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Help. Did I Mess Up?

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AustinBartels

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 12, 2016
3
0
0
After doing a little bit of research and looking at some recipes I decided I was gonna try my hand at making some mead. The only thing I couldn't find locally was Wine Yeast so I decided to just use Fleichmann's Active Dry Yeast, that was a week ago. Now after I've done more research I think I may have messed up by using Bread Yeast.

Did I mess up? How bad?
Can I save it by repitching with some Wine Yeast?
What Yeast would be best?
 

bmwr75

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Oct 2, 2014
464
2
18
Northeast Mississippi
Bread yeast will make mead. That is what is used in Joe's Ancient Orange Mead.

Can't give any feedback on what yeast might work better since you didn't share your recipe.
 

AustinBartels

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 12, 2016
3
0
0
Bread yeast will make mead. That is what is used in Joe's Ancient Orange Mead.

Can't give any feedback on what yeast might work better since you didn't share your recipe.

1 Gallon Water
2.5lbs Orange Clover Honey
1.5-2lbs of Peach Chunks/Slices
and 1 packet of Bread Yeast
 

Swordnut

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 26, 2013
251
0
0
Holland
So what's the problem? No fermentation starting? You only told us you need help and posted a recipe which in theory would produce mead. But you didn't tell us why you need help. What's happening that's against your expectations?
 

AustinBartels

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 12, 2016
3
0
0
So what's the problem? No fermentation starting? You only told us you need help and posted a recipe which in theory would produce mead. But you didn't tell us why you need help. What's happening that's against your expectations?

Like I said I thought I messed up by using Bread Yeast, clearly I didn't. He asked for the recipe because I wanted to know what Yeast would have been best to use.
 

HeidrunsGift

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 1, 2016
217
3
0
H AustinBartels, welcome to mead making and to the forum :) Hope your mead batch turns out great!

If I could offer some advice, it would be to focus on learning the correct techniques and procedures for making mead. If you do that correctly, then there is no "wrong" yeast to use, or "incorrect ingredients." Sure, everyone has different tastes and preferences --some like sweeter, some like more alcohol-- but it will be good mead, and someone will like it a lot.

On the other hand, if you your techniques are bad, then it doesn't really matter quite as much was the "right" type of yeast is, because its not going to ferment the way you want it to. The extent to which it deviates from its desirable fermentation path will be dictated by how well, or poorly, those techniques are adhered to. If you use the ingredients from a proven recipe but it ferments poorly, you may end up with enough off flavors that it tastes bad to anyone who tries it.
 
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Cobrac

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Sep 6, 2016
677
11
18
Västra Götaland, Sweden
It will turn good, no worries. When fermentation has stopped. Taste a sample and check if its dry or sweet. If its to dry, add more honey until the yeast dies of too much alcohol. If you want low ABV kill the yeast with sodium/metabisulphite and back sweeten until you are satisfied. If you want a clear mead there are several clearing agents or techniques. Just post a question and you will get answers. The yeast you chosen can turn out excellent with this recipe.
 

CreepeR

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 27, 2016
1
0
0
1 Gallon Water
2.5lbs Orange Clover Honey
1.5-2lbs of Peach Chunks/Slices
and 1 packet of Bread Yeast

I'm no expert, but I think if you used a full gallon of water and only 2.5lbs of honey it's going to be a very dry mead. The JAOM recipe, which also uses bread yeast, requires 3.5lbs of honey per gallon of mead.
 

bernardsmith

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Sep 1, 2013
1,611
32
48
Saratoga Springs , NY
Technically, all meads will ferment dry unless the amount of honey used will produce an amount of alcohol that is beyond the tolerance of the yeast. Using 2.5 lbs of honey to make a gallon suggests a potential ABV of about 9% so quite strong for a short mead (a hydromel) but not quite as strong as a typical wine (about 12%).

JAOM is a peculiar recipe as on the surface everything about it is counter intuitive but every detail in fact is there for a reason. The idea of using as much honey as the recipe calls for WITH bread yeast means that this mead will finish sweet as the yeast's tolerance for alcohol is far less than wine or ale yeasts and the concentration of alcohol that the bread yeast will produce will in fact kill the yeast before it can convert all the sugars to alcohol...
 

Maylar

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
May 23, 2015
621
63
28
Connecticut
JAOM is a peculiar recipe as on the surface everything about it is counter intuitive but every detail in fact is there for a reason. The idea of using as much honey as the recipe calls for WITH bread yeast means that this mead will finish sweet as the yeast's tolerance for alcohol is far less than wine or ale yeasts and the concentration of alcohol that the bread yeast will produce will in fact kill the yeast before it can convert all the sugars to alcohol...

My first JAOM went from 1.127 to 1.012 with Fleischmann's bread yeast. 15% ABV, not too shabby. And delicious.
 
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