turtlescales

Recipes 

Edit- I am sorry, I need to check my notes before posting! This is using Lalvin 71B-1122, not the KV-1116. My apologies!




I was wondering if there is a good rule of thumb with 71B concerning when to rack it. I am making raspberry melomel with this, and racked it the first time after 2 or 3 weeks. I have to check my brew notes for the exact date, but it is already sitting on at least a 1/4 inch of lees. (Yeast pitched 12/28/11)

I used pectic enzyme with this batch, so that could be contributing to it as well. All but a few bits of berries were left behind with the first racking. Going for a very subtle berry taste with this one, used 10oz of raspberries.

Sorry I don't have the specific dates, I just noticed this on the way out the door to work this morning, and had been cautioned against letting 71B to sit on the lees for too long. Not really sure what counts as too long, is it as simple as noticing how built up they are on the bottom? Don't want to over do it and oxidize my mead either.

fatbloke

Recipes 

If it's finished fermenting, then rack it off the lees. Simple as that.

71B isn't good for "sur lie"/batonnage. As for how long is too long? A month or two shouldn't be an issue, as long as the ferment has finished.

If you post your full recipe, method/technique etc, then it's easier to offer suggestions.

But, in a 1 gallon batch, with only 10oz of fruit, the fruit flavour is likely to be just about non-existent. I'd suggest that you rack it once it's finished the ferment, stabilise it i.e. sorbate and sulphite, then add further 10oz of fruit and pectic enzyme. Leave it on the fruit for a month, then rack it off and back sweeten it - raspberry has a habit of being quite over powering a flavour on its own, the fruit in it's natural state, masks the flavour and acidity, but once the sugars have been fermented the acid can come to the forefront in quite a dramatic way.

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turtlescales

Recipes 

Checked my notes, have a bit more info.

Recipe-

Juice of 2 oranges and 1 lime
10 oz frozen/thawed/mashed raspberries (organic)
1 campden tablet
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
3.5 lbs clover honey
1 packet 71B-1122 yeast
spring water to 1 gallon

12/28- combined everthing but yeast
12/29- 24 hours later, pitched rehydrated yeast

12/20- most berries on bottom of jug, significant amount of lees as well. Racked, a few berries that were still floating made it through.

At this point, the level in the jug was very low and I was worried about oxidation, so on a whim I topped it up a bit with some leftover must from my clementine cyzer. Knowing exactly what is in the jug at this point, and amounts, isn't really possible. I know I can't reproduce it , but not exactly worried about that.

I do have another 10 oz of berries in my freezer I might just add. We were shooting for a sweet mead, with a subtle berry flavor hence the amount used. Is it really necessary to stabilize? I know it can trigger a secondary ferment, but adding the cyser must didn't seem to trigger any new activity. What is the worst that can happen if the ferment gets started up again? More curious than anything, if it makes it taste bad then I will get the sorbate and whatnot. We won't be drinking this for a year, or close to it, so if it adds another month or so to the process it won't be a huge deal.