Accidental experiment

[Nate]

Made a second batch of JAOM and, on the suggestion of many online posts, decided to try Wyeast's Sweet Mead yeast instead of bread yeast. What I didn't catch was that this yeast probably won't carry it to the same finish as bread yeast and the 3.5 lb honey to water gallon ratio might be over the top sweet. That being said, I decided to additionally pitch the bread yeast shortly after pitching the Wyeast.

While not exactly a planned sequence, I'm hoping is that bread yeast will carry it to completion while possibly getting a little of the better qualities of the Wyeast.

Thoughts? Anyone ever intentionally combined yeast strains? Any potential serious issues with this?

 

[fuelish]

Serious issues??? ... nah ...can't comment further, as I don't know the etoh tolerances of the "sweet mead yeast" and the bread yeast...shouldn't be a big deal....but then again, have never attempted JAOM, and I've been wrong before...just sayin'

 

[Nate]

Serious issues = bad mead. lol.

Should be interesting to see what happens...

 

[Maylar]

Dunno what will happen. Couldn't find any listing for sweet mead yeast in terms of its competitiveness, but yeasts don't usually play well together. You have a potential for about 17% alcohol and that yeast is only good for 11% so, yeah, it'll be sweet unless the bread yeast wins out.

 

[Nate]

Just a quick update on this. It appears as though this little accident is turning out OK. It's day 27 and it appears to be approaching FG with currently a little over 13% ABV (a little beyond the Wyeast Sweet Mead tolerance of 11%). A quick taste and I believe it is quite a bit cleaner at this point than the previous batch of JAOM made with just bread yeast. As I had hoped, it appears as though the Wyeast contributed to a cleaner fermentation while the bread yeast carried it a little further with the ABV.

Anyhow, just wanted to post an update for anyone interested.

P.S. I'm not suggesting this as a routine process... lol.