15 Gallon Mead Batch

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gyrfalcon

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Here is the 15 gallons of mead I made today and what I did. Hopefully it's informative and as always any input is appreciated... Many thanks those who have given me suggestions already!

mead15.png



Jonathan & Heidi Mead (OG 1.110 maybe a bit more)


6 Containers of Sams Club Pure Honey (Total 30lbs)
1 Container of Sage Honey (Total 12lbs)
Total Honey ~4 Gallons
4 Containers of Water (2.5 Gallonsx4 = 10 Gallons)
4 Packets of Lalvin ICV D47 Yeast (20 grams)
35 Cloves
1 Full Stick of Cinnamon
7 Tea Spoons of Yeast Energizer (DAP, Biotin, Magnesium Sulphate, Vitamin B Complex)


Other pictures of the production and cleanup :( : http://picasaweb.google.com/gyrfalcon16/15GallonsOfMead

I wanted to start a 15 gallon batch of mead and wanted to ask a few questions before I started.

  • What's the general ratio of water to honey in most recipes? 4lbs to 1 gallon water?
  • What's the general time or conditions between primary and secondary fermentation? 3months, and 3 months with 3 in bottle?
  • What do you think of WLP720 Sweet Mead/Wine Yeast?
 
IMHO, 15 gallons is a big first batch! Start small, then when you've got it down, do the full 15 gals....
Don't take this the wrong way, just trying to keep you from wasting $$$...
 
3 to 4 lbs per gallon, I like 15 lbs for 5 gallons so for a 15 gallon batch I would go with 45 lbs. The minium I would go with is 3 gallons of honey. A gallon is around 12.5 lbs.

This is really based more on your hydrometer reading than a time. On the average I rack from the primary carboy to the secondary in 10 to 14 days and attach the airlock then.

No I would not use that yeast, flavor tends to be a bit bland and it has tendancies to create issues. The aging time seems to be longer also. A personal preference but I would go with Lalvin D-47 yeast. You will need some nutrients but you will have less issues and it is great for meads. It allows for a good young mead but ages to a great mead.

Making a large batch like this I would start with 40lbs of honey then add 5lbs when racking to secondary. Absolutely make a starter for your yeast, minumium of 3 packets but I would use 5 packets and put them in 5 cups of 84 degree water for 15 minutes then stir and leave for 15 more minutes, then add to must. Also with the nutrients, you will need about 15 tsp, add 5 tsp to the must. Wait 5 days and add 5 tsp. Then when you rack to the secondary add 5 tsp more. This will allow the best environment for the yeast. This is how I started all my meads lately. They all ferment well and don't have the issues.

I would hope this is a traditional mead as it sounds like this is your first try at it. I would suggest you start with traditional and then work up to melomels. best of luck and let us know how it progresses.
 
I too suggest starting small. mead takes a while to age and really show its beauty, 15 gallons will tie up a lot of bottle storage for quite a while, since its not as quaffable as a lighter bodied wine, or beer.

I have only used the Wyeast sweet mead yeast once. it was fine, but it didn't come out any better than the dry Edme ale yeast I used for most of my batches 7-9 years ago.
Edme ale yeast strain is now sold by Fermentis as Saf-ale S-33, and will achieve 12% alcohol by volume.
I've found that about 3lbs per gallon of final volume (so 15lbs for a 5gallon batch) would yield that 12% ABV, and still leave a fair amount of sweetness, but not cloyingly sweet.

just to give you another option.
 
mgayer said:
I would hope this is a traditional mead as it sounds like this is your first try at it. I would suggest you start with traditional and then work up to melomels. best of luck and let us know how it progresses.

Thanks a ton for the detailed reply. Would it be wise to do anything with Irish Moss, Heather Tips, or Star Anise?

My brothers wedding will be in around a year so that's why I was going to attempt a 15 gallon batch.
 
I would say no at this point! Irish Moss is mainly used for clearing assistance. I don't think it would be required with a traditional receipe.

When you start adding spices or herbs you change that taste to more of a personal preference. Heather tips give and almost astrigent quality and I would avoid its use for such a crowd or party drink. Personally I would never use any type of Anise in Mead. If you want to know why get some black licorish and smell with some honey. If you can get through that smell then taste them together. Not the best quality and some would be very put off by the taste.

