Help for First Time Brewer

My friend and I are going to try to make our first batch of strawberry mead. We zero experience with alcohol making, and would like to start with a very basic recipe. We're working off of this recipe: 1 Gallon of Spring Water (room temperature, do not get refrigerated)
3 pounds of honey – pure unprocessed
1 bag of balloons big enough to stretch over the mouth of the spring water jug
1 package of Fleishmann’s Yeast
1 box of raisins
1 Orange

We're scrapping the raisins and orange, and replacing it with strawberry and some lemon juice. We need to know, given how much honey and water we are using, how much yeast we need (in ounces) and how much strawberry/lemon juice we need. Thanks guys.

ive seen this recipie too and also want to try it. however the strawberry and lemon juice might be too acidic and make the fermentation stick, or stop all together. the rasins are there for yeast nutrients to give them a boost,
if you go with the strawberry-lemon route you might want to pick up some yeast nutrients online just for insurance

childrenofsodom said:

We're scrapping the raisins and orange, and replacing it with strawberry and some lemon juice. We need to know, given how much honey and water we are using, how much yeast we need (in ounces) and how much strawberry/lemon juice we need. Thanks guys.

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For a 1 gallon batch, I would use the 3 lbs of honey, about 4 to 6 oz of pureed strawberries and about a 1/4 of a lemon worth of lemon juice. You don't want it to taste tart. The lemon juice acts as a catalyst and breaks down the sugar in the honey from a di-sacharide to their respective mono-sacharides.

I would mix everything with a half gallon of water and then add it to the fermenter. Fill the fermenter with additional water to the level you want it at and mix well. Be sure to leave head room for the foam/bubbling.

DO NOT use a balloon to capture the CO2, unless you want it to dissolve back into the mead and carbonate it. This much CO2 will overpower the yeast and they could die prematurely. This is a mead, not a wine. If you were going to make a "balloon wine" then I'd say go for it!! You want to be able to age the mead for at least 6 months. During this time the yeast will help clean up the free-radical sugars that are floating around and help mix the flavors together. I would suggest racking to a second fermenter to clear out a lot of the sediment that will be at the bottom, after about 2 months of fermentation time, and then let the secondary fermentation go for at least 6 months.

For an airlock, I would suggest buying a rubber stopper and a 3-piece airlock. The whole thing should cost no more than 2 or 3 dollars.
You can get them here... Beer Making and Home Brewing Supplies | MoreBeer

Good luck with that!

Okay, I'll keep the raisins in.

jakpumpkin said:

DO NOT use a balloon to capture the CO2, unless you want it to dissolve back into the mead and carbonate it.


Good luck with that!

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It says to poke a hole in the balloon to let the gas escape. Wouldn't that prevent it from dissolving back into the mead?

My opinion is that honey is expensive. It costs about $2 to get an airlock and stopper. I'd buy a $.79 package of wine yeast, too. I'd use glass, too, not the water jug because those are oxygen permeable, but that's not as important if you're not aging it long term.

For cheap wines (like Welch's), using ballons and Fleischman's isn't really a problem because you'd be drinking it in a month or two, but something with expensive ingredients, I'd spent the less than $3 and do it right.

Okay, I am ordering a 1 gallon glass jug from the above store, plus a 3 piece airlock, stopper, 10 g of Go-Ferm, and 5g of Dry Wine Yeast (Montrachet)....but I NEED to know.....

I am using the above recipe (1 gallon water, 3 lbs honey) how much yeast and nutrients do I need to use? Exact amounts, please. It calls for a 'pack', but I'm not buying from the same company so they may be different.

Thanks again.

childrenofsodom said:

Okay, I am ordering a 1 gallon glass jug from the above store, plus a 3 piece airlock, stopper, 10 g of Go-Ferm, and 5g of Dry Wine Yeast (Montrachet)....but I NEED to know.....

I am using the above recipe (1 gallon water, 3 lbs honey) how much yeast and nutrients do I need to use? Exact amounts, please. It calls for a 'pack', but I'm not buying from the same company so they may be different.

Thanks again.

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Use the whole 5g packet of yeast; follow the directions on the packages for the go ferm. Regards, GF.

