jamesnsw

Recipes 

Snow day 2 here in Denver, and I think I've planned out my brew schedule well enough that I can sacrifice a carboy for however long it takes to make this mead.

Here's the recipe-

• Honey - 12 lbs (estimated, it's 1 gallon)
• Yeast Nutrient - 4 tablespoons
• 4 gallons of water (boiled, then cooled)
• White Labs 720 Sweet Mead yeast

So this will leave me with 5 gallons of must.

OG- 1.076
FG- 1.019

7.5% ABV

I figure this will be a quicker mead, since it's not as big.

How active will fermentation be? Will 5 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy be safe, or asking for blow-off?

What suggestions do you have?

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Some stuff I've made: Odell's 90 Shilling Clone, Abbey Weiss Pottsville Common, Simple Mead, Dry Dock Apricot Blonde Clone, Rye IPA, Maibock, Scrapper's Quaffable Irish Red, Short Sleep Blueberry Ale, Lazy Magnolia Pecan Nut Brown Ale Clone, Graff, Apfelwein, Cascades Orange Pale, Orfy's Mild Ale, Vagabond Gingered Ale

jezter6

Recipes 

I think your calculations might be off.

In hightest's calculator spreadsheet (FAQ sticky)

12# honey + 4g water = 1.085 OG
FG will likely end much lower than 1.019, I'm probably thinking closer to 1.000.

That will end up around 11% and probably fairly dry and need to backsweeten.

Now, I think Wyeast sweet mead craps out around 11%, so if you up just a little more honey it will probably die out with some residual sweetness.

I just can't remember if sweet mead dies at 11% or 14% -- but I know it's been a PITA for most people....

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I am a member of the Maryland Brewday Group - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/groups/md-brew-day/

MD Dec Brewday 12/11/10 - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f20/md-pa-de-dc-winter-brew-day-195534/

jamesnsw

Recipes 

Good to know. Beer Tools doesn't do mead well, apparently :-).

White Labs lists the attenuation as "<75%", so I assumed it would peter out sweeter. The alcohol tolerance is 15%.

What if I used 3 gallons of water for a smaller batch? The spreadsheet calculates that as a OG of 1.106. If it only attentuates 75%, that's a FG of about 1.024.

Although I'm not opposed to having a drier mead, I guess.

__________________
Some stuff I've made: Odell's 90 Shilling Clone, Abbey Weiss Pottsville Common, Simple Mead, Dry Dock Apricot Blonde Clone, Rye IPA, Maibock, Scrapper's Quaffable Irish Red, Short Sleep Blueberry Ale, Lazy Magnolia Pecan Nut Brown Ale Clone, Graff, Apfelwein, Cascades Orange Pale, Orfy's Mild Ale, Vagabond Gingered Ale

jezter6

Recipes 

Wyeast is full of crap. Look at other threads here in the mead section about the yeast crapping out early. I think it's around 11%. It will likely attenuate higher than 75% up until it peters out due to...it petering out.

If I'm correct and it is ~11% that it tends to die on people, then a pound or two more honey should allow some residual sweetness.

__________________
I am a member of the Maryland Brewday Group - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/groups/md-brew-day/

MD Dec Brewday 12/11/10 - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f20/md-pa-de-dc-winter-brew-day-195534/

jamesnsw

Recipes 

But this is White Labs Sweet Mead Yeast, not Wyeast. Does the White Labs yeast crap out early as well?

__________________
Some stuff I've made: Odell's 90 Shilling Clone, Abbey Weiss Pottsville Common, Simple Mead, Dry Dock Apricot Blonde Clone, Rye IPA, Maibock, Scrapper's Quaffable Irish Red, Short Sleep Blueberry Ale, Lazy Magnolia Pecan Nut Brown Ale Clone, Graff, Apfelwein, Cascades Orange Pale, Orfy's Mild Ale, Vagabond Gingered Ale

jezter6

Recipes 

Ahh, did NOT catch that. I hear enough about people's problems with the Wyeast smack packs.

Don't know what to tell you about WL. Sorry man

__________________
I am a member of the Maryland Brewday Group - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/groups/md-brew-day/

MD Dec Brewday 12/11/10 - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f20/md-pa-de-dc-winter-brew-day-195534/

Monghetti

Recipes 

I also took advantage of the Denver snow day and just finished my attempt at a sweeter mead. I am using Lalvin 71B-1122 and am hoping I added enough honey that it will overwhelm the yeast and leave me with a bit of sweetness. I used almost 18 pounds of honey, so we'll see what happens

I am also curious if a 5 gallon carboy/5gallon bucket gives enough headspace for a mead. Do they typically ferment violently?

Monghetti

Recipes 

JamesNW: I forgot to ask...Where are you getting your honey?

jamesnsw

Recipes 

A woman at church knows a place- I got it through her. I'll have to find out more info.

__________________
Some stuff I've made: Odell's 90 Shilling Clone, Abbey Weiss Pottsville Common, Simple Mead, Dry Dock Apricot Blonde Clone, Rye IPA, Maibock, Scrapper's Quaffable Irish Red, Short Sleep Blueberry Ale, Lazy Magnolia Pecan Nut Brown Ale Clone, Graff, Apfelwein, Cascades Orange Pale, Orfy's Mild Ale, Vagabond Gingered Ale

jamesnsw

Recipes 

No worries.

__________________
Some stuff I've made: Odell's 90 Shilling Clone, Abbey Weiss Pottsville Common, Simple Mead, Dry Dock Apricot Blonde Clone, Rye IPA, Maibock, Scrapper's Quaffable Irish Red, Short Sleep Blueberry Ale, Lazy Magnolia Pecan Nut Brown Ale Clone, Graff, Apfelwein, Cascades Orange Pale, Orfy's Mild Ale, Vagabond Gingered Ale