Using Beer Yeast to Make Mead... Which is better?

[aleiexjr]

Hello Fellow Mead Makers I would like to brew my first mead batch, however I can only get baker's and beer yeast because where I live (Mexico) mead is not popular, so I've got to use beer yeast.

I read on the forum that it is possible to use Safale US-05 but I'd like to know if there are any other beer yeasts I could use or that may be better so, here is the list of those yeast that are available to me:

Cooper's Ale (unspecified)
Munton & Fison Ale Yeast
NOTTINGHAM
Safale
S-23,
S-33,
T-58,
US-04,
US-05
Safbrew
WB-06
T-58
S-33
Saflagger
W34/70

As I understand, the ones I marked in bold letters can tolerate high alcohol content, so I guess those could be good, but I don't know if I will be able to brew a lightly sweet mead.

Thank you so much in advance for your help guys!
US-05

 

[biochemedic]

What about "wine" yeasts? Can you get, for example, Lalvin D47? Perhaps a champagne yeast like Red Star? Those are often used for meads, and in fact are some meadsters preferred yeasts.
I've been thinking about trying a mead with an ale yeast though, and I'd bet you could use 05 to get something up to at least 10% if you used nutrients and/or feed fermentibles incrementally.

 

[aleiexjr]

The thing is I haven't found a wine supply store yet that's why I'd have to go with beer yeasts for now.

 

[malkore]

I've done a lot of mead with S-33. it will give you a sweet mead as long as you use enough honey to give you residual sweetness.

 

[aleiexjr]

Thanks malkore, have you used any yeast nutrients in those meads you've made with s-33?

 

[malkore]

yes, nutrient, and especially energizer. honey just really lacks nitrogen for the yeasts (even the strains that don't need much nitrogen) so in a basic mead (no fruit, grape juice, or malt added) you wanna use nutrient AND energizer. or follow Ken Schramm's tips (posted all over here and the rest of the web) for a staggered nutrient addition. He uses fermaid-K I think.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I know it's not mead so give me a break...this is just FYI...

I did a cider with a Hefe Weizen yeast once. We all know HWs usually attenuate at about 75%. The yeast took the cider's FG down to 1.000.

I thought it odd, but took the extra alcohol in stride anyway...

 

[aleiexjr]

so... a hefe weizen yeast may work for mead as well, i guess

 

[Masticon]

I'd highly advise against a weizen for mead. It's low flocculation means that you'd end up with terminally hazy mead. It'll probably taste ok but it just won't look like mead.

 

[JohnwSAV]

aleiexjr: Yes, a hefe yeast will work for mead...I just kegged a two-week ginger mead that was fermented with Fermentis WB-06...tastes great; makes a fine, cold, refreashing, carbonated hot weather drink. (please note: this was a 1.060 mead...so it finishes fast and needs no aging. jw 6-16-2010)

homebrewer_99: From what I've read, the controlling factor in yeast attenuation is their lack of ability to ferment certain sugars. So, for example, an ale yeast may ferment all monosaccharides, but not disaccharides (like maltose or lactose) or trisaccharides (like maltotriose). Honey and apple juice have simple sugars that are easily consumed by brewing/wine making yeasts...so as a rule the attenuation rating of yeast means little when making mead or cider. However, alcohol tolerance does matter, if a given batch has sufficient sugars to take the alcohol content above a yeast's tolerance rating...as Malkore said "it will give you a sweet mead as long as you use enough honey to give you residual sweetness."
Alternatively, if you keg, you can cold crash your mead when it hits the sweetness you want, then rack into a keg and hold it cold to ensure the small population of yeast that remains is too cold to care about eating sugar. I did this with the two-week ginger mead I mentioned above, and it has held at the same gravity reading, 1.010.

PS: if you mead has a starting gravity of 1.060 or less and you pitch enough healthy yeast I believe you can pass on the nutrients; I used none and went from 1.060 to 1.010 in 10 days...it's the long-haul starting at 1.120 or above meads that need assistance...awesome & well proven methods of managing nutrient additions are availble for the reading in this mead forum.

 

[Egghead]

Nottingham will probably be neutral enough to do for a mead, but its alcohol tolerance is about 10%, I think.

 

[MedsenFey]

If you use those nutrients and keep it happy, the Nottingham ale yeast will push to at least 12%-13% ABV.

