71B-1122 or K1V-1116 for meads and melomels

[meadman77]

Hi everyone,
Looking for a different yeast to use for meads and melomels and also fruit wines. I am living in a climate where maximum temps are over 25 degrees for a lot of the year. This pretty much means that ICV-D47 is not a good yeast for me what what I understand. So i'm after some opinions on whether 71B-1122 or K1V-1116 or another is better for this kind of fermenting. Speed is not that concerning to me. I just want a good strong fermenter that wont strip out alot of flavours and that is not super sensitive to contamination with wild yeast. Any suggestions?

 

[seth8530]

71B would be good if you are working with a mead that is high in Malic acid since it can metabolize some of it. and its max temp can handle 30C. However, I would not advice getting it that high.

K1V-1116 is a pretty forgiving yeast, it can handle up to 35 C.. Once again, I would not advice it... And supposedly, it can handle low nutrient levels.. Which is nice for mead... I would still advice remedying that with fermaidK and O though. If you are worried about having to compete with wild yeast, K1V-1116 would be a good choice since it is a strong factor and it has the "competitive factor".

Dh47 is a good yeast for mead, you just have to take care of it is all though....

BTW, I got all this info from lavlin's website. If you want a comprehensive guide on yeast choice give the scottlabs fermentation handbook a read... It is free.


http://www.lalvinyeast.com/71B.asp

http://www.lalvinyeast.com/K1V1116.asp

 

[meadman77]

Thanks mate, will definitely check them out. I had read Lalvins website but am always a little skeptical of company info and was hoping to hear that people's experiences match this. I have downloaded the fermentation handbook and will have a read. Cheers.

 

[seth8530]

Enjoy! They spent a lot of money doing research to figure out which yeast strains work best for certain products, so that we would not have too.