New Member: First post & first batch

Hello all!

I happened across this forum while looking for answers about my first batch of mead (which is currently percolating right along) and after searching around, found a wealth of knowledge that answered many of my questions.

I decided to start brewing after I recently helped a friend clean out his shed. He had several bee hives and was going to BURN THEM! So I said "Hey! If you're gonna burn 'em....I'll take 'em!"

Looks like next year, I'm going to have a bunch of honey....

Now what am I to do with a bunch of honey?

So I went to my local beer and wine store and got some equipment and enough advice to get me in up to my neck.

My first batch I currently have is

4 gal water
12 lb. of wildflower honey
4 pears peeled, cored, and blended

After sterilizing all my equipment, I put it all in a pot and brought it to 180 degrees for five minutes stirring continuously. I then cooled the pot by spraying it with cool water from a garden hose, making sure not to contaminate it by spraying anywhere near the lid. After several hours, it had cooled to around 90 degrees, so I tranferred it to my primary fermenter (6 gal plastic bucket) and let it sit on the counter overnight.

In the morning, it had cooled to 77 degrees, so I reconstituted a packet of Lalvin K1-V1116 according to packet directions and blended it with half a teaspoon of nutrient into my primary fermenter.

I figured the blended pears would help provide nutrients for the yeast, so I cut back the 1 tsp of nutrient I was going to add to 1/2 tsp. (the directions called for 1/8 - 1/4 tsp per gal.) ....so I went on the low side.

It has been almost two weeks (12 days) and the airlock is bubbling about 1 every 17 seconds. (At 2 days it was at about 1 every 10) so it is slowing down.

Now, for some info...I am not very "scientificly" minded. I often read about hydrometers and specific gravities etc....ad infinitum. I can guess that this is pretty much the standard. I'm guessing the majority of folks brew "by the numbers"....but sorry....I apologize ahead of time. Not me. I may get tons of advice about how I should probably, at least try using one....but it's probably not gonna happen. Maybe sometime in the future. Maybe.

Until then...I'm stickin' to the way the cavemen did it. Trial and error.

Although, I still welcome advice! Any ideas on how I'm doing? Any suggestions? Have I mistakenly screwed something up beyond repair without noticing yet? What do you think of my methodology? (I know, I know...I should probably get a specific gravity reading!)

I really admire the scope and wonderful information in this forum and look forward to participating here!

BTW: I'm debating on racking into my secondary sometime next week. I'm a little shaky on what this will do. Will this have any effect on the sweetness or dryness of the mead? K1-V1116 is a fairly high alcohol tolerant yeast, will racking to my secondary have any effect? Will leaving it longer in the primary "kill off" more yeast causing it to be sweeter, or will racking sooner aerate, causing renewed "breeding", therefore, dryer mead?

I plan on just leaving the secondary alone for awhile (no hurries) unless the lees build up, then racking possibly a second time or just bottling.

How'm I doin'?

A few thoughts.

1) No need to heat the honey up so much, if needed warm it up a little to make it pour better. It's possible you could lose some of the delicate aromas/flavors from the honey by heating it for so long.

2) When I do have something hot that I want to cool down, I put it in my sink surrounded by cold water. Even with a 5 gal pot full, I can get it down to pitching temps within about 30 minutes. Leaving it in the pan for such a long period of time leaves it wide open to contamination, even if you're quite careful.

3) I'd keep an "eye" on fermentation to see if it starts smelling a little sulfur-y. If so, go ahead & give it a little more nutrient. You could probably use a lot more, mead tends to not have much for the yeasties to use so you need to add more than with wine. Also, giving it some oxygen up until the 1/3 sugar break helps it out a lot as well.

4) Getting a hydrometer & taking readings can help you out in many ways. You'll know what you started/finished at so you can calulate ABV%, you can tell at what point it's hit the 1/3 sugar break so you can stop adding nutrients/oxygen, you can tell what the gravity finishes at for purposes of backsweetening, etc.

5) Probably a good idea to leave it in primary at least until it's mostly finished (this is another instance where a hydrometer is helpful). Then rack it to secondary & wait for it to clear. Give it at least a few months, continue racking & topping up every couple months, or when there getts to be a good amount of lees on the bottom. The longer you can bulk age it the better.

You started off quite well!

