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Pewter,
You might be right about needing more, but I think we'd be ok for a single round tasting if we had 8 people making mead. Any more than that and we would need larger batches. My calculations are 1 gallon = ~10 12oz (375 ml) bottles, 1 for the meadmaker, 1 for Vicki, the other 8 for tasters.


Thoughts?

DE



P.S. I'm amazed (pun intended) at the rate that these discussions have proceeded. Everyone has been great, and I can't believe how many good ideas have come from this. In addition, it has been the most civil brainstorming that I've seen in a good while. Kudos to everyone!!!
 
Color me there. I'm in like a Louisiana tick baby!

So, who else, and which yeasts. I'm heading to the LHBS tomorrow for supplies.

Oskaar
 
Y'all have a good thing going here. With any luck, I'll join you on the next round or so. Can't quite make it this round.
 
I went to my LHBS and picked up all the Lalvin yeasts so I'm ready to rock and roll when everyone else is.

Oskaar
 
I have found that it is more realistic to get 6-7 bottles out of a 1 gallon jug after racking a few times. Though my racking technique has advanced since then, so perhaps I'll have less losses this time around. :)

Would anyone object to setting a date at some point in the near future to simultaneously start these batches? Or is the consensus that running them simultaneously is not that important? The reason being - I (and probably others...) need some time to get ready. My 1 gal jugs are full, and I don't have yeast on hand just yet. I can remedy both of these situations shortly, but I don't have a lot of time on my hands just yet. Is Sat Nov 6 too long of a wait? Am I going to have a mass revolt on my hands for merely suggesting such a thing? ;)

Another thing - I've got a 71B culture that I've cycled through 4 or 5 melomels now. Does anyone see any value in using that culture for a gallon to see how it differs from a 71B right out of the package?
 
I agree. I need some time to get things in order and get supplies.

I would be interested in the cultured 71B to see how it has adapted.


DE
 
I'm fine with starting simultaneously at a given data too.

I'd like to see how that 71B acts too. So here are the yeasts that I bought.

RC 212
ICV D-47
71B-1122
K1V-1116
EC-1118

That would give me five one gallon batches. I was proceeding along Scott's earlier idea of going down the line of Lalvin Yeasts.

Let me know what you think,

Oskaar
 
Oskaar,

I am not sure about RC212, but in my mind you have two different families with D-47 and 71B in one and the K1V and EC-1118 in the other.

What I would like to see in this first round is five yeasts with ABV tolerance of 12 to 14 percent where I can put in enough honey for 16 percent ABV and have them ferment to completion. If we use K1V and EC-1118, I'd have to adjust honey amounts and add another variable to the equation...

Just my thoughts...
Pewter
 
I'll wait for Svaros and Scott to weigh in on the question of attenuation.

I'm finding that tech specs on the different yeast manufacturers in the areas of attenuation and alcohol tolerance are wildly divergent. Most of the Whitelabs stuff listed in the wine, mead and cider category falls into either 75% or 80% attenuation range. I didn't see attenuation percentage listings on the Lalvin or Red Star websites.

White labs doesn't consistantly list their alcohol tolerance, and Wyeast seems to average most of their yeasts between 68 - 75 % attenuation. I've made meads with all of them but have never sat down and bothered with back-calculating the attenuation levels.

I'm open to yeast brand and type suggestions, feel free to kick in some names.

Oskaar
 
Pewter_of_Deodar said:
I am not sure about RC212, but in my mind you have two different families with D-47 and 71B in one and the K1V and EC-1118 in the other.

What I would like to see in this first round is five yeasts with ABV tolerance of 12 to 14 percent where I can put in enough honey for 16 percent ABV and have them ferment to completion.
Click to expand...
Yeah, this makes sense to me. I think RC212 belongs in there, but that the champagne yeasts do not. I don't really have any suggestions on what to use to round out the 5, since I've never seriously used anything but Lalvin yeasts.
 
