Normal bakers yeast will do the job too.
Hi Druss, I have never brewed a mead but am interested in doing something akin to "table mead" which I believe is beer strength.I typically use Allinson dried active baking yeast, about £1 for a 125g tin in Tesco, and have had that get the mead to 12% ABV plenty of times.
I generally halt the fermentation when it hits 6-7% ABV just through personal preference. I suppose different bread yeasts could yield different results, as long as there's plenty of nutrients it tends to keep going for quite a while.
Hi Druss, I have never brewed a mead but am interested in doing something akin to "table mead" which I believe is beer strength.
How do you stop the ferment when you reach the wanted abv? Does it end up sweet?
Do you drink it carbed or flat?
I have heard there are specific sweet mead yeasts... but bread yeast sounds good too as it should be the same family as brewing yeast.
Sounds awesome thanks.That's pretty much what I was after when I started brewing mead the way that I now do regularly, something akin to beer strength that I could drink by the pint without it being sickeningly sweet, but still retaining a decent amount of body and flavour.
I halt the fermentation with good old fashioned heat, when it gets to a specific gravity of about 1010 (I brew it a gallon at a time, with two pounds of honey, the original gravity is usually 1056) I just carefully pour the whole gallon into a stockpot and heat it to 70c then cold crash it and bottle.
It clears well enough in the bottles and tastes amazing, I always keep it still as the carbonated version was a bit of a nightmare for me (storing bottles sideways, popping corks, lots of mess ) and to me there's something that just feels right about a tankard full of still, ice cold, mead.
I did play around with it for a long time, I've made it a bit stronger, a bit weaker, sweeter, drier etc.
It all comes down to how you like it, it's such an easy thing to tailor in my experience, at the end of the day if it works for you and it tastes good then it is good.
Sounds awesome thanks.
How soon can you sample such beer strenght mead?
I like my mead bone dry.
Although i am fond of sweeties,Sweet mead is yuk.!!
I must admit though i have never made it with a dedicated mead yeast,
It conjours up images of monks in a freezing climate having a wee dram before bedtime
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