All things fermentable...........

[Michibacy]

I've yet to make a mead using modern yeast, I just use Fleischmanns yeast. I've been able to adjust the strength of the yeast a bit by setting the yeast using different amounts of sugar in the water (the step before pitching it).

How many different kinds of yeast do you use?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I do not think what you are doing is really working. Each different variety of yeast will die out at a certain alcohol level. The yeasts that are sold for "Sweet Mead" cannot tolerate a high alcohol content so they die off at a relatively low alcohol level leaving sugar behind, hence.. sweet mead. The dry mead yeasts can tolerate higher amounts of alcohol before they die off. Adding or subtracting sugar from yeast while proofing it will not effect the finished alcohol content.

 

[Michibacy]

It could be exterior circumstances, but I've noticed a 2-3% difference of alcohol slowly bringing up the acidity of the water as I proof the yeast. Who knows?

All this talk about mead makes me want to make some more...perhaps I'll make a red raspberry melomel....

 

[Steve2md]

I use 10 to 12 different yeasts on a regular basis. at less than a dollar a satchet, it's worth it to me to get the yeast best suited to the job I want it to perform.

 

[DonH]

Here's a great recipe for Pyment or mead with grapes. Make a batch of red wine. After pressing out the pumice (grape skins, seeds, and stems) after primary fermentation from the red wine, put the pumice in a fermenting bucket add water and enough honey to make a dry batch at around 12-13% alcohol. There is enough flavor, acid and tannins in the pumice to make a great rose colored mead. I ferment it out dry but there is enough unfermentable sugars in honey and fruit esters in the pumice to make it taste slightly sweet. You don't even have to add yeast because there will be lots of red wine yeast in the fermented pumice.

If anyone wants to try a bottle, PM me your address. Limited offer.

 

[DonH]

Forgot to mention. Make the quantity of Pyment half that of the red wine.

 

[istanbulin]

I have a question about wine making. Last summer I had a lot of sourcherries. I pressed them for making a sourcherry wine. I added some sugar because their sugar percentage is lower and added a regular yeast. It started to ferment (CO2 bubbling) and stopped after app. 15-20 days. After almost 6 months later I tasted it last day but it was still sweet and alcohol ratio is relatively lower. I think fermentation stopped too early ?

 

[Steve2md]

That could be a result of the yeast you used, or the specific gravity of your must may have been too high for your particular yeast. What was the O.G. and the F.G. of the wine? Most store bought wines average around 13% ABV +/- Bread or bakers yeasts tend to kick out closer to 9% or so. Do a google search for "lavlin yeasts" they have a pretty good selection of wine yeasts, and a chart showing what each is best suited for.

 

[Steve2md]

Don, I'd be very interested in sampling that pyment. I can swap you for a 12 oz bottle of a dark mead I made with pecan honey made locally here. possibly one of the best batches of semi sweet I have ever made!

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Bread yeast goes a lot higher than that, my of with the wine/cider is 1.1 ferment down to 1.02, bottle it, after a few weeks its very bubbly and just about 1.0
I have specialized yeasts available, I just choose not to use them unless I want a special flavor, my wines don't taste like bread either. I don't know how that myth has become so widespread. Maybe I'm wrong but my pallatte doesn't detect it, I dunno. The sg numbers aren't subjective tho so I can at least state that part with certainty .

 

[Steve2md]

Cool. I have had issues with undesired esters giving off flavors when using bread yeast. Perhaps it's a temperature issue

 

[DonH]

Don, I'd be very interested in sampling that pyment. I can swap you for a 12 oz bottle of a dark mead I made with pecan honey made locally here. possibly one of the best batches of semi sweet I have ever made!

Sounds great, Steve. PM me your address.

 

[Steve2md]

Message sent

 

[Boboro]

I got a pint of homemade fuel for Newyears but Im half scard to drank it. The cookin device looked right. The mash wasnt to nasty and it has a nice corn smell. How do you check Alc. content?

 

[Knucklehead]

Depends on how they cut it. Some people use Sprite to make it look like it beads right in the tube. Most people now make stuff to sell, very few make it to drink for themselves. The best is made from white unsprouted corn and sprouted corn and water. That's it. The sprouted corn causes the fermentation. Yeast and sugar are to increase production but makes an inferior lawn mower fuel.

 

[Boboro]

The man that made it is a AA leader and dont drank. Said he was just seein if he could make it now that it has made a come back. I think Im the test rat.

 

[johnlee1933]

Depends on how they cut it. Some people use Sprite to make it look like it beads right in the tube. Most people now make stuff to sell, very few make it to drink for themselves. The best is made from white unsprouted corn and sprouted corn and water. That's it. The sprouted corn causes the fermentation. Yeast and sugar are to increase production but makes an inferior lawn mower fuel.

Let's start by saying I don't like bourbon. Years ago I got a Clorox bottle of "lightning" as repayment of a favor. I assume it was made from corn and so was bourbon. It was clear and colorless. As I remember it was smooth as silk going down easy and kicked like an angry mule.

Question: May I assume this was the homemade "good" stuff? -- J

 

[Knucklehead]

I think it would depend on how good a job you did doing the favor. lol Hard to say, if you liked it I'm happy. There are ways to doctor the production runs to cover some flaws, the Sprite I mentioned in one of them. Here's some ways to ruin good lawn mower fuel.
1. Use another metal besides copper 2. run the beer too early before it has a chance to sour properly 3. Use a straight worm instead of a coiled one - won't cool properly and gives a harsh taste 4.Scorch it by not keep it stirred or too hot a fire 5. Improper straining. Use hickory charcoal over some rags in your funnel - otherwise you get violently ill. 6. Car radiators for condenser - mucho bad. 7.Potash is sometimes used to fake a high bead- can be poisonous- think lye soap. 8. Using potash and ground up Irish potatoes to make malt work off quicker and give higher yield- another high production trick. 9. Improper cleaning and care makes popskull lawn mower fuel. 10. the use of yeast 11. cut it too much and add beading oil to fake quality and high proof. 12.The desire for quantity over quality.
This is what I heard down at the gas station. Personally I stick to soft drinks and no tobacco.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Boboro, they sell hydrometers for measuring alcohol content, is like a beer one but calibrated for spirits, an old timer way of roughly checking it is if it burns in a spoon is over 50% and if it burns in a plate it's over 40%.

As to that comment on bourbon wow that's the best. To be labeled bourbon it has to be made right. With whiskey there is no qc, you can put "whiskey flavor" in bulk distilled crap from Russia or China and call it whiskey.