Yeast Comparison -using 71B-1122 vs BM45 on Amarone

[Pumpkinman]

I am posting this because I really feel that posts such as Dave's Yeast comparison, and Joe's "When Good Wine's go bad" post are a great service to those that may be apprehensive about trying different yeasts, and different methods, I hope that someone finds this helpful or interesting.

MY test involves 2 - 6 gallon juice buckets of Amarone - the exact same brand, purchased from the same LHBS.


I used 71B-1122 on one batch of Amarone, and BM45, a more traditional yeast used in wineries in another batch, both were treated identical:

• Both put through MLF,
• Aged 9 months in carboys
• racked as needed,
• Both transferred to 20 liter Vadai barrels for the past 3 weeks.

We tasted the wine before topping off:

The wine that I used 71B-1122 is a much smoother, full bodied wine with great "nose" and good mouth feel, smooth, almost velvety with a real nice hint of fruit.

The wine that I fermented with BM45 has more of a traditional, commercial feel to it, full bodied and mouth feel, the fruit is not as pronounced, as with commercial Amarone, not quite as smooth yet.

Both Amarone will age in the barrels for 4-6 months before I transfer back to carboys for 6 - 8 months before bottling, I will let them sit an additional 4 months in bottles before diving into them...LOL

At two years these should be nothing short of amazing!

 

[dangerdave]

Nice info, Tom. I bet they will both be great, albeit, different.

The juice buckets I purchased this past spring, I was informed, were pre-inoculated with EC-1118. Did you not run into this with your Amarone? If so, how did you deal with it?

 

[Pumpkinman]

The Juice Buckets are usually pre-inoculated, I usually make a yeast starter with my chosen yeast, I not only use go-ferm when I hydrate, I also add an equal amount of the must after about 10 mins, or when I visibly see the yeast coming alive and forming a nice foam; what this does is give the yeast even more "food" in the form of sugar, allowing the yeast to multiply, this is very important to make sure that your yeast becomes the dominant yeast.
EC-1118 is a mega work horse yeast, unfortunately it doesn't bring anything to the wine.
On a side note, I was surprised to see the Chilean Juice buckets were not pre-inoculated.

 

[Corked]

Any updates on the differences? I'm about to start an EP Amarone and I'm curious about your results.

 

[Boatboy24]

Any updates on the differences? I'm about to start an EP Amarone and I'm curious about your results.

I have no basis to compare, but I did the EP a little over a year ago and used BM4X4. I'm very pleased with it - even at its relatively young age. BM4X4 is an improved version of BM45.

 

[Corked]

BM4x4 is actually what I was leaning towards using. I used it on a CC Showcase Rosso Fortisimo kit about 3 years ago and that has just become an outstanding wine. I've managed somehow to keep back 18 bottles of it so far, hoping to get to 5 years with several left. Anyway, I was very pleased with the BM4x4. The thought of using 71B would not have occurred to me for an Amarone and would love to hear the comparison of tasting notes on this one. I've also been very pleased so far with my limited use of Maurvin B on reds. Thanks for the input Jim.

 

[Fsim]

Great info and I like the fact you encourage others to use several different yeast with their must and compare the difference. I to have experimented with yeast based on Shea Comforts recommendations. Really have developed some very good tasting aromatic wines.. Good Post