WLP720 Sweet Mead - White Labs Yeast Pure Pitch Next Gen

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Excellent, Controllable Yeast IF You Take Your Time

WLP720 Sweet Mead yeast is one of my three go-to's for cider, and also has worked well for me for making mead. In controlled cider tests against five other yeasts, it gave a "softer", fruitier and more floral results than several of the others. Regardless of use, 720 gives a nice slow (months-long), very controllable ferment at 13 - 15C (55 - 59F), and gives a moderate ferment at 17C (63 F). I have no experience at the recommended 70 - 75F but expect it would run to completion in a couple of weeks. (Making cider at the lower temperatures and slower speeds allows me to do several rackings and essentially starve out the yeast and stop while the cider still has significant residual sugar [note that if you are doing this you absolutely should not add any nutrients, the purpose of the rackings is to remove nutrients].) Making mead (cyser, actually), working with 3 pounds local honey diluted to 1 gallon with raw farmstand juice ("sweet cider" in the US, from heavily managed orchards so probably bring in a significant amount of nutrients) for a net starting SG about 1.14 to 1.15, adding NO other nutrients and fermenting at about 60F, 720 has stopped fermenting and cleared at an SG of about 1.06 to 1.08 and about 7 or 8 % ABV. Batches starting in October require no racking and are pretty well done by spring and ready to bottle in early summer, producing a very sweet mead that preserves most of the original scent of the local late summer honey that I started with.

How many times?

I've done the review on this product 3 times over the same purchase, but somehow I keep getting these reminders emails.