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".
>