1) Good advice. I've read in several places that heating really isn't neccessary. I've also read that I should skim the floating crap off the top as it contains contaminants and other "garbage" such as dissolved comb and bee parts that float when heated. I wish I would have done so. Oh, well. NEXT batch, I believe I will warm it up to 160 (kills bad bugs) then skim and cool quickly using your method in #2.

2) Thanks.

3) When I smell the airlock, it smells rather like...well......feet. Smelly feet. That have been stomping on pears. No sulfur. I'm familiar with that smell, and there is none. There are pureed pears in there, so I figured this would count towards additional nutrient for the yeasties, so I put the minimum amount of nutrient that it called for on the label. I don't want a completely dry mead, yet the guy at the beer and wine shop reccommended K1-V116....which seems to be a champagne yeast described as a "complete" fermenter tolerant of high ABV. Doesn't "complete" fermentation mean that the yeast completely converts the sugars into alcohol, hence: DRY? I don't want a completely dry mead, therefore, my aim in not adding a boatload of nutrient is, hopefully, the little suckers eat their fill, puke out all the alcohol they can, then suffocate themselves and die before consuming every little last drop of sugar, therefore, leaving a little sugar for sweetness. Or is my reasoning..... that to me seems very sound and logical.....really the aimless wanderings of a clueless newbie with delusions that he actually thinks he knows what he's doing? (This could very well be possible.)

4) I'm coming around to this newfangled "hydrometer" idea very slowly. It seems to take much of the guesswork out of things. However, many folks such as myself, relish guesswork. Why do things the easy way when you can spend countless hours of self entertainment theorizing on what the hell went wrong? It's hard to blame something on innocent bystanders when there is a clear method of determining guilt.

5) I've come to this conclusion, myself. Why interrupt things when they're percolating along so well? I've read that good mead is rarely made by being in a hurry, so I'm going to just be patient and let it sit. It's still bubbling....I'm gonna let it do its thing. When it stops, then I'll rack it.

commonsenseman said:

You started off quite well!

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Thanks. I would like a little advice on this "1/3 sugar break" you mention.

You say to add nutrient and oxygen until this point. What is the significance of the "1/3 sugar break"? I was under the impression that you wanted the batch to be airtight from the beginning so as to starve the yeasties of oxygen so they can crank out alcohol.

Without a hydrometer, I guess I can't tell, right? What's a good rule of thumb as far as guessing? What will happen if I "crack the seal" AFTER the break? It's currently bubblin' right along after 13 days. Still 1 bubble every 17 seconds.

More newbie reasoning from me: It's still percolating after 13 days.....therefore, not a "stuck" fermentation, right? That would be if they stopped after, oh say...day three, correct? I've read of folks racking after two weeks. It's almost two weeks for mine, but since it's still cookin', I'm going to let it keep on a-truckin'.

I guess my basic question is: If adding nutrients up to the "1/3 sugar break" improves quality, how does it do so, since I've kept my batch sealed up since the get-go and it's bubbling right along without? Would these added nutrients make it "get to the end" faster? Better? More completely? (Remember: I'm looking for a sweeter mead. (Well, not "sweet" just not "completely dry") Wouldn't "boosting" K1-V1116 by adding nutrients make the ferment more complete, therefore, more dry?)

Superlite27 said:

Thanks. I would like a little advice on this "1/3 sugar break" you mention.

You say to add nutrient and oxygen until this point. What is the significance of the "1/3 sugar break"? I was under the impression that you wanted the batch to be airtight from the beginning so as to starve the yeasties of oxygen so they can crank out alcohol.

Without a hydrometer, I guess I can't tell, right? What's a good rule of thumb as far as guessing? What will happen if I "crack the seal" AFTER the break? It's currently bubblin' right along after 13 days. Still 1 bubble every 17 seconds.

More newbie reasoning from me: It's still percolating after 13 days.....therefore, not a "stuck" fermentation, right? That would be if they stopped after, oh say...day three, correct? I've read of folks racking after two weeks. It's almost two weeks for mine, but since it's still cookin', I'm going to let it keep on a-truckin'.

I guess my basic question is: If adding nutrients up to the "1/3 sugar break" improves quality, how does it do so, since I've kept my batch sealed up since the get-go and it's bubbling right along without? Would these added nutrients make it "get to the end" faster? Better? More completely? (Remember: I'm looking for a sweeter mead. (Well, not "sweet" just not "completely dry") Wouldn't "boosting" K1-V1116 by adding nutrients make the ferment more complete, therefore, more dry?)

