yeast?

[claphamsa]

I have failed to get up to the store to buy yeast,,, so im gonna NOM the bullit, and go interwebs....

I would like dry yeast, so i can store it. and i like middling to sweat meade....

last batch i used some cote de blanc.... just tastes it (it is meade day) and um.... repitch! it tastes like of the 15 LBS ofo honey only 10 fermented..... yeah.... repitch!

so i need yeast suggestions?

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

I've only made one mead so far, I used the ICV D-47, which seems a pretty popular choice for mead. Mine's only about two months old, so it's a little early to tell how it is, but so far I'm liking it.

It's supposed to go up to 14% abv, although mine seems to have kicked around 12%, and Big Kahuna has said that he's had it kick out at 12%, too.

My mead started with 15 lbs of honey in a 5 gallon batch, although due to difficulty in getting honey out of the bottle, I think there's really about 13-14 lbs of honey that went into it. Last time I checked it it had gone from 1.102 down to 1.012... seems pretty middling sweet to me - not overwhelmingly sweet, but definitely not dry either.

 

[claphamsa]

yeah, I went to MDHB and got a ocuple of D-47 and some D1116 and 1118

 

[BigKahuna]

D-47 is kinda like Cote Des Blanc. It supposedly crapps out at 14%...but has done so at 12% for me several times....so don't use a full 3 # per gallon if you want semi sweet.

**Edit.
HA! What The Blow Leprechaun Said

 

[claphamsa]

what would you use for a high alchohol... but not to dry one?

What do yalls usualy use?

 

[BigKahuna]

How High? I am really pleased with what D-47 does in an OG of around 1.100. The only thing I can say is Normal for me is that I normally use dry wine yeast, but that isn't 100% either....I have some ready to rack tonight made with Windsor Ale Yeast.

 

[claphamsa]

Dunoo, just asking my first meade was wayyyyy too dry. I want sweet, yet packing a punch

 

[BigKahuna]

Give D-47 a shot with 3# of honey per Gallon of fermenter size, top with water....if it ends up that the D-47 actually attenuates the way it should, add another 1 or 2 # of honey and let it sit another few weeks before you rack to secondary.

 

[claphamsa]

I re pitched my last batch with D47... since it was soooper sweet. ill see how it comes out

 

[claphamsa]

how the hell did you get 2K posts in 6 months?

 

[BigKahuna]

how the hell did you get 2K posts in 6 months?

Absolute OCD Behavioral pattern. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.







Making a commitment to actually try and offer honest and valuable advise when I can give it, and read everything and try everything possible to expand my knowledge of beer and mead so that if a new question comes up, maybe I'll have some little bit of information that could be helpful.

 

[claphamsa]

makes sense, I only post in threads I care about

and I really only look at my replies

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I re pitched my last batch with D47... since it was soooper sweet. ill see how it comes out

Hi claphamsa: If you haven't done so already, you can improve your odds of D-47 going to a full 14% with the additions of yeast nutrient & yeast energizer, and maybe a wee boost of DAP. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[claphamsa]

DAP? Ive hit it with nutrient....

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

Hi claphamsa: If you haven't done so already, you can improve your odds of D-47 going to a full 14% with the additions of yeast nutrient & yeast energizer, and maybe a wee boost of DAP. Just my 2 cents worth.

I did this with mine and it still pooped out at 12%, so... dunno!

Letting it sit while I debate whether or not I want it dryer... not like it hurts it to let it sit longer!

 

[claphamsa]

clear=g00d!

 

[fatbloke]

Well I'd say that if you really want high alcohol you're gonna have to hit it with something like EC-1118 - ferment it dry and then back sweeten. 1118 is (apparently) good for 18% ABV, so if you mixed the must to a gravity that will go to 18% or so (1135 or so), then it should give you some idea of how much honey to add for the back sweetening.

Problem I've found with high alcohol mead is that it's bloody horrible with a very strong "alcohol hot"/medicinal/mouthwash type taste, and can take some considerable time to mellow/age. It (the medicinal taste) does go with time though - you'd just have to keep having a little taste/test

regards

fatbloke

 

[BigKahuna]

1118 is (apparently) good for 18% ABV,

Just as regularly as D-47 Under attenuates, 1118 has OVER attenuated for me. I've seen it hit 21%, and I think the only reason it stopped there was because it was out of sugar!

 

[claphamsa]

wow.............

 

[Driftless]

Anyone have a rundown of common yeast strains with % ABV and "real-world" results (over-under, etc...), as well as other characteristics for mead, beer, wine, etc, all served up in a handy-to-use searchable chart or database with a really cool font, minimal distracting graphics, that maybe plays a mellow-but-rock'n streaming soundtrack in the background designed to get you centered but pumped to brew?

Anything similar?

Links?

Hello? Is this thing on? *ffffffff* Testing *ffffff*

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

claphamsa - Simple answer is, measure, taste. Once you get the kick and taste you want stop fermentation with chems, or crash cool it, but if bottling you must use chemicals; you do not want to bottle with sweet mead and still live yeast! Just because they are not active, does not mean they will not be later. Please believe me on this, you don't want to clean up the results.
In general, yeast do their own thing, and they do not care about "posted averages / calenders / your tastes / brew schedules" They are simple minded workers, eat, reproduce, no air, OK, eat, produce alcohol +, when can I reproduce?
As a homebrewer I worry about the yeast hitting the ABV I want and not hitting a stuck / sucker fermentation. (I have just found out wit yeast is very slow and lazy even though I have been a fantastic manager providing perfect temperature, food, air, nutrients, etc. But instead of a strike, I have work slowdown messing with my brewing schedule. Now I have a batch of Cote's doing the same to me with my current mead. It is not stuck, just going really slow, so I understand the desire to drop kick a batch into high speed. But mead and this yeast just does not work that way.

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

Just as regularly as D-47 Under attenuates, 1118 has OVER attenuated for me. I've seen it hit 21%

WOW - I need to get me some 1118, my LHBS does not carry it. Anyone know how I can get some packets way out here that would still viable without having to spend 20$ to ship 3$ of yeast?

 

[Ecnerwal]

Have someone on the mainland (west coast best, I guess) get it (I'd offer but I'm out east and it's a long haul to either not-very-local HBS) and put it in the mail (first class envelope), which should be under a dollar on top of the price of the yeast - unless you're one of the worrywarts that think dry yeast is going to expire if it leaves the refrigerator (won't if it's not exposed to 110+F type temps).

If you have to go through this sort of foolishness to get it, read up on making slants, and do that when you get it.