What is this yeast?

arcticsid · Mar 17, 2009

Gonna start a new batch and wanted to use Premiere Cuvee because it worked great. My lil homebrew shop didn't have anymore so I bought a sachet of LALVIN K1-V1116. I hope this will work well for my Pine/Orange/Mango from concentrated juice. As you know I "speak" no yeast, and am somewhat intimidated by a yeast with numbers instead of a name. Why didn't they call it LALVIN "Pretty Rose", make many bubbles?
Are there any special considerations in using this, I was hoping to rehydrate it the same as I did with the Cuvee and add it to the "mix" after letting it (the mix) sit overnight.
Please Advise
Troy

cpfan · Mar 17, 2009

In Canada, Lalvin distributes five yeasts in little green consumer-sized packages. They make another hundred (or whatever) that are only available in bulk.

Here's the write-up from their web-site from a few years ago

K1V-1116 Selected by the Institut Coopératif du Vin (ICV) in Montpellier among numerous killer strains isolated and studied by Pierre Barre at INRA, the K1V-1116 strain was the first competitive factor yeast to go into commercial production and has become one of the most widely used active dried wine yeasts in the world.

The K1V-1116 strain is a rapid starter with a constant and complete fermentation between 15° and 30°C (59° and 86°F), capable of surviving a number of difficult conditions, such as low nutrient musts and high levels of SO2 or sugar. Wines fermented with the K1V-1116 have very low volatile acidity, H2S and foam production.

The K1V-1116 strain tends to express freshness of white grape varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Seyval. The natural fresh fruit aromas are retained longer than with other standard yeast strains. Fruit wines and wines made from concentrates poor in nutrient balance benefit from the capacity of K1V-1116 to adapt to difficult fermentation conditions. Restarts stuck fermentations.

I guess Lalvin would rather spend time on yeast than on fancy names.

Steve