Hey all,
I sent a message to Le Saffre (the company that makes Red Star yeast) today to see if they could provide us with more information on the alcohol tolerance of their yeasts. If they don't get back to me, my guess would be that their Montrachet and Pasteur Red would fit with our tests. The URLs below link to selection matricies for each companys lines. I chose the two of them because they are the most widely available. If anyone has others, please let me know. These two brands were the ones that I saw on the bulk of the home brewing/wine making sites that I visited.


http://www.lesaffreyeastcorp.com/wineyeast/selection.html

http://consumer.lallemand.com/danstar-lalvin/refchart.html

So as of now, the list of yeasts are:


Lalvin:
ICV D-47
RC212
71B

Red Star (Le Saffre):
Montrachet
Pasteur Red

Thoughts?

DE
 
Svaros,

Thanks for sending that email off. I was going to call them today but it's been a hectic morning.

I've used the Pasteur Red and Montrachet before, and I think they would probably fit in well with the other yeasts. I've just never really taken the time to calculate the attenuation of the yeasts that I use, as long as the end product matched what I was after, and the gravity was in the right ball park.

So if that list looks good to everyone, I'm up for using those yeasts for the tests.

I did fire of an email to whitelabs (They're only about an hour away from me) asking for some additional information on their alcohol tolerances, etc.

Ya know . . . I didn't really think of this until last night, but if we get our acts together and have a good format and testing results we may be able to get some kind of sponsorship, or additional resources from the yeast makers themselves. Maybe our own strain of Saccharomyces sp. Now, wouldn't that be special!?

Oskaar
 
Hey all,

Everyone cool your heels for a day or two while we do some research. The batch sounds fine but I have a chart or three I want to look at for ABV tolerances before I give a nod to the five selected.

Thanks,
Pewter
 
Here's a link that Joe Mattiolli posted earlier in this thread. It may have some useful information that we can use to determine which yeasts to use.

I'll speak to the different Yeast manufacturers to see about some kind of sponsorship or something related. You never know. A lot of these guys love things like this and may even give us some good ideas for testing standards they use.

Like Scott said, It never hurts to ask, and all they can say is no.

Here's the yeast link.

http://sca_brew.homestead.com/files/meadyeast.html#TheYeastsIndex

Oskaar
 
Oskaar,

No... before I give my nod to the selections.

Everyone else gets to give their individual approval as well but my approval is not based upon their approvals.

All I was trying to say is that I am withholding my approval until I get a chance to dig a little bit... Ok?
 
Hi Pewter,

That sounds OK to me. Initially it sounded like you were saying that we should wait for your approval of the yeasts to be involved before we proceed. I guess I misinterpreted what you said from the way your post was phrased.

I want to make sure that we have a collaborative effort and that everyone's input is considered before we make a group decision. I also don't want anyone to feel disenfranchised if one of their ideas or suggestions are not a part of the final product.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
Oskaar,

I agree absolutely which is why your post came across so wrong. This is a team effort by definition so I was confused when you made it sound like I was usurping control. I just wanted to have time to review my yeast chart I got in a class last May and post the findings before anyone started a batch. Since we have 9 months of delay involved, I believe we could spend a few days or a week on yeast selection before people start batches. Sorry if I miscommunicated that...

Yeasts I have in my chart in the low ABV range...

Name Sensory Ferm.Spd. Temp Range Competitive ABV Tol. Nutrient Reqts.
71B Esters Mod 60 - 85 Sensitive 14% Low
AC- EVC* Mod 55 - 85 Yes 14% High
F10 EVC Slow 68 - 86 Yes 13% High
VL1 EVC Mod 55 - 68 Yes 14% High
VL3 EVC Mod 50 - 85 Sensitive 13% Low
WSK27 EVC Mod 39 - 86 Sensitive 14% Med

*EVC means enhances varietal character

of note is that RC212 is listed as 16% ABV, EC-1118 and K1-V1116 are listed as 18% ABV

there are 7 others listed as 15% ABV
 
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