brewsbrothers
Well-Known Member
Dose anyone know of any problems with brewing Mead using Champagne Yeast I have some left over and was thinking of trying my hand at some basic mead. I think it will end up dryer then most but any other problems??
I've made 18% mead with champagne yeast (EC-1118).Actually, "The Complete Meadmaker" is a book that talks about using this yeast for meads. Just make sure you use enough honey to accomidate the yeast with a tolerence of 13%. If you like it dry, then keep it as such however, if you want to have a sweeter mead then you can use more honey than the yeast can turn into alcohol. Or you can back sweeten the mead. I have also heard of using campden after you ferment to where you want it and it should stop the fermentation. Others talk about pasturization when you hit your target sweetness and alcohol level. I hope this helps.
To be honest...it is a pain in the ass to do a traditional champagne style mead. That includes disgorgement: inverting the bottle, letting the "lees" accumulate into the neck, freezing the neck, and releasing the plug like blowing a cork. You don't have to do that. But it does make a very nice champagne sparkling clear and crisp. I start my meads typically after honey harvest in August. My first fermentation is with the washings from my honey cappings. I rinse the cappings of as much honey as I can. Then I add a little more honey (depends on how sweet the rinse is). I then let that ferment for 24-48 hrs. Then I kill the wild yeasts native in the honeycomb. From there I use a fairly standard process. For champagne, I will start with a cuvee type yeast and add nutrients. I will ferment that until I get the taste and body I like. Then I will cold crash it. Rack it again. I often do another fermentation, add a little more honey and then a Brut yeast. Once I get the mead's flavor where I want it, then you go about doing the "methode champagnoise". It is a little tricky to pop out the plug of lees and sit it upright. Then top off with a little of the mead you set aside for the purpose. But if a little bit of sediment in the bottom of the bottle doesn't bother you...I find it adds to the flavor. And like most meads...the longer it sits and ages, the better it tastes. That's the basics.Care to share your technique? I find it a huge pain in the ass to do champagne mead....it takes so much effort.
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