opinions please...

[jjustice1]

Hi all, I wanted to make Mead, or more specifically melomel... I've never tried to make any kind of brew or wine before, and didn't really want to get all scientific, so here's what I got going on... 4- 1 gallon jugs... each following a similar recipe, but with a different fruit/juice... so, my recipe is-

3 lbs clover honey, 1 packet of fleischmanns super yeast, 1 cup fruit juice, 1 sliced up piece of fruit, 1 box of raisins, spring water to fill.

I gave each of the jugs a thorough 5 minute shake, and put locks in them... right now they are 1 week in, and bubbling away steadily and dropping sediment. In 2 weeks, I will be moving them to secondary ferment containers, and am planning to hold off on consuming for at least 6 months after that.

My question is, if all goes well, how do the more experienced Mead makers here believe my efforts will turn out?

 

[Golddiggie]

Bread yeast??? *RETCH!!*

Go over to the Got Mead? forums and look at the advise/info readily available there.

 

[jjustice1]

OK, thanks!

 

[Golddiggie]

I wouldn't even consider using bread yeast for mead. With how much honey can cost, don't cheap out on the yeast. A packet of Lalvin Labs yeast is typically in the $1-$3 range (depending on where you get it). Those strains are designed to do a proper job of fermenting wine/mead and have a great track record of doing so. IMO, it's like making a great dinner with high grade beef, then pouring ketchup all over it.

So, unless you actually wanted to taste bread yeast in the batch... Well, you know where that would come from.

BTW, all but one my batches of mead have been made with Lalvin yeast. The exception was made with Wyeast Eau de Vie yeast (goes to 21%) due to wanting an even stronger ABV level (no Lalvin strain goes that high). I'm looking at using White Labs WLP099 in another batch, and seeing how far I can push it. I'm hoping I can get it to at least 25%, if not higher.

 

[vespa2t]

I wouldn't even consider using bread yeast for mead. With how much honey can cost, don't cheap out on the yeast. A packet of Lalvin Labs yeast is typically in the $1-$3 range (depending on where you get it). Those strains are designed to do a proper job of fermenting wine/mead and have a great track record of doing so.

Thats a pile of whatever... Bread yeast can make fantastic mead at the hand of someone who knows how. I have some that I make thats an award winner... in fact it was made with all Aldi's ingredients from the honey, to the yeast, and raspberries. That one was $10/gallon to make.

 

[Golddiggie]

Thats a pile of whatever... Bread yeast can make fantastic mead at the hand of someone who knows how. I have some that I make thats an award winner... in fact it was made with all Aldi's ingredients from the honey, to the yeast, and raspberries. That one was $10/gallon to make.

Not looking to get into an argument, or call you a liar, but I don't buy it for a nanosecond.

I made my 4 gallons of 16% mead for about $10/gallon too. I didn't cut corners and use bread yeast, I just bought the good yeast from a store that charges a fair price (the LHBS close to me). I bought my honey in bulk, which breaks out to 2.75/#.

BTW, I've seen far more posts about people having mead taste 'bready' after using bread yeasts than having any off flavors using the good (Lalvin) yeast. I am talking about people who know what they're doing too. Of course, information on temperature ranges, nutrient requirements for BREAD yeasts in mead is not all that common (at least not where I've looked, when I looked).

You can use that if you like, but I still don't buy it. I use bread yeast in making BREAD. For making mead, I'll use yeast that's been developed to give me what I want/need.

Before you ask, I've not entered into any competitions, so far. I make mead, and beer, to be enjoyed by those I share it with. NOT to try and win competitions. My first batches of traditional mead continue to please people. I used EC-1118, had it finish sweet (at a full 18% ABV) and it's just getting better with age (made them just over two years ago now).

BTW, the OP asked for opinions. I've given mine, you've given yours. Obviously we don't agree on yeast choice. Leave it at that.

 

[vespa2t]

BTW, the OP asked for opinions. I've given mine, you've given yours. Obviously we don't agree on yeast choice. Leave it at that.

Huh, so you give your opinion, and I give mine, then you can take a dump on my opinion, but Im not supposed to say anything further? interesting...

 

[springmom]

I've not made it, but don't I recall that JOAM is made with bread yeast??

 

[Sayers]

I've only made a couple batches but have listened to a lot of podcasts and talked to a few mead makers and they all say that yeast nutrient is pretty important when making mead because honey doesn't have all the nutrient yeasts need like grains do. I noticed you didn't mention you used any nutrients. As for the yeast selection, it may not be the best choice, but some dudes like ketchup on their steak, I'm willing to bet it will taste fine and the yeast might add some interesting characteristics. I recommend next time split the batches up again and use different yeasts instead of fruit, that way you can see for yourself what the differences are and which ones you prefer.

 

[fatbloke]

Eh.. eh, calm down, calm down (for best effect should be said in a scouse accent, but most of you lot would need a translator for that ).