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Check out this calculator, very handy in getting a guesstimate of what your OG(Original Gravity) & FG(Final Gravity) will be. Plugging in your number it shows you starting out around 1.108 & getting somewhere in the 14%-ish range if it goes dry.

The 1/3rd sugar break is when the gravity has dropped by 33%. In your case assuming 1.108 as your OG & 1.000 as your FG, your 1/3rd break would be at 1.072 No real good way to guess on that, you pretty much have to take a measurement.

The yeast may or may not still be working away, again, difficult to say without a hydrometer. It's possible they're just putting off some C02, they can do that for a while after fermentation is finished.

The advantage to adding nutrients/oxygen up to the 1/3rd break is that it doesn't "stress" the yeast out as much. Stressed yeast can produce some off flavors that may not be desirable in your finished product. The good news is that aging helps immensely. If you have a good, healthy ferment, it will probably take a little less time to be tasty.

Seems to be that the best way to produce a semi-sweet or sweet mead is to either ferment completely dry, then after hitting it with sulfates & sorbate, backsweeten it. Or, adding enough honey right off the bat, to try & guess what it will finish at, hopefully still leaving some sugars. Sulfate/sorbate is pretty reliable if you use the proper dosage & give it enough time to be sure that fermentation won't restart before backseetening. Cold crashing (putting it in the fridge) & multiple rackings can also sometimes stop fermentation, but no method is 100% reliable.

Your best bet is leaving it for a long time, at least until it's clear & the gravity is no longer dropping, then hit it with sulfate/sorbate, then backsweetening. At that point you should give it a few weeks to be sure it won't start up again & you can bottle. Who knows, you may even find you like it fairly dry after it's aged a while. The perceived sweetness can increase over time, making it seem sweeter than it is.

Excellent! Thanks for the help.

As this is my very first attempt, (and all the signs lead to: "the longer you leave it alone without messing with it, the better") I doubt I'll do anything such as cold crashing, or adding stuff I'm completely unfamiliar with using, much less never heard of before.

I'm just going to let it sit for another week or two.....rack it.....then let it sit for a few months.

Possibly rack again if the lees build up....if not...bottle and let them sit for awhile.

In the interim, I can do some research on other yeasts, read "How To Use a Hydrometer 101", and educate myself on sulfate/sorbate concoctions and what they do.

This way, by batch #2, I'll be a complete expert and know everything. (Isn't that how it works?)

Thanks for all your advice. It is highly valued. The 1/3 break and "stressed" yeast was great information. After all, I believe improving the quality of our brews is ultimately the goal of every brewer. With a few basics I've picked up here and there, I'm already itching to start another batch just to put the tips I've picked up here into play and see how it compares to my first batch.

Damn. I'm addicted to brewing already.

Is it supposed to hook you so quickly?

Erm, the K1V isn't a champagne yeast. It's Montpellier strain (Montpellier is in SW France).

That said, it's a good strain for meads, though when they're freshly finished, it can taste a little "rough", but it ages brilliantly.

If the fruit was in the pot when you did the heating, then you're likely to have lost a lot, if not all, of the flavour. I didn't see any mention of using pectolase/pectic enzyme, so there might be an issue clearing the mead properly. You'd also find that if you'd used an appropriate amount of fruit like pear (2 or 3 lb per gallon) to get a proper fruit flavour, then the heating would have caused a "cooked" flavour. Pear isn't the easiest of fruit to use and "green/white" fruit often display a "cooked" taste when heated (not forgetting that heating also brings out the pectin in the fruit).

The heating issue has already been discussed, but I only use warm water if the honey has crystalised, though if you scraped it out the container crystalised and then just mixed with equal or more water and blitzed it in a liquidiser/food processor, it's broken down nicely so that you don't lose any of the aromatics.

Thanks, Bloke!

I guess I was mistaken about the K1. Don't know where I picked that up, but it was in there rattling around, and just fell out.

I did puree the pears and mix it well, so I am concerned about clarity, but I have used the extremely technological and highly scientific method of holding a flashlight.....er...."torch" up to the far side of the white plastic brewing bucket and inspecting what I could of what was inside. It looked fairly clear(Well.....as clear as anything viewed through a layer of thin white plastic could possibly look). with a finger's breadth of lees at the bottom. After all, the light came through, therefore, clear. Right?

