Why ec-118 so dark

[oceanbrew]

I started both of these on the same day 3 months ago. On the right I used bread yeast and 3 pounds of honey. on the left I used champayne yeast and 4.5 pounds of honey. These are both cysers. why is the EC 118 so dark? they both stopped fermenting within 2 weeks after initiating the batches. Did the EC 118 have too much honey in it?

 

[snuesen]

It's probably just due to more yeast in suspension. There's no problem here. After you rack/cold crash/age, the two will probably look similar, but if not it's no big deal. Different yeast = different outcome

 

[Yooper]

While mead is less susceptible to oxidation than wine, having that much headspace in the carboy will lead to oxidation. One of the side effects of oxidation is darkening.

I'd rack to smaller vessels and keep them topped up. Oxidation is bad news for mead. It also looks like there are a lot of lees from what I can see. I'd rack to get it off the lees as well as to get it into a smaller vessel to avoid oxidation.

 

[oceanbrew]

Thanks for the replies. I actually wasn't going to rack these bottles, but just let them sit until even the raisins settle, which is almost complete. I'm going to rack into drinking bottles on the 4th of July, and add sugar to bottles to make sparkling cyser.
Another questions is if I cold crash these for 3 days will the yeast be available for gas production when I put this in bottles? I hope it's not oxidation!!!!!! Look forward to your replies and suggestions.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the replies. I actually wasn't going to rack these bottles, but just let them sit until even the raisins settle, which is almost complete. I'm going to rack into drinking bottles on the 4th of July, and add sugar to bottles to make sparkling cyser.
Another questions is if I cold crash these for 3 days will the yeast be available for gas production when I put this in bottles? I hope it's not oxidation!!!!!! Look forward to your replies and suggestions.

I don't know. I don't bottle my meads or wines until they are finished.

The mead in the front isn't even clear yet, so I'm sure there is plenty of yeast.

 

[oceanbrew]

How long d ours ec118 take to flocculate out. I started both if these at the same time. The ec118 was always darker. I put more tea leaves in it and tea. I moved once and everything stirred up in b both bottles - completely cloudy. I figured it'd take months to settle, but the bread yeast cleared out in 1 month. The ec118 has been the same cloudiness since it started. Should I only bottle the bread yeast for now? Wilk it generate co2 if I add sugar or is it overwhelmed by abv levels? I've heard bread yeast is the weakest of yeast s.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Bread yeast is good to around 12%, which is stronger than a good chunk of beer yeasts.