urbanmyth

Recipes 

I have heard time and again how notorious show mead is for being a finicky fermentor. Seems I got lucky. I pitched a packet of 1118 in a gallon of 1.100 must last night. This morning I had a perfectly vigorous fermentation, at 64F, no less! I just hope this ferment stays active. Just kinda wanted to brag about how well things seem to be working out so far...

__________________
Aurë Entuluva! Day shall come again!

Sheldon: If its a brew day, its a good day

raptorvan: it makes the beer so silky smooth its like drinking a glass of giggling angels.

fatbloke

Recipes 

Any nutrients etc that might be lacking in the must (for a full ferment), will get used up and the ferment slows down etc. It's equally feasible that if there was enough nutrient to start the ferment, that as some of the yeast dies off, that the yeast that is fermenting will cannibalise the dead yeast for nutrients.

Just keep us posted how it goes.......

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"What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away". Tom Waits.

Oh, and here's some blog stuff!

Bugeaud

Recipes 

1118 really good at unstucking even the stickiest fermentations. But good job anyways.

urbanmyth

Recipes 

After two weeks, this has already dropped to 1.060. My house has dropped again in temperature from ambient of 64F to about 62F. The mead is still chugging away, albeit more slowly.

Just thinking in the future if'n I need to give the yeasties a little help, would adding boiled yeast still put this in the realm of show mead?

__________________
Aurë Entuluva! Day shall come again!

Sheldon: If its a brew day, its a good day

raptorvan: it makes the beer so silky smooth its like drinking a glass of giggling angels.

urbanmyth

Recipes 

After a month and a half, the gravity is 1.014. Hopefully it drops a few more points. Tastes pretty hot, but that is to be expected this young. I'm very excited, as I thought it would peeter out sooner than this with no nutrients.

__________________
Aurë Entuluva! Day shall come again!

Sheldon: If its a brew day, its a good day

raptorvan: it makes the beer so silky smooth its like drinking a glass of giggling angels.

AZhornedtoad

Recipes 

Not to steal the thread. I'm a newbie and can't find the answer here or any of the books I've purchased. Are yeast nutrient or citric acid legit additions for show mead. Or just honey/water/yeast? Thanks all. Love the forum!

fatbloke

Recipes 

As I understand it, just water, honey and yeast.....

__________________
"What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away". Tom Waits.

Oh, and here's some blog stuff!

AZhornedtoad

Recipes 

Finally found a recipe (several actually) in Schramms book that list yeast nutrient and yeast energizer in his show meads. I guess if he thinks they're okay, they must be okay. Cheers! AZhornedtoad.

tweake

Recipes 

its not regarded as a show mead if there is nutrients added to it.
kens book is getting a little old, better start bugging him for an update version

adding nutrients turns a show mead into a traditional.
unless your entering competitions i do not see the point of doing a show mead. show off meads are just for showing off that you can do it without adding anything.

and yes they can ferment very well at the start, but they soon eat all the nutrient and go to a crawl, often producing bad tasting byproducts which can take years to age out.