I purposefully chose not to add much fruit as I desired a mead with only a noticeable "hint" of pears and not a metheglin or something that anyone could obviously say, "Hmmmm. That's good pear wine. Do I detect a note of honey?"

As far as the pectolase/pectic enzyme, I'll start dumping some of that in as soon as my truckload of sulfate/sorbates arrives.

(Not really. I'm still a babe lost in the woods. There's really no point in me adding things I don't understand until I have a proper basic grasp of the brewing process in its entirety, first. Might as well explain the dynamics of constructing a solar evaporator for driking water to that babe lost in the woods. It barely grasps the concept of "lost", much less being able to use so much as a signal mirror.)

Superlite27 said:

I did puree the pears and mix it well, so I am concerned about clarity, but I have used the extremely technological and highly scientific method of holding a flashlight.....er...."torch" up to the far side of the white plastic brewing bucket and inspecting what I could of what was inside. It looked fairly clear(Well.....as clear as anything viewed through a layer of thin white plastic could possibly look). with a finger's breadth of lees at the bottom. After all, the light came through, therefore, clear. Right?

I purposefully chose not to add much fruit as I desired a mead with only a noticeable "hint" of pears and not a metheglin or something that anyone could obviously say, "Hmmmm. That's good pear wine. Do I detect a note of honey?"

As far as the pectolase/pectic enzyme, I'll start dumping some of that in as soon as my truckload of sulfate/sorbates arrives.

(Not really. I'm still a babe lost in the woods. There's really no point in me adding things I don't understand until I have a proper basic grasp of the brewing process in its entirety, first. Might as well explain the dynamics of constructing a solar evaporator for driking water to that babe lost in the woods. It barely grasps the concept of "lost", much less being able to use so much as a signal mirror.)

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Tough to say if it's clear yet in a bucket, guess you'll have to see when you rack it. A hint of pear could be quite tasty in a mead, never had pear but I bet I'd like it.

Hope there's room on that truck for my load of pears

If you decide you want to at some point, you can take additional steps to clear it up. My advice is to give it some time first though.

Carry on.

Superlite27 said:

Thanks, Bloke!

I guess I was mistaken about the K1. Don't know where I picked that up, but it was in there rattling around, and just fell out.

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That's fine, actually, when the late, great Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey and bee breeding fame, found that he could no longer get hold of his preferred "Maury" yeast (currently available as Lalvin D21), he moved to using Gervin Varietal "E", which is the same strain as Lalvins K1V-1116 (actually, they're both from the same area of France, Maury is an AOC region that's just near Perpignon and Montpellier isn't that far from there either - but they are distinctly different isolates)

I did puree the pears and mix it well, so I am concerned about clarity, but I have used the extremely technological and highly scientific method of holding a flashlight.....er...."torch" up to the far side of the white plastic brewing bucket and inspecting what I could of what was inside. It looked fairly clear(Well.....as clear as anything viewed through a layer of thin white plastic could possibly look). with a finger's breadth of lees at the bottom. After all, the light came through, therefore, clear. Right?

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Well, to be clear about "clear" ? the light will get through it easily enough, even in a bucket, but the usual description is "clear enough to read a newspaper through it", and that'd be in glass of course. Perhaps it's time for you to rack it into whatever glass you have, or can get.......

I purposefully chose not to add much fruit as I desired a mead with only a noticeable "hint" of pears and not a metheglin or something that anyone could obviously say, "Hmmmm. That's good pear wine. Do I detect a note of honey?"

As far as the pectolase/pectic enzyme, I'll start dumping some of that in as soon as my truckload of sulfate/sorbates arrives.

(Not really. I'm still a babe lost in the woods. There's really no point in me adding things I don't understand until I have a proper basic grasp of the brewing process in its entirety, first. Might as well explain the dynamics of constructing a solar evaporator for driking water to that babe lost in the woods. It barely grasps the concept of "lost", much less being able to use so much as a signal mirror.)

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Yes, that also makes plenty of sense, but I severely doubt whether you're gonna actually taste any pear. 4 pears in 5 gallons, is pretty much zero. Pears aren't exactly what you'd call strongly flavoured fruit are they. It might be better if you actually racked it off the sediment, then let it finish etc in the usual way, then added some pear juice to taste. That way you'd get the level of fruitiness you're aiming for, it would be ready to drink much quicker and you'd know how much of the pear flavour comes through - as it is, you can clear it, rack it, stabilise it etc etc and you're not gonna be able to judge how much of the fruit hint is there until it's been aged, and if then, it turned out that you can't taste the fruit, you'd have to start messing about to get it there again........

