My first mead.

[trbig]

Just a simple mead. I started with 15 lbs of honey (Bought from Sams) and meant to make 5 gallons, but ended up with close to 6, so I added more honey to make an OG of 1.106. I used 1 TBS yeast energizer, 1 TBS yeast nutrient, and 1 1/3 TBS of acid blend. I rehydrated 2 packages of Pasteur Champagne yeast at @ 85 degrees, and after @ an hour, I've already got airlock activity.

I'll report back periodically to update progress.

 

[fatbloke]

Champagne yeast ? Oh dear.......

Enjoy the volatile aromatics and more subtle flavour compounds wont you........as theyre blown straight out the airlock.......

 

[trbig]

After lots and lots of research, I found this particular yeast is a very popular one used for mead due to its neutral flavor, low foam, and very high alcohol resistance.

 

[fatbloke]

Loss of aromatics etc is pretty common to all champagne yeasts. They do what was intended very well i.e. produce bland, neutral, characterless results.

The problem is, that any of the published info on character etc is usually about grape musts so we can only use it as the vaguest guide.

There's a number of yeasts that do the job better than champagne yeasts. I can't say for redstar stuff as they're not available here so ive only used it when a friend sends some over.

D47 is good but needs keeping below 70F/21C to prevent fusel production. 71B is good for meads that are often drinkable sooner or with fruit, especially apples as it will metabolise about 1/3rd of the malic acid but isnt known to be good for sur lie/battonage ageing as its prone to autolysis sooner than others. K1-V1116 is an excellent general purpose mead yeast, low foaming and nitrogen requirements, high alcohol, wide(est ?) temp range nices esters etc. I haven't tried RC-212 on a traditional but have read good reports - it works wonderfully on "reds", but its a bit of a nutrient hog.......

 

[trbig]

The only mead I have had was made with D-47, and the taste of the yeast was almost as strong as the honey. Nearly undrinkable, to me, even after a year of aging. I wanted something considerably drier and something with a neutral flavor. I'd like to taste the honey a bit, (Not sickningly sweet like the D-47 was) and not the yeast. Same reason I didn't want apples, oranges, or any other fruit. I've made fruit wines, and that wasn't the plan with this.

Sorry if you don't care for the Champaign yeast, but there's lots and lots of people making mead with this yeast that have had excellent results. As a matter of fact, I couldn't find any bad reviews about it. Your opinion seems to be in the minority.. though who knows. I may agree with you here in a few months. I'll let you know. I have plenty of 1116 and 1118 yeast that would finish pretty dry, but I just read so many good things over and over about the yeast I chose, that I just ordered some of it.

 

[trbig]

WOW!!!

I just racked my mead to a secondary. It's not as clear as I want yet, and the color is more yellow than I'd like, but what an amazing taste!




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I am not a fan of dry wines.. at all. It's like they suck all the moisture out of your mouth. That being said, apparently this batch of mead I just made is very dry, but there's still some honey sweetness to it and a nice alcohol warmth. The yeast is detectable in the aftertaste, but it's mellow and nice and will likely be even less pronounced as the mead clears out. Much much better than the D-47 mead I tried. Three people tried it as it was going into the secondary, and everyone thinks we should skip the aging process and have a party now! lol. The O.G. was 1.106, and right now, the F.G. is between .990 and .992. By calculations, that's at @ 15% alcohol.

I'm VERY pleased with this so far. I was worried because it is an expensive batch to make, but I will be making more now and glad I chose this yeast to try. Be careful of your O.G. though. I think if you bump it up even higher, you may end up with a batch of mead that's only suitable for shots! lol. Though reading about it, 15% alcohol is about its top alcohol tolerance level. Any more honey and it would likely just sweeten it up.

Very very pleased.

 

[trbig]

Just thought I'd post my final product. After bulk aging the rest of the mead, I finally bottled after 9 months. I've sampled it along the way and can't believe the taste differences as it goes through whatever process it's doing. After close to a year, it's still got a bit too much of an alcohol taste, but the honey is really starting to come through in the nose and taste.





I'm going to continue letting it age at least another year, but I'm sure I'll crack one open every now and then for a taste.. you know.. just to see how it's doing.

 

[fuelish]

Looks great!!!

 

[Arpolis]

It does look great. Glad your batch is working for you. It is really nice to see pics of the mead in bottle when you took them. That alcohol bite is common with meadsade similar to yours. It will age out quite a bit as time goes. At Least at the 18 month mark I would bet it will smooth out and be much better at 24.

Have you started another batch yet?