My suggestion would be to make 3 5 gallon batches. A traditional, A fruit and a cyser (apple Mead). This would give you about 24 bottles of each and it would give a great mix of flavors for most all palates! I you need any receipes give me a yell and I can get you some simple ones. Congrats to your brother and best of luck with the plans!:mug:
 
mgayer said:
I would say no at this point! Irish Moss is mainly used for clearing assistance. I don't think it would be required with a traditional receipe...when you start adding spices or herbs you change that taste to more of a personal preference...
My suggestion would be to make 3 5 gallon batches. A traditional, A fruit and a cyser (apple Mead). This would give you about 24 bottles of each and it would give a great mix of flavors for most all palates! I you need any receipes give me a yell and I can get you some simple ones. Congrats to your brother and best of luck with the plans!:mug:


Thanks for steering me away from the spices... I have 45lbs of normal honey, and 12lbs of Sage Honey.

Do you or anyone else have any good ideas on how to use this in a 15 gallon carboy? I was thinking maybe ferment it as a whole, and then try fruit in the two of the 5 gallon secondaries?


I also have Lalvin D47 and 71b and was wondering if anyone has an input on the differences between them when fermenting mead.
 
I would say do traditional in the 15 gallon. Make one of your 5 gallon batches a blackberry or blueberry and the other do a Apple mead(cyser). The cyser can be done with Apple juice, honey, nutrients and the D47. Just check your gravity before adding too much as the apple juice will have natural sugars. The Cysers are usually a big hit! My reciepe for the Blueberry Mead is in the mead receipes sections but I would add more fruit. You can substitute any local fruit for the blueberries but as I said I would go up to 8 or 10 lbs of fruit.

The 71B is great for reducing Malic acid so fruits high in acid content, including grapes work well with this. It also tend to give a tropical fruit ester or flavor and nose to the mead or wine.
 
Just out of curiosity, what was your $ on the sam's club honey? That might have to be my new source. My buddies and I use 5 or so pounds per gallon, so you're mead sounds like it may be on the light side. We like a really strong, sweet mead, so it may well end up perfect.
 
PsiWulf7 said:
Just out of curiosity, what was your $ on the sam's club honey? That might have to be my new source. My buddies and I use 5 or so pounds per gallon, so you're mead sounds like it may be on the light side. We like a really strong, sweet mead, so it may well end up perfect.

It was right around $9 per 5 pound bottle... Then I paid $35 for 12lbs of California sage honey.

What sort of OG do you end up with using 5lbs per gallon?
 
gyrfalcon said:
It was right around $9 per 5 pound bottle... Then I paid $35 for 12lbs of California sage honey.

What sort of OG do you end up with using 5lbs per gallon?

I don't remember precisely. It was higher than 1.15, I think, because it beat out another brew we'd made a week or so previous. It came out sweet as candy, and we actually ended up cutting it with a 5 gallon barrel of scotch that we got from a friend in the industry, and the result was spectacular. Ever since they've been making it in 3 gallon batches and mixing it with scotch, rebottling, and aging.
 
So it's been a bit over 2 months in the primary and I was wondering if I should rack this to 5 gallon carboys?

I planned to have one batch be plain, and the other two be melomel's of some type.

Is this still possible??? I'm fine letting it just sit too, as I don't want to wreck 15 gallons.
 
This is based solely on my own research, but I would say that's an excellent idea! I say rack into three 5 gallon secondaries, one that is empty and two that have fruit in them (preferably two different fruits) so that in the end you have three sets of great mead of different flavor. I say that would be perfect for a large group setting like a wedding, providing something for plenty. Oh and it seems it is best to rack onto fruit in secondary to impart a greater fruit flavor anyways, so it comes out perfect for you!
 
As a novice beekeeper and longtime local honey fan, I can honestly say that the best deal you can get on honey is through local apiaries and beekeeper's associations. You can get 55 to 60 pound pails of raw, local honey starting around $90 and moving on up to around $150. Take a trip to the apiary and save on shipping. :ban:

Local honey is often much more flavorful, and available raw and organically produced (no chemicals used in medicating or subduing the bees). The commercial stuff you get at Sam's is pasteurized and filtered to death, and the flavor leaves a lot to be desired. :(

From experience, the mead you get when you use raw, local stuff has a full textured flavor that I've just never gotten out of the nationwide megabrands.
 
