blanc and d47, both were entirely clear without fining or cold crashing, campdened/sorbated and backsweetened at 2 months which is what I plan for most of these trials. Then bottled 1-2 weeks later.
I am using white clover honey for 2 reasons; 1) I get 5 gallon buckets at no cost and it is one of the cheaper varietals for those who have to buy it, and 2) so that the flavor of the varietal being used will have less of an impact compared to what yeast is being used.
Wish me luck!