GROUP BREW: Strawberry Mead - Page 17

sfbayarea · 08-03-2011, 08:11 PM

Plan to do this mead upcoming weekend.
Two things I want from this mead -want it to be sweet and alcohol potent hence, however, I am new to mead and think that these two requirements contradict each other.

So I have few questions:

1. Once you finish fermenting and cold crush it at 1.015 how sweet this mead is? I am striking for the sweet mead, slightly less sweet than desert wine. If I am trying to reach that sweetness should I use more honey or back sweeten it?

2. To make it more alcohol potent, lets say 14% should I cold crush it at a 1.0? If so wouldn't this make mead more dry and and such controversy my first requirement?

NiteBeest · 08-04-2011, 01:51 AM

Good to see a fellow brewer so close to where I am! If you're super new JAOM and MAOM are both good recipes to start on. My first batch was a 1 gal of JAOM. I have 3 gal of MAOM going right now that I need to rack and let age as soon as my new 3 gal carboy gets here tomorrow.

In response to your quesitons:
1) If you let it go, it will finish fermenting closer to 1.000 (if not a little lower). If you cold crash it between 1.015-1.020 it will be on the sweet side. I think 1.015 is a hair above "sweet" and a little under "dessert" when it comes to FG.
2) If you use the 1116 as recommended and let it ferment to dryness it will take you to about 18%. Yes it will definately make your mead more dry on the dry side.
In response to the overall question... What I've found a lot of people will do (with meads, wines, and ciders) is to let it ferment to dryness and then backsweeten with whatever will go best with the product. In this case it would be easiest to backsweeten with more honey/water blended together or just straight honey. Make sure ferment doesn't restart and you should be good to go.

I think for what you want it would be best to let it ferment all the way to 18% with the 1116 and then backsweeten with honey to the level of sweetness you want. Also D47 finishes around 14% if I remember correctly, so you could always use that to take it to 14% and it'll finish up there while still leaving some sweetness behind (especially with the OG of 1.130ish).

sfbayarea · 08-04-2011, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiteBeest

Good to see a fellow brewer so close to where I am! If you're super new JAOM and MAOM are both good recipes to start on. My first batch was a 1 gal of JAOM. I have 3 gal of MAOM going right now that I need to rack and let age as soon as my new 3 gal carboy gets here tomorrow.

In response to your quesitons:
1) If you let it go, it will finish fermenting closer to 1.000 (if not a little lower). If you cold crash it between 1.015-1.020 it will be on the sweet side. I think 1.015 is a hair above "sweet" and a little under "dessert" when it comes to FG.
2) If you use the 1116 as recommended and let it ferment to dryness it will take you to about 18%. Yes it will definately make your mead more dry on the dry side.
In response to the overall question... What I've found a lot of people will do (with meads, wines, and ciders) is to let it ferment to dryness and then backsweeten with whatever will go best with the product. In this case it would be easiest to backsweeten with more honey/water blended together or just straight honey. Make sure ferment doesn't restart and you should be good to go.

I think for what you want it would be best to let it ferment all the way to 18% with the 1116 and then backsweeten with honey to the level of sweetness you want. Also D47 finishes around 14% if I remember correctly, so you could always use that to take it to 14% and it'll finish up there while still leaving some sweetness behind (especially with the OG of 1.130ish).

Thank you Nite.

Where do you get your honey in Bay Area? I spotted few posts on the craigslist, but don't know how legit those guys are.

NiteBeest · 08-04-2011, 05:28 PM

For the JAOM I did last year I just bought the giant yellow tin from Safeway. With the MAOM I picked up 10 lb of local Livermore honey at an art & wine festival there last year. Just moved out to Antioch so I'm trying to find an apiary out here. Antioch and Brentwood both have farmers markets on the weekend so I'm thinking I'll check them out. With any luck there will be someone selling honey and I can see if I can work something out with them. Other than that I haven't really found anything good on Craigslist. If I find someone out this way I'll let you know. Granted an hour is a little bit of a drive, but for good honey at hopefully a good price it could be worth it.

Jones · 08-05-2011, 08:48 PM

Started another 6 gallons for this year.

This stuff goes fast!

Also trying prickly pear.

sfbayarea · 09-09-2011, 09:40 PM

Ok, guys, took me a while to gather all of the ingredients, including big bucket for the initial fermentation, but finally everything aligned.
Yesterday, I used 19lb of various organic no preservatives honey, mixed it in a slightly worm water, than added 17lb of strawberries and added water to what I think approximately 6.5g. After that I added 3 campden tabs and 4 tea spoons of nutrients.
Two questions:
1. I have one pack of 5g KV-1116 yeast, which I ordered earlier and it was sitting in my refrigerator for probably month and a half. Is it still ok to add it to the must? To get a better fermentation can I add more yeas of different type? I have one of those liquid yeasts for sweet honey.

2. The nutrients can reads to add 1tsp for each gallon, since I have total of 6.5 gallons, isn't 4 tsp is not enough? Should I add another two tsp tonight before I pitch in yeast?

flyweed · 12-30-2011, 02:42 PM

WOW...I am so glad this thread is still going! I love this mead, and plan on brewing up another batch this winter at some point. It's SOOOO good!! Glad you guys like it

Dan

**daugenet** · 12-30-2011, 05:01 PM

I plan to make this again but not make it dry this time. Still tasty though.

flyweed · 12-30-2011, 05:57 PM

daugenet -- you aren't suppose to let it go until dry....crash it at about 1.012-1.015 and It'll be perfect!! I hate dry wines as well.