Yeast

[piagio2000]

So I've been at the winemaking for nearly a year now....a mere pup by the standards of many on here I know!
Till now I have used only Youngs GP yeast. While I have had no problems with it and I have been producing some nice wines I wonder if it's time to move on to a more specialised strain.

Reading around the board I see that different yeast can make big differences to the final taste of your brew.
As I feel my skill is improving and more importantly I'm feeling better about the quality of my results I want to branch out.

Till now I have always stayed away from anything other than GP mainly because of the price of individual sachets...though I have saw you can keep a culture going indefinately.

So anyway....the actual point of my post...
Can anyone give me some tips on say three or four yeast strains I should always have and whether they are best for red/white, heavy/ light type wines?
And are there any wines where my trusty GP yeast is perfectly acceptable?

[Her Lushness]

Take a look at this; I know it's on the forum somewhere, but I don't remember where!, so I've uploaded it again for anyone who wants it.

Gervin Yeast Info

[Omniata]

Take a look at this; I know it's on the forum somewhere, but I don't remember where!, so I've uploaded it again for anyone who wants it.

Gervin Yeast Info

Error error out of cheese!!!

Empty file

Think this is what you're after, Gervin is near the bottom
http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=945

Here's the page Bob got them from too, updated May this year:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/strains.asp

[james]

I always keep a sachet or two of champagne yeast (EC1118 or similar) handy. Its good for dry white wines & ciders.

The pros...
Its a very vigorous fermenting yeast,
It'll kill other wild yeasts, resulting in a lower chance of off flavours (very usefull for cider).
It'll ferment over a very wide range of temperatures.
It clears very well, rapidly dropping a lovely gelatinous sediment.

The cons...
It can strip some delicate flavours
Given half a chance, it'll always ferment to absolute dryness.
It ferments quite "clean", so doenst develop complex, warm mouth-feel chemicals.

I'd never use it for a red, or a medium bodied white.

Take a look at this thread, were I ask about the new yeast range called "vintners Harvest". Half way down the page, someone reproduces a table from their website showing what yeasts to use when. Their SN9 yeast sounds like a very good all round yeast. I think this will become my yeast to have in store...

[ms67]

hey Piaggio

i have also recently started to experiment with yeast having also been a GP user. I asked at my favourite homebrew shop for advice on what works well with country wines and was pointed in the direction of a few types. The first one i tried was sachets of sauternes and i have been very pleased with the results.

From what i can find online its qualities are low foaming, bottom fermenting, great for restarting stuck ferments, ferments happily in high OG environments (great if you wanna add all your sugar at the start rather than in stages, especially for strong sweet wines). It also releases more esters than most - esters are great for fruity flavours.

The one is use (ritchies) is still a dry yeast and i just chuck it into my juice and off it goes very happily and soon (last brew had an OG around 1125). I ferment in a cool room that has no heating in the winter, and i've been using it for a variety of wines - mostly whites but also one blackberry that is my best ever brew.

It's been a nice first step into yeast experimentation for me and may be good for you if you want to take small steps at this stage. If you are a bit more adventurous than me then you may want to try others and i would love to know how you get on. I hope this helps.

[piagio2000]

Take a look at this; I know it's on the forum somewhere, but I don't remember where!, so I've uploaded it again for anyone who wants it.

Gervin Yeast Info

Many thanks for that Her Lushness!

It's complicated stuff!
But I think I can pick out one or two from there to try out

[piagio2000]

And thanks too to the other very fast responses!
Your thoughts and tips are appreciated...I'll read them more fully when I leave work!!

[P cuthbert]

Look through the charts on the different yeasts available. Select one or two that seem of interest to you.

Then mix up your must, separate into a couple of batches and inoculate with both your GP and the chosen yeasts.

When bottling, be sure to put away at least one of each to sample at 2 years so you can see how the yeasts have affected the wines over time.

[Her Lushness]

here's the .pdf version of the yeast info for anyone who couldn't download the other one I posted :

Yeast Info

[Tuco]

Interesting links some have posted. I've only ever used Champagne yeast up to now (apart from using yeast that came with kits), I never knew of the cons that james posted. I'll have to have a good read of Bobs yeast guide and find a good yeast to use for future wines

[fatbloke]

Interesting links some have posted. I've only ever used Champagne yeast up to now (apart from using yeast that came with kits), I never knew of the cons that james posted. I'll have to have a good read of Bobs yeast guide and find a good yeast to use for future wines

If you have a "signature" recipe, then all you need to do is make 4 or 5 single gallon batches and use, say 4 different Gervins or Lalvins.

You'll notice one hell of a difference in how they turn out taste wise (strength-wise, sugar-wise etc etc etc).

It'd have been easy for me just to use one of the champagne yeasts with my meads, but I've done the tests and it means, I now go for D47 first, followed by 71B and if the batch has any fruit in it, it's either RC212 or K1V.....

Though my recent enquiries have pointed me toward some other yeasts that are a bit harder to source.....

regards

JtFB