Mead wine and beer and CO2

Recently venturing into mead making.  First I gotta say holey moley thats some potent stuff.  Pretty sure its the sugar and has nothing to do with the alcohol.  about 10 oz of it after a few homebrews and my night was definitely over...my wife sent me to bed. 

But to the question.  Mead instructions say to dissipate CO2 often during fermentation because it is toxic to yeast, and if I remember right the same applies to wine making  (2 batches before I asked myself what am I doing making this stuff, I dont even like it). 

So why is CO2 generation during fermentation toxic to mead/wine yeast but not to beer yeast? 

Mead can get up to 18% alcohol depending upon the yeast. That's where your potency comes from. After a few 5% homebrews, a glass of that stuff can knock you on your butt.  As far as dissipating the CO2 goes, I've never heard of it, and I was making fruit wines before I started making beer.  Maybe they're talking about fermenting in a sealed container instead of one with an airlock, so they crack the top now and again to let out the pressure. I dunno. Sounds to me like you have some unscientific instructions.

My suggestion is to google up several sets of instructions, and look at what they have in common.  I doubt that dissipating toxic CO2 will be a common theme.

I was shooting for 15% and it feels like I got all of that. I am in trouble with the wife til its gone.

They were discussing fermentation in a plastic bucket or carboy with an airlock.  Ken Schramm recommends degassing and staggered nutrient additions during his appearance on the Jamil Show in 2008 but he doesnt discuss either in his 2003 book.  Curt Stock also on Beersmith Podcast in 2011. Curt recommends several times a day for like a week.  Curts the guy who said CO2 is toxic to yeast.  These guys are the premier mead makers of our time.  They say CO2 suppresses ester formation. growth, and reproduction.  I thought it was standard procedure for wine making with a wine whip. Just wondering why it is important for wine and mead but not for beer.  Its all Saccharomyces cerevisiae so why is CO2 suppression not important with beer making.  I should have used the term degassing instead of dissipation but my cinnamon metheglin convinced me otherwise.

I only have 2 mead batches done, but batch 1 is only 3 months out using the above processes and its already quite enjoyable. They say it only gets better with age so I will bottle some and find out. 

I would guess because of the longer ferment times it takes to get to the higher alcohol levels.

Thats what I thought too. After reading more about wine it seems they only degas in order to make it still.  Using Stock & Schramm's recommendations (and also Michael Fairbrother) you can ferment a mead in 2-3 weeks so co2 levels should be inconsequential at that point since the yeast are done.  They say that CO2 suppresses yeast growth and reproduction, which is obviously not what you want in a beer fermentation. My question or thought was it may have some benefit to beer. 

I have been brewing beer for a few years and have been doing mead now for several months...
I DO the CO2 dissipation in my primaries, once i rack over and see that WONDERFUL clarification of my mead i leave it ALONE, and as long as the yeast cakes don't get too big (and of course i keep my airlocks wet ) i don't worry about them for several months...i learned all too well that you can bottle mead too soon, i made a gorgeous fig-raisin melomel that i bottled to soon, and it is carbed in the bottle...sooo THAT batch is getting re-pitched next brew-day and wont see bottles until i KNOW it's ready, lol
good luck!

My method has been to release the co2 using a whip mounted in a drill, then SNA, then oxygenate.  Then stop all this at somewhere between 30-50% sugar break.  My mead fermentations are done in about the same time it takes a lager and I am drinking them in 2-3 months.