Best Tempurature for Mead Fermentation?

[KilhavenBrew]

It is getting Hot. I want to make a mead this week.

But I wont bother if fermentation at 70 degrees is going to cause off flavors. What is the right Fermentation Temp for making a good mead?

I will be using Dry Mean Yeast by Wyeast.

They say 55 to 75 Degree F. But that does not mean at 70 it will taste good.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

I've fermented my meads around 65 - 70 with no off-flavors, using the same strain you mention. If you think it is getting too hot for fermentation, you can always put the carboy in an appropriate sized tub and fill it with cool water to cool the fermentation down some.

 

[tweake]

keep it 70 or under. over 70 tends to make hot alcohol flavors which take a long time to age out. this is regardless of what yeast you use.

 

[fatbloke]

There's no real "right or wrong" temp.

It depends, mainly, on the yeast that you're using.

For instance, read around the bazaars and you'll note that a lot of people like to use D47 - fine, it's a good yeast, but if you look at the lalvin yeast chart, you'll notice that it has a much narrower temperature profile, than similar yeasts.

It's not hearsay, it's fact, that if you ferment D47 above 70F, then you'll get paint thinner, like as not.

It's also one of the reasons that when asked, I usually tell people that they can't really go wrong with Lalvin K1V-1116. I've seen it referred to as "the swiss army knife of yeasts". It's got a wide temperature range (10 to 35 C), it's a low nutrient requirement yeast, it has a good alcohol tolerance, etc etc.

If you want something that is drinkable quicker, then I'd say try 71B, but the K1V-1116, while tasting a little rough, when the mead is freshly off the lees/sediment, it really does age very, very well.

Oh, and it doesn't seem to blow all the aroma/flavouring elements straight out the airlock, like EC-1118

 

[tweake]

certainly you have to fall within the yeast tolerance. however with honey it seams hotter temp = hotter alcohol. some one did a fair bit of testing on gotmead which found far better under 20c.. my recent brews also seam to to bear that out as well. the under 20c ferments are less hot tasting.
also a lot of yeast are noted for better flavors at cooler temps.
the problem of course is lots of yeast only go down to 15c, so keeping it above 15c and below 20c acn be tricky.

 

[MedsenFey]

Keep in mind that the temperature range of the yeast in those charts refers to its ability to survive and function, not to the quality of the results. Many yeast can function at 80-90F but most of them are likely to produce phenolic, fusel-ridden swill.

It also depends on what you are fermenting. If you are making a huge, dark-berry melomel, you may have a lot more latitude in temperature and having it in the 70s up to 80F may not be be too much.

For a traditional mead, I've only found two yeast that can ferment at 80+ and produce a great mead (though it still took a year for the band-aid aromas to clear) - K1V and D21. Many folks seem to have reasonable success with 71B in the 70s but I haven't been as lucky so far. I'm planning to test it further.

 

[Lunchbox201]

I don't have an ac or a heater and I live in Texas so my temp ranges from 15 f to 115 f depending on the time of year I gave found the ec-1118 to work well with all the temp changes and have yet to get anything to sulfurous in smell that didn't disappear with aging of corse these are my results and they may not be the same for everyone

 

[MedsenFey]

In several comparison tests over on GotMead, EC-1118 and premier cuvee (the same strain) have tended to do poorly in the heat. YMMV.

 

[Fletch78]

Does SNA have any affect on the results herein posted?

 

[fatbloke]

Does SNA have any affect on the results herein posted?

The benefits of SNA and of course, aeration in the earlier stages, seem to benefit in ways like the yeast more likely to be able to reach or even surpass their published tolerances.

It does seem that it's probably better if you can ferment at a lower temperature. As it's less likely to produce fusels, etc. Given that there's a wide range of climatic conditions for us, as we all come from different locations with there differing weather etc, it also gives a common (standardisation ?) level to work from.

One of the reasons I use both D21 and K1V, is that they have a good temperature range. So I'm less worried about fluctuations.

Also, as Medsen points out about the amount of time any medicinal character needs to mellow, well it's my habit to age my meads for at least 12 months.

Oh, and I'm also happy to use those two strains because of the links to the mead making of the late Brother Adam. He originally use "Maury" yeast, and as far as research points out, that's the same as the Lalvin D21, when he could no longer locate that, he moved to the Montpellier strain (available here, both as Lalvin K1V-1116 and Gervin Varietal "E").

 

[MedsenFey]

Does SNA have any affect on the results herein posted?

I haven't found that it makes much difference in the heat as the batches I've done it the high temps seem to get fusel, medicinal, or sulfur odors whether I do SNA or additions of adequate nutrient at the beginning. Heat stress just creates some really harsh meads in most cases, though that's not to say that great meads can't be made in the heat. They can, but yeast choice becomes very important.

 

[mr_y82]

I gather that temp is less important after primary fermentation???... does this mean I can get away with secondary and bottled aging temps of 76F or so, or would a lower temp be ideal???... using the mentioned yeasts that tolerate heat the best... I can adjust temp as necessary for primary ferm.

 

[MedsenFey]

does this mean I can get away with secondary and bottled aging temps of 76F or so, or would a lower temp be ideal???...

Cellar temp (around 57 F) is probably ideal, however, I keep most of mine stored at 75F, and they do well and will certainly last for several years even with that kind of storage.

 

[mr_y82]

I'll have to check with the old man to see if he has some shelf space in the cellar... thanks.