Mead Yeast

[MrC]

I've been planning my annual mead brew and have discovered that the yeast that I used last year is no longer available. Last year I used Gervin GV4(26).

I was looking at the Vintners Harvest range of wine yeast at my LHBS today but nothing was leaping out at me.

Does anyone have any good advice on what yeast to use for mead?

[MrC]

If anyone is interested I found a chart that recommended Vintners Harvest Yeast - SN9 as the best yeast for mead in the Vintners Harvest dried yeast range. I'm gonna give it a try later this year so it will be a long time before I have any results.

[MrC]

Thanks Mr Cherry! That's very helpful. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

[denimglen]

Not the biggest mead community aye? :-P

[JoKing]

I'd go for Saccromyces Cerevisare Bayanus (Champagne Yeast). It is strong at fermenting most types of sugars - including dextrins. It is tolerant of lower ferment temps... the last one I did was a Raspberry wine at 12 degrees. And it is fully fully FULLY neutral. It will make your mead taste like honey.

I learned a lot of good advise from the wone maker of "Pukeko Grove" Fruit Wines. The above 2 tip were some... the other is sweeten back.

So - use the Bayanus to dry your mead right out. Then, use bentonite to drop it out, and Potassium metabisulphite to denature the yeast. Then... use table sugar (mixed with water to make a syrup) to sweeten it back to your tastes. You can do this 100g at a time, until you find your balance.

After that, if you bottle condition - you can make a non carbonated mead. If you have a Soda Stream machine... or know someone who does - you can make sparkling. If you keg... you can make 20 Liters of the good stuff.

Feel free to ask about this process.

[denimglen]

IIRC JZ on The Brewing Network (while not the biggest expert on mead I'd say) said pretty much the same thing. Except I THINK he may have said back sweeten with honey.

I found that podcast quite interesting even though mead isn't on the books for me.

[MrC]

Cheers Glenim, I'd forgotten about The Brewing Network, I'll check it out.

[MrC]

Cheers Jo. Your a fountain of brewing knowledge.

[Soren]

Have anyone ever tried fermenting the mead without yeast? that is, let the fermentation run wild from the wild yeast in the honey? I'm contemplating a NZ-"lambic": wort were I will add a pound of local honey and let it take its toll. anyone ever tried anything like this?

[JoKing]

I haven't... but I work with bulk Molasses, and when I use a spill bucket that inevetably fills with water, the smell is out of this world!! Like wild cherry, wet work socks, pinapple... Oh and Molasses.

LMK if you want some... the spore count is massive.