advice on using high alcohol yeast in meads

[Trogolodyte]

Does anybody have any experience with using these specialist high alcohol yeasts in meads??

[fatbloke]

Yes. Avoid it if possible.

Stuff like EC-1118 can impart higher fuses, occasionally a little bitterness, and a few minor "faults" that take a long, long time to age out and mellow.......

K1V-1116 or D21(if you can get it) is the way to go for traditional. Probably better to focus on the quality and flavour of the honey.......

regards

jtfb

p.s. oh and champagne type yeasts have a habit of blowing a fair bit of the flavour/aroma compounds straight out the airlock.......

[lockwood1956]

Good advice from John there

Lalvin 71B-1122 or Gervin Varietal D may also be good choices.

There are home brew shop owners who really push the high alc yeasts, as they know the person will have a ferment that will certainly finish, however, they can ferment too vigorously and blow flavour and aroma compounds away with the CO2 through the airlock.

Think of it in terms of fuel for the must.......

If you ran a moped on 5 star leaded fuel it would clog up

If you ran a race car on 2 star it wouldn't perform properly

Running them both on 4 star (General purpose) wouldnt be satisfactory either

hope that makes sense


Matching the yeast to the must type and end product required will give you super results


Lalvin yeasts readily available in the UK
Lalvin 71B-1122 (Narbonne) : This yeast metabolizes more of the malic acid during fermentation than most other yeasts and should be considered for wines which are high in malic. It is noted for producing "fruity" reds such as vin nouveau and works well with high-acid native North American grapes, producing rounder, smoother, more aromatic wines that tend to mature quickly. Because it is also known for making blush, rosé and semi-sweet wines with a tropical fruit character, it promotes these styles with Cabernet Franc, Gewürtztraminer and Riesling. For obvious reasons, is often the yeast of choice for a great many malic fruit and berries and for vegetable-grape concentrate blended wines. Alcohol toxicity is predictable at 14% and its temperature range is 60-85°. F.


Lalvin EC-1118 (Prise de Mousse) : This is the original, steady, low foamer, excellent for barrel fermentation or for working on heavy suspended pulps. It is one of the most popular wine yeasts in the world. It ferments well at low temperatures, flocculates well, and produces very compact lees. It is good for Champagne bases, secondary (bottle) fermentations, restarting stuck fermentations, and for late harvest grapes. It is also the yeast of choice for apple, crabapple, cranberry, hawthorn, and cherry wines. It has excellent organoleptic properties and should be in every vinter's refrigerator. Alcohol toxicity is 18% and it ferments relatively fast. It tolerates temperatures from 39-95° F. It is not, however, tolerant of concurrent malolactic fermentation.


Lalvin ICV-D47 (Côtes-du-Rhône) : This is a low-foaming quick fermenter that settles well and forms compact lees at the end of fermentation, although when left on the lees, ripe spicy aromas with tropical and citrus notes develop. This strain tolerates fermentation temperatures ranging from 50° to 86° F. and enhances mouth feel due to complex carbohydrates and high polysaccharide production. Malolactic fermentation proceeds well in wine made with ICV-D47. This strain is recommended for making wines from white varieties such as Chardonnay and for rosé style wines. It is ideal for persimmon, peach, nectarine, paw-paw, and mango, as well as aromatic wines such as rose petal, elderflower, anise and woodruff. It is also an excellent choice for producing mead if supplemented with yeast nutrients, especially usable nitrogen. Its alcohol ceiling is 14%.


Lalvin K1-V1116 (Montpellier) : This strain tends to express freshness of the grape or fruit variety, especially in Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chenin Blanc, but also in fruit such as peaches, nectarines, kiwis, and strawberries. Because it produces such flowery esters as isoamyl acetate, hexyl acetate, and phenyl ethyl acetate, the natural fresh fruit aromas are retained for a longer period compared to standard yeasts. It is recommended for French hybrid whites, mature reds, and ice wines as well. This strain ferments well under stressed conditions and may be used to restart a stuck fermentation. Known among enologists as the original "killer yeast," K1 dominates almost any fermentation and is capable of fermenting to 20% alcohol if sufficient nutrients, nitrogen, and fermentable sugars are properly employed, but 18% is quite reachable. It is a fast fermenter and can tolerate a huge temerature range (50-107° F). It is not, however, tolerant of concurrent malolactic fermentation.


Lalvin RC212 (Bourgovin) : This yeast is traditionally used in the Burgundy region for full red wines and is a favorite of home winemakers seeking similar big reds. Naturally, it is perfect for Pinot Noir. It has good alcohol reach (14-16%) and high temperature (68-86° F.) tolerance and excellent color stability. This yeast requires high nitrogen nutrient additions to avoid the potential development of H2S. It is quite suitable for use with non-grape black and red fruit (plums, perickly pear cactus fruit, pomergrantes) and berries (blackberries, raspberries, dewberries, mulberries). It is quite tolerant of concurrent malolactic fermentation



Gervin yeasts available in the UK
Gervin Yeast - No. 1 : Green Label, General purpose Bordeaux (Narbonne) strain for both white and red wines. It starts quickly, works at temperatures down to 15c and settles well at the end of the fermentation period. High tolerance to sulfur dioxide (up to 100 ppm).