Don't forget, there's good advice here for reading, but also check out Gotmead, as that's all about meads with a small amount of other brews etc....

I checked on my primary this morning and the bubble rate was down to once every 36 seconds, so I decided to rack.

Things went smoothly, other than one minor glitch that I don't think will harm anything.

I cleaned and sanitized all my equipment beforehand, then popped the lid on my primary to reveal a bucket full of amber joyousness. It smelled rather sour and yeasty with a mild odor of pears. I placed the end of the tube on the bottom of my carbuoy and used an ingenious little "plug" device I fashioned out of a drilled out carbuoy plug and a small plastic tube to suck on the tube creating a vacuum in the carbuoy, therefore siphoning the mead from the primary.

I kept the tip several inches below the surface the entire time, but about 3/4 of the way through, I dropped the racking cane, stabbing the tip into the lees of my primary (it has a little guard on the end), therefore, disturbing some sediment, but other than that, it went flawlessly. Afterward, I sampled for flavor.....and hoooey!...it's still rather sweet with the flavor of what I smelled through the airlock. Kind of like sweaty feet that have been stomping pears....and ALCOHOL. It's got quite an alcoholic "kick". I think it'll be rather nice if the "sweatyfootlike" note can be clamed down along with the alcohol in order to let the honey shine through. I assume that this will get better as it ages?

Several questions:

1) I've seen "topping off" mentioned several times here and there in the forum....top off with what?

2) Is "topping off" neccessary?

3) It's a 6 gallon carbuoy with only about 4 3/4 gallons of mead. Is the "headspace" alright, or is it too excessive?

4) How detrimental is the headspace? It sure seems like there's alot of room left in there. Will that cause any problems?

5) Not having any previous experience, I am ignorant of the clarity. How does this look?

Several questions:

1) I've seen "topping off" mentioned several times here and there in the forum....top off with what?

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Topping off is the term usually used when the racking has been done for clarity.

2) Is "topping off" necessary?

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Not always. If you think of a 1 gallon jug, where the ferment has finished and it's thrown it's first sediment, well once you've racked it into another jug of the same size, it's gonna not quite fill the same space, those are termed "racking losses". Topping off with water would be Ok, as long as it's not too great amount of water as that would dilute the %ABV. So some will top off with a similar wine/mead. Some will use vodka, but that not only increases the %ABV, but dilutes the flavours of any ingredients, can reduce "mouth feel" and increase the chance of the cleared product having an "alcohol hot" taste.

3) It's a 6 gallon carbuoy with only about 4 3/4 gallons of mead. Is the "headspace" alright, or is it too excessive?

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A quarter to a third of the carboy is airspace in the pic. Yes that's excessive. The only time it'd be ok(ish), is when the ferment is still active and as CO2 is heavier than air, it would normally lift any air/O2 out through the airlock until the whole space was filled with CO2 and the airlock bubbling it out.

4) How detrimental is the headspace? It sure seems like there's alot of room left in there. Will that cause any problems?

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Yes, if the fermenting had actually stopped when you racked it, then some of that is being exposed to O2/air, and while meads don't oxidise like, or as quickly as grape wines, it's entirely possible that it will produce an oxidised taste, eventually...... can't say how quickly though.

As you mentioned you used K1V as the yeast, then I'd suggest that you just top it off with some pear juice and maybe a pound or two of extra honey, then aerate it with a good stirring (or you can use an air pump, some even use airstones and pure oxygen - but that's a bit over the top for my liking), then let it referment (oh, and I'd add either some yeast hulls, or boil a couple of teaspoons of bread yeast in 100/150mls of water, let it cool and add that if you don't have yeast hulls).

5) Not having any previous experience, I am ignorant of the clarity. How does this look?

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Cloudy. As I mentioned before, the usual definition of clear, is clear enough to read a newspaper through it.

Once you've sorted the other issues and it's actually finished the ferment, well you can always use finings of some sort, if you're struggling with the patience required with mead making. That will get it cleared, but you'd still have to wait for it to age to get the best taste from it.

regards

fatbloke

p.s. Oh, and with the topping off thing, some people will use sanitised marbles or other type of glass chips, but A) there's too much air space for that, B) you have to be careful when using them as it's very easy to smash the bottom out of the carboy, and C) it can add considerably to the weight of the carboy, which can just break out when being moved/handled.......