 

[homebrewer_99]

aleiexjr: Yes, a hefe yeast will work for mead...I just kegged a two-week ginger mead that was fermented with Fermentis WB-06...tastes great; makes a fine, cold, refreashing, carbonated hot weather drink. (please note: this was a 1.060 mead...so it finishes fast and needs no aging. jw 6-16-2010)

homebrewer_99: From what I've read, the controlling factor in yeast attenuation is their lack of ability to ferment certain sugars. So, for example, an ale yeast may ferment all monosaccharides, but not disaccharides (like maltose or lactose) or trisaccharides (like maltotriose). Honey and apple juice have simple sugars that are easily consumed by brewing/wine making yeasts...so as a rule the attenuation rating of yeast means little when making mead or cider. However, alcohol tolerance does matter, if a given batch has sufficient sugars to take the alcohol content above a yeast's tolerance rating...as Malkore said "it will give you a sweet mead as long as you use enough honey to give you residual sweetness."
Alternatively, if you keg, you can cold crash your mead when it hits the sweetness you want, then rack into a keg and hold it cold to ensure the small population of yeast that remains is too cold to care about eating sugar. I did this with the two-week ginger mead I mentioned above, and it has held at the same gravity reading, 1.010.

PS: if you mead has a starting gravity of 1.060 or less and you pitch enough healthy yeast I believe you can pass on the nutrients; I used none and went from 1.060 to 1.010 in 10 days...it's the long-haul starting at 1.120 or above meads that need assistance...awesome & well proven methods of managing nutrient additions are availble for the reading in this mead forum.

Yes, you are correct. The yeast will convert all the sugar it is capable of. Any nonconverted sugar will attribute to the sweetness of the finished product.



Masticon: I agree with your general statement that it would/could end up cloudy, but it was crystal clear.

One of the members here did an experiment using different yeasts and the winning batch was made with a HW yeast. That's why I used it.

 

[Masticon]

Masticon: I agree with your general statement that it would/could end up cloudy, but it was crystal clear.

One of the members here did an experiment using different yeasts and the winning batch was made with a HW yeast. That's why I used it.

Huh. I wonder if really well aged HW would end up as clear. Perhaps the yeast will settle over a couple of years or so. I can't think of why that would happen.

 

[JohnwSAV]

homebrewer_99: Oops! I think I misunderstood you! I thought you were unclear on why a hefe yeast would exceed it's attenuation ability when you said

"I did a cider with a Hefe Weizen yeast once. We all know HWs usually attenuate at about 75%. The yeast took the cider's FG down to 1.000. I thought it odd, but took the extra alcohol in stride anyway..."

So...I kinda thought you were asking why this would happen...please forgive me if I jumped on the stump too quick to give my two cents...I certainly don't mean to sound authoritative or all-knowing...just sharing with others what I can.

Masticon: Yeah, it seems given enough time yeast will settle out...regardless of its flocculation habits. Wild yeasts and bread yeast are also slow to clear I hear...saw that over in the cider forum...which BTW has a really good thread on yeast experiments that our original poster may do well to check out.

Take care guys...

 

[homebrewer_99]

homebrewer_99: Oops! I think I misunderstood you! I thought you were unclear on why a hefe yeast would exceed it's attenuation ability when you said
So...I kinda thought you were asking why this would happen...please forgive me if I jumped on the stump too quick to give my two cents...I certainly don't mean to sound authoritative or all-knowing...just sharing with others what I can.

Masticon: Yeah, it seems given enough time yeast will settle out...regardless of its flocculation habits. Wild yeasts and bread yeast are also slow to clear I hear...saw that over in the cider forum...which BTW has a really good thread on yeast experiments that our original poster may do well to check out.

Take care guys...

No problem, no foul!!

And yes...some Hefe Weizens will clear up with time. Most of my bottled ones do...then I swirl a little of the beer at the end. I lived in Germany for 9 years so "I am a professional (drinker)"...:rockin:

 

[JohnwSAV]

9 years in Germany? And you bothered to come back? Yeah, what a great place. my wife has dual German/American citizenship; she worked through college as a bartender, so I have a "professional" of my own when it comes to correctly serving a weizen! Plus we get to go visit every now and then...Stuttgart area...plenty of good southern German wheat beers. Just don't go out on your birthday.

The small mead I started two weeks ago has stopped fermenting and all the yeast dropped out...the yeast is Fermentis WB-06...not quite like some of the better strains of weizen yeast, but still supposedly a "low flocculator." I think it may be safe to say that yeasts intended for beer brewing will perform well for brewing meads, but will not behave the same as they would if in a barley-wort. Aroma for example: I get no clove or bananna aromas from a mead made with wheat yeast. So maybe flocculation is also different...maybe there's something in a wheat beer wort that causes/promotes the yeast to stay in suspension longer.

I'm trying different yeasts to make small meads, and have in mind the goal of finding a yeast that will produce lots of fruity character in the finished mead; please bear in mind that I'm talking about a mead that is meant to be consumed as quickly as a fine british cask-conditioned ale would...with the intent that the yeast aroma is still fresh and strong. Anyone with beer-yeast-in-mead experience that found one which left a fruity aroma please share the info.