Looking to Make a Successful Pyment

[GrantLee63]

OK ... A friend of mine called me up this evening and said he was going to stop by a local wine making establishment tomorrow and bring over a 6 1/2 gallon carboy (he knows all of mine are currently in use!)and 5 gallons of freshly pressed Chilean white grape juice of some type. He wants me to assist him in the making of a Pyment. I thought I would follow the same simple recipe I used for the Cyser I made Saturday and will look something like this:

12 Pounds Clover Honey
5 Gallons Freshly Pressed Grape Juice
5 Packs of Lalvin D-47
Yeast Nutrient
Yeast Energizer

As I have never made a Pyment before - or wine for that matter - I'm looking for any suggestions and / or changes with regard to my recipe that will ensure a fine finished mead. What else should I add - if anything?

Thanks in advance .....

 

[Oskaar]

Hey GL,

It would help tremendously to know what type of grapes you're going to be pressing before commenting on this one. Generally with White grapes in a pyment I tend not to use D47 and instead go for DV10, R2, BA11 or ICV-GRE as my top choices. If you're doing barrel fermentation or going to oak the primary then I would suggest CY3079.

Also, rather than using generic nutrient or energizer I'd strongly recommend Fermaid K with the above yeasts, and I'd also recommend rehydrating with Go-Ferm. This is the regimen suggested by Lallemand who manufactures all of the yeasts mentioned above including the D47. Failing that I'd use DAP in the must and at the end of the lag phase. Also, since you're going to be using fresh juice I'd highly recommend aeration at a rate of 2x/day.

If you have skins, I'd suggest contact for about 48 hours to pick up some of that tannin from the skins and for color extraction as well.

Ask more questions,

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[HighTest]

Yes, with white grapes I also opt to use other wine yeasts. In fact, a group of us will be making a white wine pyment this Fall using fresh Riesling or Traminette grape juice and the yeast will be Lalvin 58W3.

And, as always, I promote the use of proper dry yeast rehydration (with Go-Ferm), and a staggered nutrient addition schedule using Fermaid-K or SuperFood.

 

[GrantLee63]

Thanks Guys ..... Where do you buy these yeasts you are recommending in quantities other than 500 grams? I have not been sucessful in looking at the various suppliers websites, or my local Homebrew Supply stores for 5 gram packs.

Also, what would be the reason(s) D47 would not work? I thought that was one of the better 'General Purpose' mead yeasts ...

I'm confused !

 

[WRATHWILDE]

GrantLee63,
The very best place on the Web for wine yeast... no matter where you live is MoreBeer/MoreWine. they have individual packs you won't find anywhere else period... they have the proper equipment to repackage Lalvin's "bulk only" yeasts in homebrew friendly sizes. This is where I get all my yeast. They even started repackaging DV10 for us... after much hounding and arm twisting by Oskaar, Myself and several other GotMead members.

MoreWine Yeast Link

I strongly second the recommendations of using GoFerm and Fermaid K. Also available at MoreBeer/MoreWine.

Cheers,
Wrathwilde

 

[Oskaar]

D47 is an excellent mead yeast and a great yeast white wines as well. It is a Cotes du Rhone yeast strain and is great for barrel fermented Chardonnays.

Again, without knowing what the grapes you are going to use will be, it is difficult to match the yeast to the application. Consider that there are elements in the grapes that are accentuated more fully by a certain yeast. If you want to bring out the strength of the grape you are using you'll want to use the proper yeast for it.

Consider that when barbequing salmon there are certain types of wood that are good because they are lighter and more complimentary to salmon. Alder and peach spring to mind because they are light enough not to overpower the salmon, whereas hickory, oak or mesquite would all work, but the fish would not be complimented by the wood used to cook it.

The same is true with wine grapes; you want to use the right yeast for the grape you are using. Again, D47 is a great yeast, I use it in my traditional meads very heavily. What I'm saying is that know what grapes you'll be using, and then take a look at your options.

As Wrathwilde listeb below, Morewine is the place to go for yeast.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

 

[GrantLee63]

I just found out that Riesling Grape juice is what I will be receiving and it will be juice only - no skins, and it will not be tonight, but early next week that I make this batch. Also, I just ordered some R2, Fermaid K, and Go-Ferm from MoreWineMaking.com.

Oskaar, Wrathwilde, thanks so much for your help .....

 

[WRATHWILDE]

GrantLee63,
Having just reread your original post I noticed that you listed 5 packs of yeast, did you mean 5 grams? 5 packs is overkill. Most people only use one or two packs per 5 gallons. I usually use 2 packs for my 6.5 gallon batches.
My procedure is to heat 75 ml of bottled spring water (per package of yeast used) to 110 (f).
1/4 tsp Goferm (per 75 ml water) mixed in at 110 (f).
Yeast is added at 104 (f) and stirred gently. I let it sit exactly 15 minutes before adding to Must and use bottled water to rinse out any remaining yeast. These are Lalvin's specified procedures for yeast hydration.

Cheers,
Wrathwilde

 

[GrantLee63]

Thanks again Wrathwilde ..... two packs it is. A lot of recipes I've seen on the Internet, as well as Papazian's books call for 25 grams of yeast - which is 5 packs. With that being said, I've used 1, 3, and 5 packs with the various 5 gallon batches I've made thus far, and haven't noticed any difference in the fermentation characteristics. Taste-wise, I don't know yet as I've only completed one batch - and that was J.M.'s No-Age Sweet Quick Mead which I used 3 packs of yeast on. The other 5 are in various stages of fermentation:

Traditional 'Antipodal' from Papizian's book (1 pack)
Joe's Ancient Orange (Fleischmann's per the instructions)
Tri-Berry Melomel - the 'Antipodal' recipe + 20 pounds of berries in the primary (3 packs)
Another batch of Joe's No-Age Quick (3 packs)
Holiday Cyser (5 packs)

Two packs sound like a good compromise .....

 

[Oskaar]

Hey GL,

If you're planning on making the Antipodal meads make sure to skip the acid, gypsum and irish moss as they're not needed in this recipe. The extra acid will drive the pH down very low and it can cause your yeasties to come out of the gate a little slower and grumpier than usual.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

 

[GrantLee63]

I've already made the Antipodal Oskaar - it was the first mead I made on 02/18/2006. I followed the directions to the 'T' which means it has the gypsum, acid blend, and Irish moss in it. It also means that it was racked according to the instructions, ie, "after fermentation ends", which in this case (based on my subjective opinion) was when airlock activity was down to approx. 1 bubble every 2 minutes.

I took a sample to check the SG (which was 1.005) and tasted it. I thought it was pretty damned good, but then again, it was only the second mead I sampled - after Joe's No-Age Quick. Right now it is in a seconday, with no bubbles detectected but with obvious pressure on the 'float' part of the three-piece airlock. By the way, it is as clear as the proverbial bell.

My plan is to bottle it on June 10 which will be the 20 week mark from when I first made it. But then again, maybe it will benefit from bulk aging for a while longer? According to Papazian, it is ready to bottle and drink as soon as it clears.

We'll see .....

 

[Oskaar]

LOL,

I know a few other folks that have made the Antipodal with the acid, and then a couple of them tried it without the acid. Opinions were split on which they liked better.

I think if you give it some bulk aging you'll find that it will improve quite nicely. Seems like a pretty good recipe to me, I've tasted a couple of them too and they'll age nicely I think.

Well, give `em a try w/o the acid and other stuff and see what you think. Try them no-heat as well, I think you'll like the results.

Cheers,

Oskaar