O.K. It's only been several days, and it is clearing up!

There's a thin layer of white, gritty lees building up at the bottom. The bubble rate has slowed way down to one every minute and 20 seconds. If you watch closely, you can see fine white particles dropping out of the solution. I am guessing this is the pureed pears falling. Maybe the yeast is "eating" them, or reproducing on them, or something, because it is definately getting clearer with sediment build up. Not different from the first picture enough to warrant posting another photo, but at this rate, you will probably be able to read a newspaper through it in a week or so.

My current question is:

From the advice gleaned from fatbloke above:

I'm weighing......Choice #1: mixing a gallon of water with about 2lbs. of the same honey I used to begin, along with another 1/2 tsp. of nutrient (Fermaid K. I should have listed this specifically to begin with rather than just generically referring to it as "nutrient".....but sorry. I was lazy.)

Good idea? Add Fermaid? Yes/No? Add anything? Yes/No?

This will have to be in about a week as I am going on a trip tomorrow and won't return.....for a week.

If it does, indeed, clear up.....Choice #2:Should I rack again to remove the lees? How about racking into a 5 gallon carbuoy instead of making additions? This would effectively remove the excessive headspace while simultaneously getting it off the lees.

Two birds with one howitzer! How about that!

Good idea?

Of course, there's always Choice #3: Leave it the hell alone.

While probably the wisest choice, I'm not really a #3 kind of guy. I've always enjoyed taking a big ol' #2 whenever the chance arises.

You want to leave it on the lees until it's pretty much finished fermenting. If it's still fermenting then at this stage, the air lock will still be bubbling thereby forcing out any air/O2 and it'll stay that way until you start doing stuff with it.

As for what you mention as "choice 1", if it's finished or nearly so, then that would be like dumping extra work on employee's that have nearly finished for the day and are already tired and stressed.

Choice 2, well that's possible but if the ferment is still on going, then as per above.

If it's still fermenting nicely, choice 3 is probably the best option. If it ferments dry, you can always use some pear juice to bring the sweetness/fruit flavour up some (pectic enzyme and stabilisers/sulphites would also be "order of the day").

S'up to you really, it's your batch. Idiots like me can only offer ideas and suggestions.....

fatbloke said:

You want to leave it on the lees until it's pretty much finished fermenting. If it's still fermenting then at this stage, the air lock will still be bubbling thereby forcing out any air/O2 and it'll stay that way until you start doing stuff with it.

As for what you mention as "choice 1", if it's finished or nearly so, then that would be like dumping extra work on employee's that have nearly finished for the day and are already tired and stressed.

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Ahhh. Excellent analogy. I can grasp this. As the bubbling has slowed way down (from about every 30 seconds when racked to about every minute and a half in two days) I would hazard a guess that it's nearly finished. I would like to think I am a compassionate employer, therefore, by your excellent analogy, you have convinced me not to overburden my employees (employeast?) by adding to their workload.

Choice 2, well that's possible but if the ferment is still on going, then as per above.

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Ah. I got the impression that excessive headspace at any time was bad, therefore was probably overconcerned about it. Since it is still bubbling (slowly) it is still forcing out air, therefore acceptable. The headspace is a problem while ageing, correct? Therefore, since it is still forcing air out, excessive headspace is not a big deal until it stops.

If it's still fermenting nicely, choice 3 is probably the best option. If it ferments dry, you can always use some pear juice to bring the sweetness/fruit flavour up some (pectic enzyme and stabilisers/sulphites would also be "order of the day").

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#3 is going to be my course of action. Since it is still bubbling, the air is being expelled, therefore, it won't be ageing in O2, right? Therefore, since it isn't ageing in O2, there's not a problem. I'm beginning to see that, for beginners, there are plenty of opportunities to create imaginary problems. The real problem is created by taking uneccessary measures to "fix" these nonexistent problems, therefore becoming our own worst enemy.

S'up to you really, it's your batch. Idiots like me can only offer ideas and suggestions.....

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If only someday, I could be half as knowlegeable as this idiot.....

.....what would that make me?

