Mead yeast questions!

[rjolin01]

This is my first venture in mead. I have few half packets of yeast from when I did 1gal beers and ciders. I was wondering if any of them would make good mead yeast. What I had planned was using some apple juice to make a starter of sorts to verify that yeast was still good after sitting in fridge for about two months.

The type of yeast are

Safale us-05
Côte des blancs
71b-1122

I know first is for beer and last two are wines. I also will be going to nearby city that has a lhbs and can always pickup something totally new. I am only gonna do a 1gallon batch so I was going to go with a dry yeast and looking for recommendations.

Thanks and cheers

 

[CKuhns]

This is my first venture in mead. I have few half packets of yeast from when I did 1gal beers and ciders. I was wondering if any of them would make good mead yeast. What I had planned was using some apple juice to make a starter of sorts to verify that yeast was still good after sitting in fridge for about two months.

The type of yeast are

Safale us-05
Côte des blancs
71b-1122

I know first is for beer and last two are wines. I also will be going to nearby city that has a lhbs and can always pickup something totally new. I am only gonna do a 1gallon batch so I was going to go with a dry yeast and looking for recommendations.

Thanks and cheers

Cote Des Blanc and 71b both work well for mead. No experience with Safeale US 05.

As far as starters go here is what i do.
a. Boil 6 cups of water.
b. Add 1tsp Go Ferm .
c. Stir in ½ cup honey
d. Check to be certain the ~7 cups of water / honey temperature is between about 85°F
i. Add the yeast from the smack pack or Cote Des Blanc Yeast Packets stir to evenly distribute.
ii. Pour into an Erlenmeyer flask and cover with a clean cloth.
1. Allow to sit on the stir plate at 64-68 Deg F for 24 Hours.

If no Stir plate then swirl to aerate once in a while.

I use the honey as that is the environment the yeast will be in once pitched and even if it does not matter to them makes me feel better.

 

[FrodeM]

The thing with mead is; You often need enough honey for an Original Gravity of 1.100 or more to get enough flavour. This in addition to honey being very poor in nutrients and at times quite acidic, some beer and ale yeasts may not be able to handle it. This is the main reasons why certain wine yeasts are recomended.

As mentioned, 71b-1122 and Côte des blancs works well, in particular for melomels where fruits are added to the brew. Some use EC-1118 for its robustness, and I'm personally trying out D47 at the time for a regular mead. It's also worth noting that all yeasts act in different ways, but you problably have experience with this. It is for example importaint to make sure 71b is racked off the lees often enough, while D47 typically needs to ferment cold.

And one last thing, add yeast nutrients before and during primary, and have patience after. Mead typically has to age for something like a year.