Yeast suggestions for Sourwood Honey

[uberg33k]

Hey all,

I was up in the mountains this past weekend and was lucky enough to find a whole lot of sourwood honey for cheap. I'd never had it before and the flavor is absolutely amazing. I've never done a mead before, only beer and my first cider right now, but I knew this honey was special and is begging to be mead. I really want it to end up semi-sweet and maintain as much of that amazing spicy-anise flavor as possible. I've been trying to read up as much as possible, but I'm having a hard time deciding on a yeast and was hoping to get a little advice. I'm currently leaning towards using Wy4783 with appropriate amounts of yeast nutrients, DAP, and yeast hulls. What would the sages of HBT suggest?

If it helps, I have (6) 32oz containers of sourwood and I'm looking to do a 5gal batch.

Thanks!

 

[biochemedic]

Sourwood varietal mead is amazing...you have a nice quantity of it for a 5 gallon batch...
I'd consider saving out at least part of one of the containers for potentially backsweetening if you want a semi sweet...it's much more difficult to reliably end up where you want than it is to stabilize and add back.
Can't really comment on your potential yeast choice...haven't used it. I personally like the Wyeast Dry Mead strain (4632)...I think it's a good basic yeast...doesn't have too much of it's own character, has a high alcohol tolerace, and allows the honey/mead to stand on it's own without too much character from the yeast itself.

 

[uberg33k]

Sourwood varietal mead is amazing...you have a nice quantity of it for a 5 gallon batch...
I'd consider saving out at least part of one of the containers for potentially backsweetening if you want a semi sweet...it's much more difficult to reliably end up where you want than it is to stabilize and add back.
Can't really comment on your potential yeast choice...haven't used it. I personally like the Wyeast Dry Mead strain (4632)...I think it's a good basic yeast...doesn't have too much of it's own character, has a high alcohol tolerace, and allows the honey/mead to stand on it's own without too much character from the yeast itself.

Yeah, I was really excited to find it. I already had planned on using 5-5.5 jars for must and then keep the rest for back sweetening.

I was a bit scared about using a dry mead strain as the drier meads I've had mostly just taste like white wine to me without a lot of character and as I mentioned keeping the distinct flavor of the honey is of the utmost importance to me. If you think it'll do the trick though, I'd be willing to check it out.

 

[MedsenFey]

K1V and a cool ferment will produce an excellent sourwood traditional, but you may want to backsweeten as it is a high ABV yeast. Sourwood is a great honey, but the aroma is somewhat delicate.Whatever yeast you choose, ferment cool to preserve the character. Also, if you keep the ABV down to a modest level, say 12% or so, you'll often find better honey character than at high levels of alcohol which tend to mask the aroma.

71B and Cote des Blancs also work really well.

Medsen