Hi All - I've been homebrewing beer for over a year but I just pitched my first mead yesterday.
The recipe was medium traditional, a hybrid of Ken Schramm's medium show mead recipe and the "basic mead" recipe in hightest's FAQ, which I downloaded here. (They're pretty similar recipes anyway). I used:
13.25lbs local wildflower honey
~4gal water
10g Lalvin ICV/D-47 - rehydrated per instructions w/12.5g Go-Ferm
Fermaid-K & DAP (staggered)
My OG was 1.097 and target FG looks to be around 1.010.
Following hightest's SNA schedule, I added 4.5g each of Fermaid-K & DAP before pitching. This morning I added the stage 2 nutrients (2.8g each), 18 hours in and airlock was bubbling away beautifully.
My question is this: I know I'm supposed to add stage 3 nutrients (1.8g each) at the fermentation midpoint, which I calculate to be around 1.053. I know every fermentation is different, but based on the above recipe, can anyone give me an educated estimate on how long I can expect that to take?
I just don't want to go taking samples every day - risking contamination and throwing all that must/mead away - just to find out I should have waited until day 8 (or whatever) to start watching for the midpoint.
Thanks, I really appreciate anyone's wisdom they can share with me on this. And hightest - if you're out there somewhere - thank you, your FAQ's were indispensable.
The recipe was medium traditional, a hybrid of Ken Schramm's medium show mead recipe and the "basic mead" recipe in hightest's FAQ, which I downloaded here. (They're pretty similar recipes anyway). I used:
13.25lbs local wildflower honey
~4gal water
10g Lalvin ICV/D-47 - rehydrated per instructions w/12.5g Go-Ferm
Fermaid-K & DAP (staggered)
My OG was 1.097 and target FG looks to be around 1.010.
Following hightest's SNA schedule, I added 4.5g each of Fermaid-K & DAP before pitching. This morning I added the stage 2 nutrients (2.8g each), 18 hours in and airlock was bubbling away beautifully.
My question is this: I know I'm supposed to add stage 3 nutrients (1.8g each) at the fermentation midpoint, which I calculate to be around 1.053. I know every fermentation is different, but based on the above recipe, can anyone give me an educated estimate on how long I can expect that to take?
I just don't want to go taking samples every day - risking contamination and throwing all that must/mead away - just to find out I should have waited until day 8 (or whatever) to start watching for the midpoint.
Thanks, I really appreciate anyone's wisdom they can share with me on this. And hightest - if you're out there somewhere - thank you, your FAQ's were indispensable.