Yeast for mead

[Luigi]

Hello,
I want to produce some liter of mead with next moon.
some one can tell me the right yeast?
thanks (I'm sorry for my bad english..)

[Alex Hovorka]

Lalvin dry yeast is good. You can get it at wine making stores. I use the fruit wine yeast but I've also tried the red wine and the white wine yeast, all of them work well. Also bread yeast works just fine.

[Clinton Wiltse]

I don't remember exactly which yeasts I've been using. I'll check my brewing notebook when I get home. It depends on how in depth you want to get.

[Luigi]

thanks for answer! For this time I've decided to use 1 yeast for champagne I think that I'm going to obtain a mead very dry and another yeast for sweet mead.
instead like honey I'll use wildflower honey becouse I think is the most natural.. and the alfaalfa honey, what you think about?
however I try to make 20L of mead but divided in 4 diferent fermentator. becouse I have 3 variables:
honey: 1wildflower 1 alfalfa
water: from bottle poor of mineral salt, 1 spring water from a mountin very close to my house
Yeast: 1 champagne and 1 sweetmead
obviusly I wait the righit moon and the pleasure of the gods!

[Luigi]

The yeast will arrive on monday...
I decided, I won't use the alfalfa honey instead I will use linden honey (and wildflower) then I will do different batch with different oncentration of honey and water!

someone can tell me how many honey is better? 1,5 gk 2 kg 2,5kg for 5 litter of mead....
what you think?

[Alex Hovorka]

I know gallons and pounds. I use 3 pounds per gallon, though that makes a fairly sweet mead. 2 pounds per gallon is a pretty dry mead. So anywhere in between there is safe. You can even go 3 1/2 pounds per gallon if you want a really sweet mead though sometimes its a little much. I personally like 3 pound meads the best. I feel like the focus of mead should be the sweetness, then the individual honey's tastes, then whatever else you want to put in it.

1.3 gallons = 5 liters
.9 pounds = 2 kg

[Luigi]

ok thanks alex!
I will produce 35 L(9,1 gallons)of mead in seven different batch with seven difference...(honey, yeast, volume)
so I can make may Evaluations!!!
I start my work now I'm so excited!!!

next week I try to do stout beer(but I'll use the brewer kit!)
HAIL

[Alex Hovorka]

I have a lot of brewer friends and theirs nothing like brewing big batches of beer and mead.

[Luigi]

this are my soldiers!!!!
I have done the work on monday but the fermentation start on wednesday...and now the puppy work very well!!!!

[Alex Hovorka]

They look beautiful. Well done sir. Keep posting pictures when they clear, I'm very curious what the colors gunna be like.

[Luigi]

oh yeah me too!!
the wildflower honey was very dark(red/brown) instead the linden honey is orange. but the batch with linden with less honey (only 1,5kg) is yellown...

[Marco ManX]

Excellent work dear Luigi
I am prepering my drinkinghorn

[Luigi]

Hi friends of mine,
I've a new question for you, after 3 weeks, five batches of 4 have several reduce the production of bubbles, they made only few bubles, instead the the other batches continues their fermentation..
it is normal? It means that the first fermentation is near to the end??

[Alex Hovorka]

Yes it is normal though 3 weeks is pretty fast. What you want to keep an eye on is the amount your fermentation locks are bubbling. I usually rack the mead when there is 45 seconds to a minute between each bubble in the fermentation lock. Also keep an eye on the clarity. If its still just as cloudy as when you started don't do anything until its noticeably clearer.

[Clinton Wiltse]

What temperature are they fermenting at?

[Luigi]

temperature is between 20°C and 25°C.

however I've transfer the first gallon of linden, becouse I can't see any buble, in another batches; instead for the other batches I will wait 3 months again. A productor of mead (he produce 3000 4000Litter of mead every year) tell me thet he transfer his mead 3 times each year and then he put it on bottles.

[Clinton Wiltse]

The only thing I would consider is the risk of contamination with transferring it too many times. In a professional level there's ways to transfer in a sanitary oxygen free manner. On a homebrew level you might only need to transfer two times. Once from the primary fermenter to the secondary. Then from the secondary to an aging container. I've found most mead is bulk aged and then bottled. In fact I've got 10 gallons, aged 2 years that I've been meaning bottle soon.

Cheers!

[Luigi]

Mmmh this evening I will transfer all mead and I have bought 14 bottles of about 0,5 gallons _(2 liters) becouse with transfer there is last fraction full of yeast that I put in an other bottle (of 75cL), I have read a book about mead and it0s written that mead need 1 year before drink, and in this time you need to transfer 3 times.
1 after two weeks when 1st fermentation is finish.
2 and 3 each after 4 month
after it you can bottle mead and is ready to drink and after this the mead will come clear....
I try to do this...

Cheers!

[Luigi]

Hi friends!
I've just finish the transfer and I have made a little taste all my puppies...and I'm bit drunk..eheh they they are good(not ready, is better to wait..)but the flovour is very near to mead, only too sweet more...but I think that in some month they are ready!!!

[Alex Hovorka]

Very happy for you