Cherry Mead Yeast Choices

[Sasquatch]

Hello All!

I've got a question on yeast choices for cherry mead.

I've been making cherry mead with frozen, no-sugar-added montmorency cherries and clover honey from Costco for a few years now. I've always used Lalvin 71B because it softens the acid a bit and produces an outstanding flavor after about a year of aging, "juicy" would be the best way to describe it. I'm getting ready to start 2 batches of that today.

This year I'm also doing something a little different. I'm currently aging a batch made with D47 that I bottled back in August, and also a batch made with BM 4x4 I bottled about 2 weeks ago. Today I racked a batch I made with RC 212.

I've got enough cherries for one more batch. My question is, does anybody have any experience using K1-V1116 on montmorency cherries, or any idea/speculation on how it might work on those?

I'm looking at:

2 8-pound tubs of frozen cherries, that is each tub contains the cherries and their natural juices for a total of 8 pounds each
15 pounds clover honey
enough water to give me a final ABV of about 13%, final gravity of 1.000
yeast nutrient

Thanks!

 

[Johnd]

My question is, does anybody have any experience using K1-V1116 on montmorency cherries, or any idea/speculation on how it might work on those?

First, welcome to WMT!

As to your question, K1-V1116 is considered by many to be a “go-to” yeast for fruit wines, so you could easily speculate good compatibility for your cherries. No clue how it may perform as a yeast for mead. I’m sure some others with mead experience (I have none) will chime in.

 

[Desolus]

K1-V1116 and EC-1118 are my go too yeasts for meads, 1116 preforms better in a must with more nutrients than straight honey can provide. 1118 works better for low nutrient musts.