Wine yeast or baking yeast better for mead-making?

[Spacelover02]

I'm new to brewing mead. I'd love to get some suggestions about the best kinds of yeast to use, particularly yeasts that are good for fruited meads and a range of alcohol content.

I'm also considering using the White Labs sweet mead/wine yeast. But I'm interested generally in people's thoughts on using baking yeast as a wine yeast alternative.

Thanks!

 

[DBhomebrew]

TL/DR Yeasts are marketed as a particular type for a reason.

Not that you can't use a bread yeast for mead/wine/beer or any other cross purpose, but they do market them based on various characteristics.

A bread yeast may not flocculate very well nor handle a very high ABV. A wine yeast likely would handle a higher ABV, but still not flocculate as well/quickly as a beer yeast. A UK beer yeast would flocculate very well, but may not handle as high an ABV as a Belgian. You get the idea. ABV tolerance and flocculation being only two of numerous characteristics of import.

Joe's Ancient Orange Mead uses bread yeast and a number of other 'not right' ingredients. Reports say it makes great mead, but takes a long time (12mo+) before it's pleasant.

A proper yeast, proper nutrition, etc, can make a mead that's pleasant right out of the fermenter in ~30days. Of course, that same mead will likely be downright delicious a year later.

 

[MightyMosin]

I want to hear from anyone that has good experiences, minus JAOM, where baking yeast is a good match for mead. I have always used wine yeast and Ale yeast (S-04, US-05) but would use something else if there is some good info on it.

 

[Miraculix]

As meads are wines and not breads, wine yeasts are generally more suited for mead production than bread yeasts. However, under certain circumstances, it is possible to make good meads with both of them.

 

[Maylar]

Yeasts are marketed as a particular type for a reason.

Not that you can't use a bread yeast for mead/wine/beer or any other cross purpose, but they do market them based on various characteristics.

It would seem that very few people understand the concept of yeast pairing. Why are there so many wine yeasts out there? Why does one yeast work with red wines and another works with whites? What is the flavor profile of bread yeast? Over what temperature range?

Download a copy of Scott Labs' yeast handbook and see the variety of profiles that each has to offer. They publish more data on their yeasts than anybody else. There's good reasons why Lalvin yeasts are so popular around the world.