Anyway, bread yeast will do fine, you can often get it to the 12% mark, but I've also read posts with people moaning about bready sort of flavour, and as thats not my experience with it, I can only conclude that comes from it being a bugger to rack. It produces a fluffy sediment that will come back into suspension if you sneeze too close to the fermenter. Plus given that JAOM is often recommended to new mead makers I'd guess that is where the criticism comes from.

I make my JAO batches infrequently but when I do I move the fermenter to where I'm gonna conduct the racking the day before then I'm mega careful about only racking the cleared liquid, but then I rack the rest of the liquid into a 2 litre pop/soda bottle thats had the top cut off it, then cover the top with cling wrap and bung it in the fridge overnight. Any sediment picked up falls into the molded feet of the bottle so I can rerack the last of the liquid only losing the liquid and sediment that is in the "feet" of the bottle.

Golddiggie is equally right with the suggestion to stick with wine yeasts as so much variation in flavour can come from the yeast.

Personally I usually use fermaidk dna DAP for nutrients but if I make a JAO I just stick to the recipe and it just works.

 

[vespa2t]

Eh.. eh, calm down, calm down (for best effect should be said in a scouse accent, but most of you lot would need a translator for that ).

Anyway, bread yeast will do fine, you can often get it to the 12% mark, but I've also read posts with people moaning about bready sort of flavour, and as thats not my experience with it, I can only conclude that comes from it being a bugger to rack. It produces a fluffy sediment that will come back into suspension if you sneeze too close to the fermenter.

That is a downside of bread yeast. Grandpa used gelatin to clear his, and I prefer fruits (the pectin does a great job).

And for the record, ANYONE who is starting off with brewing, I recommend try different stuff and find the one you like best. I make my mead the way my grandpa did, before there were LHBS in town with fancy refrigerated smack packs of strains of yeast for wine, mead, cider, etc... and esoteric honeys from the southwest... There are ways to make something fantastic from simple ingredients. There is also fantastic meads made with fancy yeasts, honey, etc... you have to try different things to perfect the way you want it.

 

[Illuveatar]

What types of fruit did you use and how much of each ?

Some fruits work better in mead than others and I usually use at least a pound of fruit per gallon, at least for the several melomels that I've done.

I think if I were you I'd consider racking to tertiary at some point to get the mead off the lees. Though I think it was Chevettegirl who said she let a JAOM sit for nearly a year so maybe it'll be ok.

 

[vespa2t]

What types of fruit did you use and how much of each ?

Some fruits work better in mead than others and I usually use at least a pound of fruit per gallon, at least for the several melomels that I've done.

I like raspberry the best. I use 8-10oz (frozen) per gallon. More than that and I feel the raspberry takes over and masks the unique fermented honey flavor. Strawberry is good to, but on that one I use 1lb/gal, same for apricot.

I did one last year of frozen local wildberry mix at 12oz gal, and it was rediculously tasty. Wish I had more of those berries

I think if I were you I'd consider racking to tertiary at some point to get the mead off the lees. Though I think it was Chevettegirl who said she let a JAOM sit for nearly a year so maybe it'll be ok.

Once the main fermentation is done, I rack off. Let that sit in secondary by itself a month, then rack onto the fruit. Let that sit until its 'done'...

I did do a JAOM that I let sit untouched for over a year. It was delicious also.

 

[Illuveatar]

I think raspberry is probably my favorite too, I guess I don't have the finesse to balance the fruit with the "unique fermented honey flavor" I usually just fruit the heck out of it. Maybe I'll tone it down a touch in my next batch.

 

[jjustice1]

Well... I made four separate 1 gallon batches... 1st batch I used 2 navel oranges cut into eighths. 2nd batch, same deal only with honeycrisp apples instead of oranges. Third batch I used 3 ripe peaches cut into eighths. Fourth batch I used red and white seedless grapes cut into halves, probably about a pound worth. So far I am 11 days in, and the primary ferment seems to be going very well, all are still vigorously bubbling, and are dropping a nice layer of sediment... I will probably rack them off about ten days from now, or when the ferment seems to have stopped, whichever comes first.

 

[jjustice1]

Today makes 3 weeks... all of my jugs are still bubbling... my question is, should I rack them off or wait for the bubbling to "stop"?

 

[bodhi86]

Wait until ghe bubbling really slows down, like alot. Unless your sitting on a lot of lees, like an inch( I never used bread yeast so I'm kinda accounting for the fluffy). You really only rack to get off old yeast or pull out fruit starting to get real " ripe", if its not for those reasons your just playing with it, and that's a bad habit.

 

[jjustice1]

Gotcha. I do have a considerable amount of lees in a couple of the jugs, surprisingly, they are the ones that are still bubbling strong! I'm going to take the advice though, because at this point the fruit is still in good shape. Thanks

 

[jjustice1]

Sorry folks, the hustle and bustle of everyday life has kept me off of here for a while... so at this point, I racked off about 2 weeks ago, added some fill water, fresh fruit, and did a little back sweetening. Everything is bubbling once again... at this point I'm not doing anything else with it until the fruit drops. I did take a little taste of each while racking off, gotta say... even though the products aren't quite finished yet, they are quite delicious.