Therefore, aspiring to achieve exalted idiocy, what is my current status? I've always assumed that, since idiocy connotes some loss of motor skills, idiots are far surpassed by the capabilities of morons, as morons would simply lack brain function regarding intelligence and idiots would be likened to immobile morons.

I dunno, fatbloke. Maybe, someday, when you achieve moron, you would consider knighting this squire into the realm of idiocy?

Superlite27 said:

.....I'm beginning to see that, for beginners, there are plenty of opportunities to create imaginary problems. The real problem is created by taking uneccessary measures to "fix" these nonexistent problems, therefore becoming our own worst enemy.....

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That's a great quote! This should be suggested to all of us when we're starting out, I know I've been guilty of fixing a problem that didn't exist more than once. I think MedsenFey said (paraphrasing) that "benign neglect can be the best thing for mead". I'm always tempted to add just one more ingredient to see how things come out. I'm trying to learn to wait to see how the current batch turns out, then if necessary make changes to the next batch. Patience sucks.

commonsenseman said:

That's a great quote! This should be suggested to all of us when we're starting out, I know I've been guilty of fixing a problem that didn't exist more than once. I think MedsenFey said (paraphrasing) that "benign neglect can be the best thing for mead". I'm always tempted to add just one more ingredient to see how things come out. I'm trying to learn to wait to see how the current batch turns out, then if necessary make changes to the next batch. Patience sucks.

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Ha ha! yes, I think I recall reading something like that - Medsens a wealth of quotes as well as brilliant advice.

Me? I like words, for instance, the Germans have some good ones, "schadenfreude" comes to mind, but for English, I like "Lassitude"

a condition of indolent indifference

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Hence I've managed to learn patience, well for mead making at least......

Just an update on how things are coming along:


It's clearing up nicely. (Enough to read a newspaper through.) ...or in this case, the instructions for installing an automatic garage door opener.

I will soon be requiring a 6 gallon carbuoy for a batch of elderberry wine. The elderberries are currently starting to ripen, and will be ready for picking in a week or two. When I get a load, I plan on racking this mead into a 5 gallon carbuoy and "topping it off". I have decided to mix an additional 2 1/2 pounds of honey with a gallon of water. It shouldn't take it all, as there is about 4 1/2 gallons. This addition of honey/water is called "backsweetening" correct? I plan to fill the racked 5 gallon carbuoy up to about an inch from the top and reinstall the airlock to age until around Christmas. (Or so I plan.)

Sound about right? Any suggestions?

Well, Nobody had anything to say, so I went full steam ahead.

Today, I mixed 1lb. of additional wildflower honey with 1/2 gallon of water and poured it into a sanitized 5 gallon carbuoy, then racked the crystal clear mead into it and re-installed a new sanitized airlock.

For curiosity, I then took a pint glass out of it for "quality assurance".

My "quality assurance" test left me a little confused.

This was the first hydrometer reading I took.

I first filled my sample tube with water and took a reading which read 1.002...so I adjusted my temperature a few degrees from the reccommended 60 degrees F until my water reading read 1.000. I then dumped out the water, poured in the mead, and set it in warm water until it reached the same temperature.

...which read 1.028 or 1.030 (I couldn't tell which little line it was closer to)....so let's just settle for 1.029.

I'm a newb, so I'm a little ignorant when it comes to correctly interpreting a hydrometer, but I was under the assumption that when mead was finished fermenting, it would read 1.000 or less. It hasn't bubbled once in a month, so I'm pretty sure it has been done for awhile.

So...I concluded: readings, schmeadings. The proof is in the pudding! (I'm curious as to the origins of that little saying.) So...I tasted it.

WOW! IT'S AWESOME! The mouth feel is very crisp and has a heavier texture than water. Kinda' like juice but not as "fuzzy". - Crisp. It is very sweet and honeylike and tastes EXACTLY like the wildflower honey I used. Fatbloke and everyone was correct on the fruit. Not a trace except for a slight pearlike aroma. However, it does have a little "kick" to it. Not very noticeable at first, but kinda' warms the ol' gullet going down. A little more punch than I figured something concocted in my basement would have. However, the aftertaste is pure honey tinted alcohol.

After knocking down the "quality assurance" glass I poured, I'm feeling slightly euphoric and "fuzzy". I do believe there is a little more alcohol in this stuff than I figured there would be.

