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Has anyone adapted an automotive vacuum pump (for car A/C) for degassing your wine? If so, how'd you do it? Talking about this kind of pump, BTW: Thanks!

So, as I understand it, a short mead is essentially supposed to be a quick mead, i.e., drinkable quickly. Is a short mead also typically lower ABV (6% as opposed to 12%), or is a "normal" ABV common?

Another option: pasteurize?

I'm with fatbloke--the yeast isn't going because you slammed them with campden tablets. D-47 is perfectly fine at your temps. I have a D-47 batch going gangbusters myself, and I keep the house at 67ºF during the day and 57ºF during the night.

So I've done some cursory searching but ha'n't found a clear answer. When performing Staggered Nutrient Addition, it's recommended to add nutrient/energizer when you pitch your yeast, and at the 1/3 sugar break. But how much nutrient/energizer do you add? For example, say you have a...

If the headspace is filled with CO2, even 4 gal of it, why would it matter? It's oxygen that's the problem, and since you're not supposed to touch JAOM until you bottle, there should be naught but CO2 in the headspace until it's time to bottle.

Adding honey during a ferment is called step-feeding. :) As long as you monitor the SG and don't slam it with too much honey at once, you can do it. A champagne yeast should be able to chew through the extra honey no problem.

Bee Folks is basically local to us, and they cost more than Dutch Gold, although they do have more varieties of honey available.

What is oxidation supposed to do to wine/mead?

Interesting. I wonder if using some buckwheat honey would make it more gingerbread-y.

+1 on the Wyeast. It's difficult to get it going.

Lactose?

If SuperKleerKC won't clear it, nothing will.

Time for Sparkolloid then.

It's clay. You need to let it sit so the water penetrates as much of the clay granules as possible to "dissolve" them. (I know it's not dissolving but I can't think of the right word right now.)

Also, some fruit it's easy with, and some it's a PITA that's not worth doing just to get a little extra liquid!

If it's corn whiskey, where's the corn?

I just place my bucket lid loosely on top, with a clean cloth potholder covering the bung, because for the first few days I give it a good beating each day with a whisk to aerate until the yeast are going like gangbusters. It's a hassle to have to pry the lid off every day if I'm going to need...

Check Craigslist for people selling fridges. Take the coils, take the rest to the dump (or sell the metal for scrap).

...and then it's not really a JAOM anymore, it's Scots_Pagan's Not-So-Ancient Orange Mead.