Yeasts

Its been 27 years since I did my last wine batch and looking into it again I see many things have changed. Yeast selections have drastically changed so trying to select from whats available now is hard since I have no experience with the new stuff. Use to be if I wanted to make Port, their was a port yeast, same as Sherry etc, now its more merged cultures.
So Im wanting to make More Vinegar and doing it from fruit so wine first then the conversion. Using apple its more like a cider so it looks like one uses this Lalvin EC-1118
Will try other fruits too so some will be Port type mix.So If I was to stock up on yeast what would be recommended?
Thanks!
 
i use 1118 for all my wines(fruit and grape) and it has worked fine, plus it is readily available for $1. it is unfortunate the kits and juices mark their yeast packs as "wine yeast". last year i was going to make black currant wine and coop was carrying a different yeast called Super B, it only has wine yeast on the label but a quick google search says it is comparable to EC-1118.
 
2015 i made wine from costco kits as it is getting harder to find fresh grapes; i use to be able to go to the intalian superstore and in september they would bring in a dozen grape varieties but they have trimmed that service. i made sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio from concentrate, i mainly use it for cooking. then i made malbec from juice. i don't believe costco will be carrying juice kits any time soon; i  believe paklab went out of business for their facility burnt down.  i am a member of thewinewarehouse.ca 
 
i last made port in 1997 and still have several bottles.
 
a quick google of "wine yeast comparison" will bring up several websites with chart comparison and recommendation for use.
 
Thanks!
Have you gone to Scarponies? used to go their when I did trips to Calgary, they had tones of fresh grapes in the warehouse.
Were do you order the yeast from? Seen it for $2 mostly online in Canada.
 
yes, i frequent scarpones, italian supermarket and we now have a new italian shop. scarpone's was the first to start narrowing down their grape selection, then the italian supermarket tore down their freezer/cooler. Both will bring in juice but it hard to say how long the juice has been sitting. old italians are dying off and the kids are not making wine like the parents. that is why i bought from costco. The NE superstore use to bring in grapes but i don't think they do it anymore.
 
i just get the wine yeast at Coop, it is their wine kit section but again they have gone with this SuperB product. so if you want to try another variety 
 
so, i have a choice of the wine warehouse(where i am a member), wine kitz(5 minutes from my house), home vintner and a new place, grapes to glass.  grapes to glass appear to have a wider selection like the red star line which i have read good things about. i haven't visited their store to see the set up - i was looking at their Coopers IPA. 
 
I keep packs of Red Star Cotes De Blanc around, it's a great yeast. I used it for stuck fermentations, Cider and a Mead. Red Star Pasteur Blanc is another really good one I've used for a Mead and a Cider. There's a lot of great ones out there depending on what you want to do. BDX is really good for Merlot or a Cab as are D254 and D80 when the finished products are blended.

Cheers
 
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