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Red Star Cuvee & Premier Blanc Champagne Yeasts – Item of the Day

The Survival Podcast Posted on by

cuveeEvery day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is a two fer, because that is how I use them.  This is my go to yeast blend for small batch mead making.

I use one packet of each in both one and five gallon batches.

Yes, you can use part of a packet for a one gallon batch but when you realize how inexpensive it really is you will likely just opt for VERY fast fully attenuated fermentation.  The exception is if I am doing two gallons in one day, then I do indeed split the packs.

The Two Items are…

  1.  Red Star Cuvee Yeast (pronounced cu vey)
  2.  Red Star Premier Blanc

 

Again I use one of each in my mead batches, it is the fastest finishing yeast blend I have come up with, it finishes nice and dry at 2.5 pounds to the gallon and leaves just a hint of sweetness at 3 pounds to the gallon which has become my go to during my “year of mead” experiments.

There are a few things to know about these guys to get the right deal on Amazon.

  1. Do not buy anything less than a 10 pack
  2. They are add on items so combine them or add them to other orders
  3. Red Star Changed the Name on Premier Blanc but this is the right one

 

Item one is very self explanatory, let me explain the other two.  Okay as you might imagine shipping you 6 bucks worth of yeast would kill Amazon and its vendors on shipping, especially for prime members.  So they either have to jack up the price or charge more for shipping than the item itself  So what they have done with a lot of small items is require a minimum order of 25-50 dollars depending on the item.

So make note if you are a mead maker and just remember to add these guys the next time you order other stuff or add some cool mead making supplies like say Fermax Yeast Nutrient, Oak Infusion Spirals or say some awesome Vanilla Beans to your order.

On point three, there has been some confusion in the past with the “Blanc Yeast varieties.  Specifically there was a Pasteur Blanc (what I recommend) and there was Pasteur Champagne yeast.  While similar they are not the same.  I contacted Red Star and “Premier Blanc Champagne” is the yeast I have recommended for three years with this combination.

So make sure you are getting the ones I have linked to in this post if you want to use or try my recommended yeast blend.

When I came up with this mix I did not have a clue as to what exact magic goes on when you use this blend, it was a happy accident, I just knew it worked.  Well I sat down and looked at what these two yeasts do best, the fact that I make 3lb to the gallon meads and add fruit (more sugar) to most.  It now makes PERFECT sense.  I will be explaining it in today’s show.  When you year it, you will instantly think, “well duh”.

Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com

Comments

Red Star Cuvee & Premier Blanc Champagne Yeasts – Item of the Day — 7 Comments

  1. Jack thanks for championing the 1 gallon for mead making. After seeing you do it, we took a shot with it this summer, and its really the only way to go unless you’ve got a specific recipe that you want to make enmass for distribution. (Maybe your family signature mead, but you gotta get there first).

    The assets necessary to purchase everything are fairly cheap, so having duplicates of everything really just isn’t that big of a deal. I now have plenty of buckets, and at least 10 1 gallon glass fermenters. (For doing 5 gallons no problem).

    Unlike brewing beer and other fermination methods, mead is too stupid simple NOT to do. So much so that I actually do not drink any alcohol anymore, other than the mead I make. Why not? It’s significantly cheaper, it completely 100% satisfies my needs for diversity, and it tastes like real food, not sterilized crap.

    In the last year I have made the following meads using all local ingredients that either i grew/harvested or i got from the farmers market :
    Peach (at least 4 different iterations)
    Peach Blueberry
    Peach Ginger
    Peach Mint Elderflower
    Strawberry Mayhaw
    Wild Blackberry & Blueberry
    Elderberry

  2. On the lower right the Hebrew says, Kosher Parve which means it is kosher and neither meat nor milk.

    Those who care already noticed it, but for those who are wondering, that is what it means. I’m sure about half the packaged food in the average person’s pantry is kosher. Sometimes it is marked. Other times not.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hechsher

    • I think that is cool, it isn’t important to me personally but I still care. If for no other reason that as a good host I try to accommodate the dietary needs of my guests.

      • FYI, simply using a kosher yeast does not make the entire product kosher, but it does go a long way toward that goal.

        Kashrut [kahsh-ROOT] (the practice of being kosher) is a complex subject. In other words, it’s easy to screw it up, and everyone has a different opinion on the subject. Even some very respected authorities have different opinions.

        Notice that the symbol itself identifies the private organization that is doing the certification. That is, Adath Yereim. That is actually Rabbi Joseph David Frankforter, an chasidic rabbi in Paris, France. If you trust the rabbi, then good. If you don’t then you buy a different product certified by a different organization or person. Sometimes two separate organizations will certify the same product in order for the product to gain a wider acceptance from the kosher community.

        Some people have asked if such certification adds to the overall cost of the product, and it probably does. To offset this extra cost, usually only higher grade products seek such certification. That is why a kosher certified product seems so much more expensive. You are paying for two things: the certification (a second set of eyes on the product) and a higher quality product. Organically labeled products do something similar.

        I am informing folks on what the symbol means. I know people want to know about such things.

        Be well,

        Alex Shrugged

  3. I am a beginning brewer and would like info on the proper way to begin my mead experimentation project.

  4. Hey Charles,
    I can’t stress enough to watch and follow Jack’s small batch videos. My first attempt at fermenting anything was 1 gallon of three flowers blend (he explains in depth) and the very first attempt turned out awesome. Full disclosure, I didn’t prefer it immediately, but after six months of age,the few people I shared with loved it.
    Also, I recommend using a tablespoon of the three flowers in every variation you try as it speeds things up drastically and it brings out flavors of every fruit I’ve tried that I can’t even describe, but they’ve all been great.

    Good luck, and enjoy.

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