Quote:
Originally Posted by YooperBrew
Why would you lower the pH with gypsum (calcium sulfate) and then turn around and add calcium carbonate (chalk) to raise the pH? That seems counterintuitive to me.
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It is.
I wouldn't recommend using gypsum because with most meads (especially traditional meads) you need to worry more about keeping the pH up during fermentation. Rather than gypsum, you'd be better served to add some cream of tartar, or some potassium bicarbonate to provide some buffering capacity in order to keep the pH from dropping too low.
And as for the nutrients, it is better to use them
before the yeast get stressed and start to produce sulfur odors.
So for a simple semi-sweet mead, I'd go with:
16 pounds (approximately) of light, fresh, raw honey - target gravity 1.115
Spring water to 5 gallons
ICV-D47 yeast (or Red Star's Cote des Blancs) 5 gram packet
Yeast nutrient (DAP) 10 grams (about 2.5 tsp)
Yeast Energizer (Fermaid K preferred) 20 grams (about 5 tsp)
Potassium bicarbonate 7.5 grams (or cream of tartar 20 grams) - you can often skip adding this and ferment just fine.
Mix the honey and water (a bucket is easier and you can use warm water if you like). You might need a little more honey (or water) to get the gravity to 1.115. The must does not need to be pasteurized or treated with sulfite. Then mix in the nutrients and the bicarbonate.
Rehydrate the yeast in 105 degree water (no nutrients added) for 20 minutes then pitch it in. Keeping the fermentation temperature below 70F will give you much better results. Aerate the must each day until the gravity hits 1.080, then keep it under airlock but swirl it to re-suspend the yeast a couple of time a day until it finished. The final gravity should be around 1.010.
Then rack in into a carboy and top it up fully. You can add 1 Campden tablet per gallon at the time of racking. This will need to sit until it clears. The best clarifier is time. When it is clear, rack it again, taste it, and top it up. It will probably need some acid blend added - 4 teaspoons may be a good amount, but you can add less or more depending on your tastes. The acid will brighten the flavor so it doesn't taste flat (with some honey I don't need to add any acid).
When you can read news paper through it, you can bottle it. It will continue to improve for at least a couple of years as it smooths out and the aroma of the honey increases.
The single biggest factor in your outcome will be the honey. I'm not sure what kind of honey you will be getting from your girlfriend's family, but hopefully it will be a light floral honey as they tend to produce better results sooner.
I hope that helps.
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