What yeast should i use for mead

Once you hit the right temperature, rack to your fermenter. Or add a dosage of pre-mixed wine yeast nutrient like Fermaid-K in the quantity recommended by the manufacturer. Aerate the must before pitching your yeast. Do this in the same manner you would with a batch of homebrew. Now pitch the yeast. Primary fermentation takes a week to several months.

This depends on many conditions. Once the yeast flocculates and you see reasonable clarity, rack off the lees to a second vessel, then place in a cool location. Allow two more months of further clarification, then rack once more before bottling. If this mead is too dry, you can add some honey before bottling.

This should be done according to your own taste, but allow an additional month in an airlocked fermenter before bottling. This protects you from a secondary fermentation and exploding bottles. Procure a good grade of honey. I prefer a white or water white honey for my sweet and dry meads. This honey usually has a nectar source of clover, trefoil, basswood, or something similar, and is usually early season honey. In general, early season honey is lighter in color and flavor.

Later season honey such as golden rod is darker and heavier. Some mead makers prefer this heavier flavor. I suggest you try both and decide for yourself. You might also be lucky enough to find a varietal honey such as orange blossom. These can impart subtle, intriguing variations in your mead, especially if fermented with a yeast strain that enhances the flavor profile one example of this is premier cuvee. Use 1. The more honey, the more residual sweetness and the greater potential for a high, final alcohol content.

I suggest Lalvin E. Fermentation should last between 10 to 20 days. Rack into a conditioning vessel and bulk age for 3 to 6 months. The most common problems I see with homebrewed meads are low acid and too high of an alcohol content. The primary goal should be to balance the alcohol with acidity and residual sweetness. A high alcohol content in and of itself does not make good mead.

Generally speaking, the higher the residual sweetness the higher the final total acid should be. You can purchase an acid test kit at your home brew store. A sweet mead could be as high as.

Sweetness and acid are a taste thing. Traditional meads have very low acid levels because honey has very low acid levels. This can be corrected by adding acid blend powder or lemon or lime juice to reach those acid levels mentioned above, though taste will have a lot to do with how much you actually add. The juice is not as easy to measure and duplicate as the standardized acid blend, but I like the flavor complexity it imparts better.

Add juice or acid blend prior to the yeast pitch to help create a more hospitable environment for the yeast, then re-check the levels at the end of fermentation to adjust the final balance. Bread yeast is good for making bread but gives a lot of off flavors when brewing essentially what you are doing by adding yeast to soda.

Force carbonation is taking a bottle of CO2 and forcing the amount you want into a bottle with the soda. There are commercial products like Sodastream which allow you to do this a bottle at a time in your own home. It is simple fairly inexpensive and there is no off-flavors, exploding bottles, or alco-pops. I used lemon juice too and some bread yeast I found , but after two days it tastes strange and acid not lemon acid ….

I know this is an old post but I figure it couldnt hurt to ask…im planning on making my first 1 gallon batch of mead. I have Ec yeast and plann on using 3. Then after fermentaion is done backsweetening and maybe adding some more strawberries and waiting a while before bottling. I have on hand pectic enzyme, potassium metabisulfate, potassium sorbate, and yeast nutrient.

I know to add the nutrient when i pitch the yeast, but should i add the pectic then, or after fermentaion when I add the extra strawberries and possibly a little more honey for a little sweetness Also, which should i use to stop fermentaion?

Also, how long should I let it sit after adding second round of strawberries, and how long should it age before drinking? I know its a lot, but i dont want to mess up too bad on my first go lol. There are a couple questions here: 1 Pectic Enzyme — Pectic enzyme is to reduce the pectins in the strawberries which can create a haze. This is usually done prior to fermentation of the berries but could be added post fermentation. If using strawberries to back sweeten. It might be best to see if you have a haze after back-sweetening and then use the pectic enzyme.

The soduim bisulfite stops actively fermenting yeast from continuing to ferment. The potassuim sorbate stops yeast from multiplying and being able to restart fermentation. I always squirl a few bottles away to try after a few years. One of my favorites is a cranberry mead I make and drinking it after four years or the cranberry red starts to turn slightly brownish about 4 years or so indicating minor oxidation and it is wonderful.

Some meads change dramatically over time and some it is good changes and other not so much. My guess is that if you want a bright strawberry flavor, you would want to drink that mead within a year or two.

I was under the impression that the pectic enzyme also helped draw out the juice flavors and sweetness of the strawberries or whatever fruit is used, and therefore was better to be added pre-fermentaion. As for potassium metabisulfate vs sodium bisulfate, which would you say is better as far as keeping the flavors of the honey and fruit without giving any flavor of thier own.

They both have the same effect on the yeast correct? Hoping you will see this and give an opinion.. I am a fan of 71b… but not sure it is the right yeast for making a Bochet… Wondering what your thoughts are? If you think others would be clearly better, which ones would you suggest.. I have the 71b and have had great success with other fermentation..

Mike, I have never brewed a Bochet, and had to look up what it is. I think 71B would be a good yeast to make this but the mead might end up sweet.

This might allow for both a caramelized honey and the lighter honey notes play together. I am ok with it being a bit sweet.. I do like my meads towards that finish.. My big concern with the champagne yeasts and higher alcohol tolerant yeasts was if it would go too dry.. I could back sweeten I suppose.. But as long as the characteristics of 71b sound like they would otherwise work..

I may stick with it.. Thanks for the reply.. Hi,meadist i am Wilson from Egypt,a new fan of mead. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Lalvin D This white wine yeast is the primary choice for many mead makers. Previous Story Kookoolan Elegance. It ferments quickly and produces very little foam. Lalvin D enhances the flavorful notes of wine and mead, so you will still taste the sweetness of honey.

Mouthfeel is full and smooth. At the end of flocculation, the D yeast settles at the bottom as a sediment. If you want a floral or fruity mead, consider K1-V, a choice for country wines, melomels, and other fruit meads. Lalvin K1-V ferments swiftly and has little effect on varietal character.

This yeast also works well at cooler temperatures, which is where esters are best fortified. You will need some yeast nutrient and fruit to produce the high nitrogen environment in which this yeast flourishes. A strain produced by White Labs that will leave behind a bit of sweetness. It works best with melomels and fruit mead, since it leaves a fruity profile.