rsmith179

Recipes 

Quick question for you all... I'm going to be making my first batches of mead with my Dad coming up here in the next 2 weeks. Been reading alot and the FAQs are fantastic. I just had a question regarding the amount of lees at the bottom of the primary and secondary. Basically, in a 1 gallon batch, how much can you expect to lose from transfering to secondary? I'm contemplating doing a 1.5 gallon batch just to compensate for losses. Any tricks/advice would be appreciated!

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"Brewers enjoy working to make beer as much as drinking beer instead of working."
-Harold Rudolph

patrick767

Recipes 

I believe a lot of people top it off after racking using either water if they think it's plenty sweet already or alternatively more honey dissolved in water. I'd like the experienced mead folks to comment though as I'll be looking at the same issue when I rack my current batches.

will_cbe

Recipes 

When I make gallon batches, I get about 1/2 inch of lees after primary. That's on the bottom of a 1 gallon apple juice jug. FYI, it's not critical you leave 100% of the lees in primary. It'll be fine if you happen to suck up a little. They'll settle out by the time you're ready.

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Will
www.comicsbyemail.com
Fermenting: Blackberry Wine
Aging: Mulberry Wine, Mint Mead, Dandelion Wine, Mesquite Mead
Drinking: Apfelwein
On Hand: Peach Mango Wine, Huck's Cider, Mulberry Mead, Orange Spice Mead, Cyser, Apfelwein, Maple Cinnamon Mead, Hard Cider, Brown Sugar Cider

AZ_IPA

Recipes 

since 1 gallon = 128oz; in theory, you should get ten 12 oz bottles of mead out of a gallon batch. Due to loses from racking/sampling, I usually get 9.

You will lose some due to racking, and since you want to minimize headspace, you should look at topping of or other techniques to cut the oxidation chances during the nice long secondary

malkore

Recipes 

those numbers sound similar to my experience. a mini autosiphon will help you get as much as possible. regular auto siphon usually can't fit inside the mouth of 1 gallon jugs.

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Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

AZ_IPA

Recipes 

good point to include the mini auto siphon - I forgot to include that. They are absolutely neccessary for small batches.

rsmith179

Recipes 

Right on! Thanks for the advice regarding the mini-auto... Def. gotta pick that up when I make it to the LHBS. Can't wait to get started on the batches.

__________________
"Brewers enjoy working to make beer as much as drinking beer instead of working."
-Harold Rudolph

summersolstice

Recipes 

I always make more in the primary so I'll have enough for racking. I usually make 1.5 gallons in the primary for a 1-gallon batch. I don't like topping with water.