SC - mead/honey/bread yeast

[Gedney, Jeff]

On Wednesday, April 22, 1998 1:22 PM, Russell Gilman-Hunt
[SMTP:conchobar at rocketmail.com] wrote:
> I'm sorry Papa Gunther for asking this here, but I can't find Brandu's
> email address...

Gedney.j at phd.com (mailto:Gedney.j at phd.com) or Gedney1 at iconn.net
(mailto:Gedney1 at iconn.net) 
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> 
> I started a 1 gallon batch of cinnamon mead to try it out and see how
> it tasted - to see if it was worth recreating in larger quantities.
> Made the stuff, let it sit for about 8 weeks, and tasted it... it was
> really dry, so I got a passle more honey, and since it was purified at
> the store, I just poured it in... and it sank to the bottom.  Which
> got me to wondering; some yeasts are bottom fermenting, (?) and some
> are top fermenting (?) and I used bread yeast because I was too lazy 
> to go to the store and get another packet of good yeast.  I shook the
> stuff up and made it mix, but if the honey had stayed at the bottom,
> would the bread yeast have worked it?  
> 
> Btw, tastes fine now.  I think the dryness (?) came from using an old
> copy of, I think, Digby's weak honey drink, where it comes out all 
> sparkley and didn't work all the way through... but I let it work to
> completion and it (the yeast) ate all the sugar.
I am sure that the honey sank because it had a much higher concentration
of sugar, and was denser, than the mead.  
Yeasts:  
I believe that:
Anaerobic (Ale yeasts are one type) yeasts are considered "Bottom
fermenting" because they grow best in the bottom of the vat
Aerobic (Lager yeasts are one type) yeasts are considered "Top
fermenting" because they grow best in the TOP of the vat

Whatever yeast you used, I think that they would have found their way TO
the honey, since a yeast inoculation tends to be throughout the vat,
though concentrations would be higher in the top or bottom, according to
type.
The yeast would not have had an easy time of it, since they could only
have worked at the interface between the honey and the water, and high
concentrations of sugar would have caused them to work real hard to
maintain their internal chemistry. The result would have been a very
bitter beer, it native wild yeasts in the honey (Yes they are there -
more robust, and more fitted to surviving in it) did not take over the
mead from your yeast, and destroy the character of the mead.
You did the right thing stirring up the mixture.

At least that is how I see it.  

Brandu
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