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My 1st Mead! :)
MadScientistMike wrote:
I really wish I didn't use such a dry yeast for this.
Not to beat a dead horse...Lalvin D-47...Brewski swears by it for his meads because it leaves a residual sweetness. Also, if you're looking for a sweeter mead and it's not sparkling, you could add Potasseum Sorbate and backsweeten with a little more honey.
sewer_urchen wrote:
MadScientistMike wrote:
I really wish I didn't use such a dry yeast for this.
Not to beat a dead horse...Lalvin D-47...Brewski swears by it for his meads because it leaves a residual sweetness. Also, if you're looking for a sweeter mead and it's not sparkling, you could add Potasseum Sorbate and backsweeten with a little more honey.
couldn't you also add Splenda to backsweeten? it shouldn't be fermentable.
YEAST STRAIN: 4021 | Pasteur Champagne™
Used in many white wine fermentations and also some red wines. Also used for secondary fermentation of barley wine. Ferments crisp and dry, ideal for base wines in champagne making. Low foaming, excellent barrel fermentation, good flocculating characteristics.
Origin: Paris, France
Flocculation: Medium
Attenuation: NA
Temperature Range: 55-75°F, 13-24°C
Alcohol Tolerance: 17% ABV
(Lavin)ICV D-47
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Origin
This strain was isolated from grapes grown in the Côtes-du-Rhône region of France by Dr. Dominique Delteil, head of the Microbiology Department, Institut coopératif du vin (ICV), in Montpellier. ICV D-47 strain was selected from 450 isolates collected between 1986 and 1990.
Oenological properties and applications
The ICV D-47 is a low-foaming quick fermenter that settles well, forming a compact lees at the end of fermentation. This strain tolerates fermentation temperatures ranging from 15° to 20°C (59° to 68°F) and enhances mouthfeel due to complex carbohydrates. Malolactic fermentation proceeds well in wine made with ICV D-47. (My Notes: Alcohol tolerance to 14%)
Recommended for making wines from white varieties such as Chardonnay and rosé wines. An excellent choice for producing mead, however be sure to supplement with yeast nutrients, especially usable nitrogen.
An excellent choice for dry whites, blush wines and residual sugar wines.
That's an interesting bit of trivia. Where'd you come across the history of yeast strains?
You just Google the yeast strain, & go to the manufacturer's website.
They have all the technical shit on every strain.
Lavin D-47 http://www.lalvinyeast.com/D47.asp
Every time I try this brew I get a slightly different opinion.
This time:
I went in expecting it to be bad, I was delightfully surprised. I am using the same yeast in a small amount of another meadish brew to compare, but I think the main thing I dont like is they yeast.
It smells sweet, very sweet actually, but its still dry and alcoholic.
The biggest thing that stands out to me is the oakyness of a scotch. It is surprisingly very oaky in flavor but not smell. Its floral and sweet in smell but alcoholic and oaky in flavor.
It has come a long way. I stall have 3 bottles, so who knows what will happen with time.
It has inspired me to make another oaked mead with a different yeast. This time I know to wait at least a full year before testing.
This is a similar discription to my cider champagne. I used Red Star's pasteur champagne yeast, and it also has a sweetish smell but an oaky aftertaste, still dry, I did not sweeten and pasturize to maintain sweetness and sparkling, just sparkled. Kind of like a sparkling chardonay with an appley taste to it. It doesn't taste like a chardonay, but that's the level of oaky flavor I find. Ok they're completely different. But I know what you mean. And I've found a good solid year of aging is needed for ciders (and I immagine meads as being closely related) of a higher alcohol content brewed with wine/champagne yeast. Perhaps even more so for ciders because they would have a higher tannin level than mead, without additives.
The cider champagne went through waves of different flavors, first too acidic, then mellow and I thought it had aged, then a few months later it was so dry it was barely drinkable, then a few months later the acidity and dryness mellowed a bit and the apple flavor came back...I'm not sure where it is now, I have a few tucked away to open over the next year or two for notes on maturing.
These brews are certainly not for the impatient. 
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