PsiWulf7 said:
From experience, the mead you get when you use raw, local stuff has a full textured flavor that I've just never gotten out of the nationwide megabrands.

Thanks for the advice... I'll definitely look for someone I can buy it from local next time around!
 
In a little over 3 months the gravity of this mead has fallen from 1.110 to 1.032 and it has a PH of 4.

I have three 5 gallon carboys that I wanted rack the mead into. My plan was to have one carboy be plain, the other have raspberry & strawberry added to it... then the third one have blueberry & blackberries.

I currently have 2lbs of blueberries, 2lbs of blackberries, 2lbs of raspberries, and 2lbs of strawberries.

On advice I've read elsewhere I've frozen the fruit to break up their cell walls

Should I add honey to the plain mead?
Should all three of the carboys have yeast nutrient added to them?
Should I re-pitch yeast?
How would you prep the fruit?

Basically I'm hoping someone could give me some advice on how they would proceed from where I'm at now.


Thanks!
 
First of all, you need more fruit. You would need 1-2 lbs per gallon of mead, so 5-10lbs for a 5 gallon carboy. You could safely add 5 lbs of each fruit and still get a mild flavor. If you want the fruit flavor to predominate the mead, add at least 3 lbs per gallon. Yes, its a lot of fruit, and will take up space in your carboy, so have an extra carboy on hand. Just freeze the fruit to prep it. Take it out of the freezer a few hours before you are ready to rack, add the fruit to the carboy first, then rack on top of it.

Secondly, you can definitely add more honey to the plain mead. You can add 1 lb per gallon for flavor and sweetness, though it will probably ferment out and give you an alcohol boost. Anything that doesn't fit into those 3 carboys can be left plain, or you can play with that, too.

You can add nutrient, but you shouldn't need it in the mead with fruit.

Have fun with your mead, and keep us posted on how it turns out.
 
NurseNan said:
First of all, you need more fruit. You would need 1-2 lbs per gallon of mead, so 5-10lbs for a 5 gallon carboy. You could safely add 5 lbs of each fruit and still get a mild flavor.

Wow, and up goes the cost even more! :( I already get weird looks when I clear out the produce section at the grocery store. It's like they're thinking "That guy has a weird berry fetish I bet!"

Guess I need to find a whole seller...

Thanks for the reply and I'll definitely let you know how it turns out.
 
Hey gyrfalcon, I like the project and I have a few questions:
firstly, I've got one of those giant carboys and havent dared to use it...how did you pluck up the courage to fill it full of 15 gallons of sticky expensive ingredients???
secondly...did you have trouble getting it fermenting?? last time I put cloves in anything it just stuck and went off.

If the fruit is costing alot (and you're damaging your reputation with the local grocer), you look far south enough to have blackberries growing wild...I can usually get 2-3lb in an hour of picking here in the UK.
On the downside you end up turned entirely purple for at least a week afterwards
 
jb444 said:
Hey gyrfalcon, I like the project and I have a few questions:
...how did you pluck up the courage to fill it full of 15 gallons of sticky expensive ingredients???...did you have trouble getting it fermenting???...

Well I guess I got the courage from making 15 gallons of Apfelwein, and the need to make a large amount of Mead for this wedding. I'm not completely devastated if it doesn't turn out; half the fun is trying.

I used staggered yeast in the first few days and in the must. It's fermented from 1.110 to 1.032 so I think it fermented alright.

Unfortunately I don't live far enough south, and everything outside is a frozen tundra right now.
 
I know it's been awhile since you make this batch, but how did it turn out? What was your favorite and the favorite of the wedding guests?
 
Rule of thumb:
One pound of honey per gallon of spring water= dry mead
Two pounds of honey per gallon of spring water semi sweet
Three pounds of honey per gallon of spring water sweet mead.
My first batch of mead was honey and blueberry's. 5 gallons. 16 pounds of frozen blueberries from Costco. 15 pounds of clover honey. If you want the exact recipe email me at : [email protected]
I'm 70 years old can't keep my friends from wanting more. My mead turns out at 17 to 18% and I never have to backsweeten it.
It's 3:06 AM and I need to get some sleep.
Feel free to email me
 
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