New and overwhelmed.

Hi everyone. I just got onto the mead seen and I've spent my fair share online trying to pull information on mead making. It seems like there is a bunch of websites with only a little information. I currently ( I am a military member so I move every few years ) am stationed in Hawaii and my house temps range from approx 78 at night and 85 in the day. I'm not sure what a good yeast would be for such high temperatures. Any help would be great along with any advice for a first time meader. Thanks everyone

 

EC-1118 will work up to 86 f according to its ratings on the packages, though you may end up with some off flavors or loss of bouquet, but it should work.

 

Lalvin K1v-1116 is my go to for extreme temps. And 1116 will not loose out on much of the subtle aromas of the honey. It also seems to compliment flora aspects of honey. 1118 should only be used to re-start stuck fermentations IMO.

 

You can do alot with a keg bucket and frozen water bottles. They need to be changed out twice daily or more, but it works and is cheap. Then save up for a craig's list freezer and a temp controller.

 

I've yet to use one but the common answer seems to be to use a swamp cooler. Just buy a large container and a case of frozen bottled water and keep swapping out the bottles to the freezer. A lot of people suggest putting a T- shirt over the top of the fermenter so it dangles into the water and wicks it over the top. Water Is a good insulator to temperature changes and I'd imagine you could bring your fermenting temps down 15-20° pretty easily with a couple of swaps a day. Just a thought

 

Is there a good website that has a chart/breakdown of all this information

 

Here is a link to some common yeasts, but what I would do is look up the manufacturer online and bookmark their yeast section, alot more detail on mfg website. http://winemakermag.com/guide/yeast

Hawaii...are you using local honey? Macadamia nut flower makes me drool.

 

Check this out. It gives a good break down on common lalvin strains:

lalvin yeast chart