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I'm planning to make a batch of dry show mead (white wine experience). I have Lalvin 71B-1122 Narbonne yeast, and fermentation temperature range for it is from 59-89° F (15-30°C).

Lets say how different would be my mead (if I'm using lets say Orange Blossom Honey with OG~1.100) if I ferment it at 60F vs 85F?

What's the benefits of using colder temperature vs warmer?

Thanks guys.

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Lower temp will give a cleaner flavour with fewer yeast generated esters. If you are up at 27C then you may get banana/clove flavours, which can be awesome if that is what you want.

For a clean crisp mead that doesn't hide the character of the honey used I would suggest ~17C.

It will take a few days longer to fully ferment all of the sugars at a lower temp, but will generally be a more pleasant, dry, crisp mead.

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    Banana, yes. Clove, probably not. That you'll only get with the right precursors and a yeast with the phenolic-off-flavor gene (which as far as I can tell, this one isn't).
    – Franklin P Combs
    Oct 22, 2015 at 14:55
  • I assume it would take faster to age it as well after the fact... It is finally getting colder in my region, and my room temperature finally got to 72-75F (22-24C). I can wait for another month or so when the temperature drops to 65F in my house and make few batches.
    – Trigger
    Oct 22, 2015 at 16:37

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