Low alcohol mead question

[YeastieBoys]

B Nektar (Michigan Meadery) makes a couple of low alcohol meads-Zombie Killer, Funky Monkey, and a new IPA style mead. They are all 6-7% alcohol and all are quite good.

My question is this, when making a lower-alcohol mead, do you need to switch up to an ale yeast or can you still use a wine yeast and stop fermentation at your desired number?

 

[Insomniac]

You will have a hard time stopping a wine yeast mid ferment, but you can ferment dry and backsweeten with some more honey. I did manage to stop safale s04 mid ferment once so you could go for an ale yeast and stop it early, but dont use an ale yeast thinking it will stop by itself, some ale yeast will go all the way to 25% with simple sugars and good conditions.

 

[mors]

you can stop it mid ferment or back sweeten. To stop mid ferment I find it best to cold crash it and sorbate it all at once. It will shock the hell out of the yeast and stop it.

 

[paraordnance]

I have 3 experimental 1 gal low ABV mead/hydromel batches going on right now. All three with juices of some sort. Grape, blueberry and pomegranate. Each only had 1 lb of honey & 1.3-1.8 L of juice. I made 2 batches with ale yeast and one with wine yeast to see a difference in taste. So far I prefer ale yeast (S-05 used). It fermented much quicker and taste slightly better/smoother. I sample 2 times a day and move jugs to 38F to cold crush at desired level of sweetness. I then plan to siphon off the lees on to campden & sulfate and treat them with Super-kleer short after. After that I think there will be very little yeast remaining and I will proceed to bottle in Grolsch style bottles just in case
If yeast will keep going and bottles do not hold up I will learn the lesson and keg/force carbonate next time. Just don't see a point carbonating in keg 1 gal of experimental wine which I will consume within 1-2 months.
The goal is make quick turn around lambrusco type of wine (sparkling or flat) for my wife.

 

[YeastieBoys]

I'm hoping to have an OG of 1.060, give or take. I'm looking to have a lighter mead at around 6%/6.5% abv. Can I still use a wine yeast like Lalvin 71B and have stop, with a watchful eye, at around .098-1.002?

 

[mors]

yeah you can stop 71B. This is probably my favorite wine yeast for mead.