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Bray's One Month Mead
- Thread starter loveofrose
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MX1
Texas Ale Works
What is the recommended 2nd choice for yeast, in the event I cannot find 1388 tomorrow?
Look at the page I linked to above.
https://www.youtobrew.co.uk/mead-making-101/ingredients-and-recipe-building
MX1
Texas Ale Works
the You to brew page?
Will have to look when I get home after work, it is bookmarked on my laptop
yes, under ingredients he lists the dry yeast alternatives. From my own experience, Mangrove Jack mead also works quite well and Lutra makes also a really good mead. One of my favourite meads up until today I made with Lutra. But The mangrove Jack yeast is really cheap and also a solid choice. Still have some packs flying around, will try it in store bought apple juice and see if I get something drinkable
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MX1
Texas Ale Works
Shopping today, might pick up some other Dry yeast for later meads. I want to get these going using the BOMM method so I can turn around a few batches and possibly have some ready to bottle for Christmas.yes, under ingredients he lists the dry yeast alternatives. From my own experience, Mangrove Jack mead also works quite well and Lutra makes also a really good mead. One of my favourite meads up until today I made with Lutra. But The mangrove Jack yeast is really cheap and also a solid choice. Still have some packs flying around, will try it in store bought apple juice and see if I get something drinkable
It is amazing how vibrant this thread is considering it started almost a decade ago! Proof of concept for sure!
It does not look like Dr. Bray is still active, but his contribution cannot be overstated!
T
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
MX1
Texas Ale Works
Yeah I wanted to give him a call out
MX1
Texas Ale Works
well, I need to be there for sure
MX1
Texas Ale Works
Yep
Yes, this is an old post, but recently discovered. All the local home brew shops have discontinued Wyeast. Your recipes calls for number 1388. Do you have an alternative yeast? What other Belgian strong yeast might work? Are Belgian dry yeasts an option? Thanks for your time and all the effort you have put in
I use the llalamand Abbyale. works great. 
Dr. Bray Denard did a yeast experiment to find out which yeast performed best. Here's a link to the article he wrote about it on his website.
https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/ale-yeast-experiment-belgian-bomm-one-month-mead/
I hope this helps you.
Happy meading
andrewmaixner
Well-Known Member
I used it once. Definitely left more "chimay-ish" flavor, which aged out after a year or 2.I use the llalamand Abbyale. works great.
My taster is not the strongest, so I may be missing those notes. Also, I last used it for a blueberry session and it turned out great. I still have a couple bottles in the fridge. Then I have to make more.
Info, please!
3 gal batch
1 5lb jar costco honey
1 jar Trader Joe's Blueberry juice at creation
1 tsp Fermaid O
1 pack Llalamand Abbeyale Yeast rehydrated in the Fermaid O and some water.
water to 3 gals
warm RO water to better dissolve the honey, mix all ingredients, pitch the yeast and degas regularly for the first few days. Since I was doing a small batch with not so much sugar I did not do the full TONSA. The finished mead is very tasty but somewhat dry and the blueberry is very subtle. If you want more BB I'd say stabilize and add another bottle of the juice at bottling, or another bottle of juice at high k. this way it will still dry out, but hopefully leave more of the flavor around. I hope you make some and enjoy it.
1 5lb jar costco honey
1 jar Trader Joe's Blueberry juice at creation
1 tsp Fermaid O
1 pack Llalamand Abbeyale Yeast rehydrated in the Fermaid O and some water.
water to 3 gals
warm RO water to better dissolve the honey, mix all ingredients, pitch the yeast and degas regularly for the first few days. Since I was doing a small batch with not so much sugar I did not do the full TONSA. The finished mead is very tasty but somewhat dry and the blueberry is very subtle. If you want more BB I'd say stabilize and add another bottle of the juice at bottling, or another bottle of juice at high k. this way it will still dry out, but hopefully leave more of the flavor around. I hope you make some and enjoy it.
JP_BeerFan
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Sigh...
While it is good to know it is a well behaved yeast, I was looking for responses describing HOW it behaves and looks, typical time of fermentation in the BOMM protocol, etc. so I might have a chance on geting a clue why I followed the protocol closely, and my batch is STILL fermenting 40 days from pitch.
Can anyone help me with my original question, what does a typical 1388 ferment look and act like?
MX1
Texas Ale Works
Possibly ferm temp, IIRC the BOMM calls for a 70-ish degree temp, that will speed things up compared to a 65 or 65 ish temp
I see you are at 68 in your chamber, what size batch was this?
Have you tasted it? Have you pulled a gravity yet....gravity will tell you more about the ferment than the airlock will
I see you are at 68 in your chamber, what size batch was this?
Have you tasted it? Have you pulled a gravity yet....gravity will tell you more about the ferment than the airlock will
My uneducated guess is that your pack was old or somehow the cells were not as healthy as they should be. So you might have pitched not enough cells, at least what you are saying sounds like the blueprint of not enough cell count problems.
Last edited:
MX1
Texas Ale Works
Tasting it will help tell if it is an under pitch or possible wild ferment, or at least I think it should
JP_BeerFan
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Huh, thought I typed out a response, must have not sent it...
1 gal jug, in my little dorm fridge fermenter with temp control. It does taste good, so if it's a wild yeast at least its a good one. Haven't checked a sample for a while, at 20 days it was at 1.018, its past 40 days now, and still going, still growing thin wispy yeast rafts on top. I moved from 68F to 70F for several days at the first week, when it was starting so slowly, Bray had said he thought 1388 went fastest at 68F, so I put it back there since then.
Will check it soon, taste and gravity, and report back.
A lot of the precursors for wild funk are not present in honey. Especially all the phenolic ones are missing, so we won't be getting these flavours from wild yeasts. This means it's a lot harder to tell if wild yeasts played a role during fermentation than with beer. This can be a good thing.
MX1
Texas Ale Works
This is very good to know!
Yes! It can make live hard if you are after a "funky" mead.... this is a tough one. I made a wild mead once, that one is pretty good, needed ages to become good, but at the end is really nice. But nothing in there says it is a wild ferment... I mean, it is not as clean as a commercial yeast mead, but also not as funky as you would expect when you compare a wild beer to a normal beer.
MX1
Texas Ale Works
Question about the BOMM SNA
Only doing additions at day 0/2/4 ?
working on build a bewlog with formulas for the SNA additions
Only doing additions at day 0/2/4 ?
working on build a bewlog with formulas for the SNA additions
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