I've become a fan of both Lalvin EC-1118 & KV1-1116 for similar reasons.
High SG & PA peach or pear wines fermented into wonderful semi-sweets when
the yeasties gave up the ghost. TA's have been in the 15-18% ranges w/o a
bottle bomb yet in 5 years. & no sorbates etc. These semi-sweets have been
received well even though a little *potent*. The EC-1118 is better, IMHO, to
achieve a totally dry fruit product, but will require some massaging to
prolong its viability. However, the dry result may not be for everyone: the
bone-dry whites faction compare it too really good Entre deux Mers; those
less kind called it two steps away from vinegar (a bit of the rocket fuel
taste, to be precise.) I say keep on in your "research trials" & post
updates! regards, bob



wrote in message
s.com...
Hello folks, coming out of lurking to pose a question from some
results of mine. I recently started winemaking and have nine batches
going (a couple are meads).

So I have noticed that the batches I used Cote des Blancs on have no
"rocket fuel taste" that I can pick up. Indeed, I can barely detect
the alcohol in them (the missing .12 gravity point say it is there).
Most of them were started with OG in the 1120-1130 range and less than
two months old. My strawberry hasn't even cleared yet and tastes
divine already.

I do know what hot tastes like, I have a blueberry/banana that took
1136 down to 0.992 in seven days and the alcohol slaps you in the
face. Didn't expect that from Lavlin 71B.

So is this a common thing with this yeast? I must say that I like how
it behaved. It wasn't fast, but steadily chugged along without foaming
or getting violent. I chose it for low alcohol tolerance on some
experiments with letting the ABV kill off the yeast with residual
sweetness. My theory is that the slow ferment and low flocculation
allow a complete chemical reaction during ferment instead of needing
months/years for this to happen once the wine becomes still.
How will this property translate into long term aging? Is this because
it is missing in "chemical complexity" that reduce aging potential?

Just curious about all this because I really like this yeast now and
am contemplating using it almost exclusively until I run into musts
that it doesn't like. I'm trying to build up a style similar to the
mead guys that use starvation and cold-crashing to leave high OG musts
semi-sweet. I am doing some dry wines, but just used less sugar
instead of a "killer yeast".