Wine Yeast - Lalvin EC1118 5g

Lalvin EC-1118 is a 5g sachet of the champagne strain that commercial winemakers rely on, enough for up to 25 litres. It is the all-purpose wine yeast: clean, dependable, and the one we tell people to pitch when a fermentation has stalled and nothing else will restart it.

What it is good at

It ferments hard and finishes what it starts. That makes it right for sparkling and champagne-style wines, for fruit wines where the must can be thin on nutrients, and for any grape wine where you want the fruit to speak and the yeast to stay out of the way. It is neutral in character, so it does not add its own flavour the way some strains do.

When to choose it over the alternatives

Choose EC-1118 when reliability matters more than nuance: a first wine, a fruit wine, a sparkling base, or a rescue. Our winemaking guide's advice for a stuck ferment is to pitch a fresh packet of EC-1118 because it will ferment out almost anything. Choose a varietal strain when you are making a specific style from good grapes and want the yeast to contribute to it.

How to use it

Rehydrate in a little warm water before pitching, then add to must that is within the yeast's range. Lallemand's sheet gives it a 10 to 30 degree range, wider than most wine yeasts, though 18 to 24 is still the comfortable zone for flavour. Use a yeast nutrient in fruit wines.

Specifications

• Pack size: 5g, for up to 25 litres
• Strain: Saccharomyces bayanus, champagne type
• Alcohol tolerance: 18% ABV, per Lallemand's technical sheet
• Fermentation temperature: 10 to 30 degrees, per Lallemand's technical sheet
• Nitrogen needs: low
• Character: neutral, fast, high vigour, selected by the Institut Oenologique de Champagne, Epernay

Reviewed by the AHB Brewing Team, September 2026.