Yeah a 'pack' can be used for one gallon or the usual 5 gallon batch. The nutrients should say a specified amount on the bags when you get them in the mail. I have go-ferm and fermaid k on the way also.

different brands of yeast nutrient and energizer have different dosings. without knowing what you are buying, nobody can tell you exactly how much to use.

However, typical dosing is .5 to 1tsp per gallon of must.

Yeah, I said what I was buying above.

childrenofsodom said:

Yeah, I said what I was buying above.

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Detailed Description
Go-FERM is a completely original yeast nutrient researched and developed by Lallemand (patent pending). It is 100% biological specific inactive yeast produced through a unique yeast biomass process that is fine-tuned to obtain high levels of certain essential vitamins, minerals and amino acids that yeast requires for a healthy fermentation.

The GO-FERM approach is to provide bioavailable micronutrients in the rehydration water instead of the traditional method of adding micronutrients to the must. By adding the micronutrients directly to the targeted yeast in a balanced concentration, they are more easily used by the yeast. This direct contact protects against the chelation of key minerals by inorganic anions, organic acids, polyphenols and polysaccharides present in the must. It also prevents essential vitamins from being rapidly taken up by wild microflora or inactivated by SO2 before the inoculated yeast can take advantage of these essential elements.

The use of Go-Ferm results in significantly better overall health of yeast cells throughout the fermentation, affecting fermentation kinetics and resulting in a cleaner aromatic profile. This is especially evident when Go-Ferm is used in high maturity grape musts to avoid sluggish fermentation finishes.

Use Go-Ferm at a rate of 1.25 grams for every 1 gram of yeast being used. Then mix the Go-Ferm with 17mls of H2O for every gallon of wine must.

Right, so the mix ratio of Go-Ferm to water to yeast is, PER GALLON OF MUST, 1 g active dry yeast, 1.25 g Go-Ferm, and 17 ml of water. So for a 5 gallon batch multiply each of those quantities by 5.

Alright guys, here it is.

Recipe -

3 lbs clover honey
1 gallon spring water
1 gram wine yest
1.25 gram go-ferm
.75 lbs strawberry

I put it all in a 1 gallon glass jug, with a stopper and 3 piece airlock. I read on another thread that i should add pectic enzyme to make sure the mead clears. Anyone second this? How much? I also need to know if/when to take out the strawberries.

Thanks.

Yes, add pectic enzyme to ensure that the pectins in the strawberries don't cloud your batch. Ideally you should add it before pitching the yeast (it works better when not in the presence of alcohol - ethanol slows it down signficantly). Just use the amount as directed on the packaging - there are different pectinase enzymes commercially available and you'll want to follow the directions directly from the supplier.

Before I record my dissent, as my strawberry mead cleared nicely on it's own, how long do you plan on keeping it in the fermentor?

I met with a guy that's made mead for many years and he tells me that he doesn't even think about adding flavors until after his mead has sat for a whole year. He said that many of complex flavors and aromas wear off over time, especially when there is still fermentation going on. It's food for thought at least. You can still make a great flavored mead eventually if you just start with a good basic mead.

Vuarra, you really mean "after recording your dissent," don't you?

Seriously, although there are lots of cases where folks have had melomels clear with no issues when using fresh fruit, there's always the odd time where the fruit have been kept at too high a temperature, or whatever, and the pectins have "set," essentially forming long polysaccharide chains that stubbornly resist settling out. That's what brings a pectin haze to the product. Working with commercially frozen fruit, or otherwise preserved fruit, increases the chances of getting some set pectins along with the good stuff. Pectinase is merely an insurance policy to avoid that chance.

So, after 5 days I took the strawberries out, the anti-pectin stuff is in the mail, and I added raisins to keep the yeast going after any shock that may have been dealt to it in the removal process.

I'm a noob at this, like I said, so I'm not sure exactly what to do. I'm thinking about letting it continue to ferment with just the raisins. I'm leaving town for a while in mid September, so I was thinking about letting it sit until then, then put in a lbs of frozen strawberries and then do nothing until December.

Any ideas?