Aging on Lee's

[jpog]

Hi Everyone,

I keep hearing and people keep saying their are only certain yeasts you can age one like..Bread Yeast is a good one. That being said does some one have a list of ones you can and shouldn't age on?

Thanks

[akueck]

That really depends on what you're looking for in terms of contributions from the lees. EC-1118 is the classic Champagne biscuity-yeasty lees aging strain. Sometimes that is great, other times not so much.

You can look at the yeast chart put up by Lalvin to get their descriptions of the different yeast strains. Many have comments about suitability for lees aging.

71B is universally known for being terrible for lees aging. I think that's the only one in that category that is commonly used.

Also, in order to get some of the lees contributions you need to actively manage the aging. Just leaving your mead on the yeast cake is not usually going to lead to desirable flavors.