Hello,
To remove the excess yeast, you could rack the sima and add a fining agent
to it, such as isinglas or gelatin, then rack again after a week.

Time may be your ally here too: My brother made some dandelion wine with
bread yeast (we were kids!), and it took 2 or 3 years before it was really
drinkable.

As to the type of yeast to use: I used to use Montrachet wine yeast when
making mead (honey wine), because the flavor profile of the yeast didn't
dominate the natural honey flavor. You could also try some sort of
"neutral" brewer's yeast and see which works better.

Bill Bell

"Frogleg" <frogleg@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:s2klhvc23j3pnosualeeatbalm9skq8c0g@4ax.com...[color=blue]
> Just made a batch of sima -- no, not Zima. The recipe is lemons,
> water, sugar and yeast left to perk overnight(!), then bottled with
> added sugar and 3 raisins. This is supposed to sit around for a couple
> of days until the raisins rise to the top. Then the bottles are
> refrigerated and ready to drink. I made this a number of years ago,
> and the result was a mildy alcoholic, somewhat fizzy lemonade. Yes, I
> used bread yeast.
>
> Given that ambient temperatures are probably a good deal warmer than
> this recipe's Scandinavian origin, it shouldn't have been a surprise
> that those raisins zipped to the top lickety split.
>
> So here I am with 4 quarts of lemony liquid that's got enough yeast in
> it to supply a bakery for years. It's only been refrigerated for a few
> hours, but shows no sign of clearing, although there's quite a bit of
> yeast sludge at the bottom.
>
> Is there any relatively simple way I can make this drinkable?
> Actually, it *is* drinkable, but only if one is very fond of yeast.
> Would using some kind of brewing/wine yeast significantly improve this
> simple recipe? Is there an easy way to fliter out the yeast? Any clue
> as to whether the yeast *will* settle or not, and if so, how I get the
> stuff out of the bottle and into a glass without stirring it up?[/color]