Here's where the confusion sets in. With a hydrometer reading of 1.029 wouldn't this mean the ferment didn't result in much alcohol? Why am I getting a buzz, then?

The only way my inexperienced self can interpret this is that it resulted in a complete ferment which reached the alcohol tolerance of the little yeasties and they drowned. There was so much initial sugar that they were unable to convert all of it resulting in the sweetness (1.029 SG) but they did as much as they could, contributing to the "kick" that I notice in the finished result.

Am I on the right track, or completely off on a tangent?

I've read that ageing tends to mellow the mead. My intentions are to let this puppy set until about a week or two before Christmas, and then bottle for my own little personal gift to friends and family. I'm completely satisfied with the quality at THIS point. Do you think the ageing will contribute to the quality and make it even BETTER?

If so, I consider myself just plain lucky. You know what they say: "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then".

Or, would a better suggestion be to wait a shorter period of time before bottling? (Maybe a month or so?)

I'm leaning towards a couple of weeks before Christmas. Let me know if this isn't a good idea. I'll pay just as much attention to suggestions this time, as to those from my last post.

Aaaaah. After doing a little more research, I believe I have found my problem.

Seems the entire point of the hydrometer is a COMPARISON.

I guess the reading is pretty much pointless without first performing a reading to find the original specific gravity, then comparing the final specific gravity to see how much it has changed.

In addition, my reading AFTER additional honey/water was probably pointless, as well, since there are now additional variables. Kind of hard to interpret the yardstick when I keep moving the nail I'm measuring from. Or, more accurately: There is no nail to measure FROM, and I keep moving the nail I'm pointlessly trying to measure TO.

Good thing I'm not building a house......or dosing anesthesia at the hospital.

Sooner or later, I might get the hang of this. (Wouldn't that be an interesting thing to hear from your anesthesiologist as you're nodding off for surgery!?!)

more great info... gotta subscribe to this one... can't absorb this much at once!

The reason you got light headed on the sample is probably fusel alcohols, they do that! They should break down with aging. Did you stabalise the mead before adding the new honey? If not it will probably just start fermenting again, make sure you don't bottle untill your sure its stopped!

Insomniac said:

The reason you got light headed on the sample is probably fiddle alcohols, they do that! They should break down with aging.

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Fiddle alcohols? Never heard of them. Yet another unfamiliar term to add to my increasing supply of things I have no clue about. Anyone care to educate me?

Did you stabalisr the mead before adding the new honey? If not it will probably just start fermenting again, make sure you don't bottle unrolled your sure its stopped!

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I added nothing but 1lb of wildflower honey in 1/2 gallon of water to top off. I figured it was stable before I added the honey as not a single bubble had come out of the airlock for a week or two beforehand.

It hasn't started fermienting again as there hasn't been a single bubble out of the airlock since. I'm guessing the ABV has reached the little yeastie's tolerance level. I could probably bottle now, but fatbloke and others have reccommended bulk ageing for consistency, so that's what I'm gonna do.

Hopefully, this will also help another little (but not detrimental) problem I've encountered:

On my first racking from primary to secondary, particles in the mead "settled" into lees and it became very clear in about a week after racking.

I assumed, since I was racking off of the lees, it would be even clearer this time. Unfortunately, the added honey/water I added to top off was cloudy. I figured it would eventually clear up.....

...but, so far....still cloudy.

What's the deal? The first time I racked, the mead was full of sediment. It cleared up in about a week. This time, I theorized that since there was less sediment in it, it would be just as clear if not even clearer. At least, I thought it would clear up as fast, if not faster.

Nope. Still cloudy.

Hopefully, since I plan on following the advice I've read here, it will clear by the time I plan on bottling it about a week before Christmas. If not, it looks like I'll be bottling cloudy mead, or using some kind of fining agent. (Which I'd rather not do).

Sorry I meant fusel, my phone has a habit of 'correcting' me... very annoying!

As for your other questions, just because it stopped fermenting doesn't make it stable. There is still yeasties in there that will start eating your extra honey. To stabalise you use sorbate and sulphite together after racking off as much yeast as possible, it stuns them and stops them from multiplying. As you didn't stabalise it will probably still ferment a bit unless as you said you've reached tollerence. Bulk aging is a good idea as you can really make sure it doesn't start up again but i would still be tempted to stabslise once its clear again.

The new haze will be from protein in the honey. It should eventually drop out, but if it doesn't you can use finings to force them down.