Gervin Yeast - No. 2 : Red Label, Full bodied red table Burgundy/Champagne (Monrachet). Vigorous yeast giving a rapid start-to-finish to fermentation. Excellent for all red table wines, it is especially recommended for making wines from autumn fruits such as blackberries, elderberries and sloes. It will ferment at temperatures down to 15° c. Beware of foam.

Gervin Yeast - No. 3 : Yellow Label, Sparkling, dessert, dry white table Champagne. This wine is designed to produce sparkling wines, so it tolerates higher levels of alcohol then most yeasts and is ideal for high alcohol dessert wines. It is excellent for restarting stuck fermentations and will ferment well from 12-30° c.

Gervin Yeast - No. 6 : Orange Label, High alcohol, sparkling, restarter for stuck fermentations.

Gervin Yeast - No. 5 : White Label, Quality white table wines. This French yeast is particularly good for making quality white fruit table wines. It forms little foam and ferments well at low temperatures (8-15° c), thus ensuring that the wines develop excellent bouquets.

Gervin Yeast - Varietal A : Quality red table Bordeaux SF strain. This French yeast was selected to compliment and enhance the characteristics of the grapes. Used for the production of red Bordeaux (Claret) wines, it ferments well at 18-35° c.

Gervin Yeast - Varietal B : Quality white table Rhine strain. This is another high quality aromatic yeast intended for the production of wines with a young fruity bouquet. Ferments down to 10° c.

Gervin Yeast - Varietal C : (also known as GV4) Champagne, sparkling, dessert wine, Prise de Mousse strain EC1118. This yeast is said to be involved in production of 70% of all Champagne. It has similar characteristics to No.3 yeast, but is considerd hardier by many professional winemakers. Recommended for making sparkling wines and for restarting stuck fermentations. Capable of producing alcohol up to 18.5%.

Gervin Yeast - Varietal D : Fruit wines from concentrates, Narbonne strain 71B. This yeast has two inviting characteristics. First, it produces an exceptionally fine bouquet. Second, it can metabolise up to 35% of any malic acid present in the must, which makes this a superb yeast for many fruit wines.

[fatbloke]

Further to mine and Bobs comments. I do find it a bit strange how a lot of the HBS automatically just suggest a high alcohol/dessert wine yeast for meads.

As such, it just doesn't work like that with meads. They are just using a generalisation that doesn't apply i.e. honey has high sugar, so it must need a high alcohol yeast to convert it.

They seem to forget that honey, while very "good for you", is a little strange. It has all that natural sugar, but effectively bugger all, in the way of other nutrients often found in grape and other fruit musts. Hence methods of nutrition are often as important as the yeast chosen.

Honey further complicates things by being a bit weird when it comes to acids and pH. You make up a batch of must, which for a reasonable starting gravity (sorry Bob, it does seem that with meads, it often gives a better result if you start a little higher than you like to recommend), IRO about 1.100, it can have quite a low pH, about the mid "3's" and can swing quite wildly during the ferment..... so the importance is just to keep it where the yeast is happy, otherwise it can produce a "stucky" and you still end up having to do a restart with something like EC-1118 which defeats the point of choosing the "right" yeast to start with.

Oh, and it just so happens that there's a Gervin yeast that Bob didn't list, though it's not so common i.e. Gervin Varietal "E" - which happens to be their equivalent to K1V-1116 - I understand that the Gervin E has to be ordered by most HBS, though why that might be, I don't know as the Lalvin version tends to be readily available where the HBS stocks their products.

regards

jtfb

[rjb222]

The use of fruits will help alleviate the yeast nutritional problems. This will not make a true mead though but there is nothing wrong with melomel. I also find that if I over infect a mead I get a better ferment. I always use 1 packet of yeast per gallon of must. The yeast gets the business done quickly and efficiently.

[Trogolodyte]

Want to say thanks LOT for all that info was far more than i needed and gave me the knowlege I needed and much more... esspecially the info about the different yeasts on the market...

[kirk]

Used a GV6 yeast on a recent batch of straight mead, said it will make 18% and from the SG/FG it seems to have done just that.

Fermentation was "odd". It just about started and then seemed to sit in the bucket doing nothing. Until I put a spoon in to stir it. Then I had foam to the top. Let it subside and the next day it look dormant/dead again until I stirred it, then foam again.

This went on for 8-9 days until aggitation didn't cause half a bucket of foam.
That was when it went in to a DJ and completed fermentation.

Yeast was also said to be good at lower temperatures, which at the time was an advantage.

Cleared well and is now maturing. Will leave this one for 15-18 months I think. Other then the foam production and the need for lots of honey all went pretty painless. Probably added twice the nutrient, acid and tannin then normal.

Next plan is 3lb honey + 2 lb raspberries.