I bought these fancy-shmancy wine kits, and all they came with was a lousy packet of 1118.

[Scientific hippie]

I don't know what to do. EC Kraus was having a sale (25% off on two kits) and I splurged on a Malbec and an Italian wine (Amarone, I think). I got a second FastFerment and two of the fine mesh diffusers for the grape skins. There are all sorts of packets of oak dust and oak chips, kiesel this and chito that. But the yeast that came with both kits is Lalvin 1118! I'm still new to this, but I feel the disdain when people talk about 1118, how it burns all the subtlety out of wine and cider. Should I get different yeast? Are the kits (Cellar Crest) engineered to handle 1118 and still taste the way I would expect them to? Help!

 

[RPh_Guy]

There's nothing wrong with 1118. It's fast, low foaming, expresses competitive factor, low nutrient requirement, low sulfide, high ABV tolerance, generates sulfite, and is neutral over a huge range of temperatures.
I've used the Red Star Premier Cuvee strain, which is believed to be the same as 1118. It makes a great cider IMO and is also recommended by experts.
Some I have fermenting in the garage around 45°F and it's slowly bubbling away.

People with bad experiences either prefer more estery/evc yeast, and/or start with low quality must, and/or ferment too warm so the natural fruit esters are too volatile and blow out the airlock.

You can use any yeast you want. I'm not sure about the starting gravity of the kits, so just make sure your yeast can handle up to whatever ABV is desired and are happy in your temperature range.
There are lot of strains, and you can find charts to help select. ... However we all have different tastes so recommendations from others can only go so far.

Hope this helps

 

[Moose_MI]

I don’t make wine but in beer they say “brewers make wort and yeast makes beer.”

Is wine flavor largely effected by different yeast and fermentation temperature, cell count and all the stuff beer brewers deal with?

Just wondering....sorry to hijack the thread...

 

[RPh_Guy]

Is wine flavor largely effected by different yeast and fermentation temperature, cell count and all the stuff beer brewers deal with?

I made a very yeast-forward flavorful beer with Sacc Trois and Brett lambicus (brux), and the same yeast combo in cider had almost no expression (both fermented at 70°F with free rise).
I don't think yeast express much character in wine, when compared to beer.
Pitching rate and temperature still matter to prevent off-flavors, contamination, and volitization of aromatics. Almost all wine yeast is dried, so hitting cell count is a simple matter of using the correct weight of yeast (or number of packets) and correctly rehydrating.

 

[Scientific hippie]

Hope this helps

Thank you, RPh guy! I'll stop worrying and pitch it.

 

[DoctorCAD]

You can change the yeast type.

EC1118 is included because it just plain works.

 

[Scientific hippie]

You can change the yeast type.

EC1118 is included because it just plain works.

I pitched the 1118; I haven't tasted it yet.

 

[bernardsmith]

Totally agree with DoctorCAD. Kits will provide the yeast that offers the least problems and issues for the most novice of buyers of the kit. That's how they stay in business.

EC-1118 is a bulldozer. It's moot if you pitched the yeast but if you want something with a little more finesse you simply replace the yeast included in the kit with the strain you want. And while the kit almost certainly advises you to follow all directions to the letter (otherwise there is no warranty) many folk who buy kits and who like you have some experience under their belt, happily tweak their kits in all kinds of ways to obtain the results that they want.