First, thank you so much for the thread! Amazing stuff you've done. I very much like how you've used the scientific method to uncover the secrets of yeast in honey fermentation.
I stumbled upon it b/c I'm making my first mead now - from S-33 (it's all I had available). It's going great so far
I've been eating up this thread - one question, one guess. Above - how do you know when honey has been subjected to (or ruined by) pesticides?
Second - in one of your posts, you said that re-using yeasts provides for higher alcohol tolerance. I have three guess for this. The yeast have:
1. adapted to high tolerance, producing whatever chemicals to deal w/high alcohol already
2. had their epigenetics primed for high alcohol, so their subsequent generations will be primed for high alcohol
3. been selected to survive better in high alcohol environments, since those who aren't good at high alcohol levels would have died (although I think this would only apply to the extreme end of their alcohol range)