Moonlight's Desire mead.

The recipe was posted in another thread, so I decided to use it for my very first mead.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/community/news/show?title=romance-by-the-glass

So between the sticky FAQ and the thread above, I have a pretty good idea about how to make this, but I still have a few questions.

1) I don't have any Fermaid-k or GoFerm, but I do have LD Carlson yeast nutrient and energizer and Wyeast yeast nutrient. Will those work or should I get this other stuff?

2) It says combine honey and juices with enough water to make 5 gal (I'll be making a half batch just in case I ruin it). In the FAQ it says to heat water and add honey since it dissolves better. Do I heat the juice since I'm not using water?

3) It says to hydrate nutrient additions. Do I hydrate using boiling water?

4) Seriously, 3mo in primary and then rack to secondary for how long? How do you guys wait*so long? I thought beer was bad.

Maybe direct a mead n00b to some reading where these answers are located? Thanks.

Not nearly the experience of some, but:
1) Not familiar with them, but I would think they would work at least somewhat decent as Wyeast also makes mead yeast.
2) The heating is only to help it blend. I usually never have to heat mine as the honey I get is pretty fluid. If it is a little older honey I would try to heat the honey just enough to make it flow easily. Not too much.
3) No boiling water! I think the suggested temp is somewhere about 100-104.
4) 3 mo sounds long in the primary. Many finish up in 1 month. Take a gravity reading now and again in a few weeks. Once the reading is the same over several days and it has cleared well, you can rack to secondary. Secondary (and third or fourth racking) time can be anywhere from 9 mo to a couple years. Low Abv can be on the shorter end, but many recommend a longer time if you have a high Abv.

There are exceptions on #4. Some will let it clear more in the secondary and then rack to a tertiary.

1) I'll see if I can find it in the FAQ's or another search.

2) I may try putting the honey containers in some hot water for a while then, just in case. That way I don't heat the juice and the honey will warm while staying sealed. Seems more sanitary that way.

3) So don't put the yeast nutrient in boiling water? Does it dissolve in such small amounts of room temp water before saturation? I find I can't get Wyeast nutrient for beer to dissolve fully in a glass of warm water.

4) 3mo is just what the article said from Moonlight. "Ferment at 62°F(16.7°C). Rack to a secondary vessel after three months."

2) sounds like a plan.

3) reading comprehension on my part - I thought you said yeast, missed the "nutrients". I don't boil anything though.

3) A slow ferment could take 3 months. Just takes SG readings and watch to see how your mead is clearing.

looneybomber said:

The recipe was posted in another thread, so I decided to use it for my very first mead.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/community/news/show?title=romance-by-the-glass

So between the sticky FAQ and the thread above, I have a pretty good idea about how to make this, but I still have a few questions.

1) I don't have any Fermaid-k or GoFerm, but I do have LD Carlson yeast nutrient and energizer and Wyeast yeast nutrient. Will those work or should I get this other stuff?

2) It says combine honey and juices with enough water to make 5 gal (I'll be making a half batch just in case I ruin it). In the FAQ it says to heat water and add honey since it dissolves better. Do I heat the juice since I'm not using water?

3) It says to hydrate nutrient additions. Do I hydrate using boiling water?

4) Seriously, 3mo in primary and then rack to secondary for how long? How do you guys wait*so long? I thought beer was bad.

Click to expand...

1: LD Carlson will work just fine, no worries.

2: I wouldn't heat the juice, room temp should work just fine. The only reason they say to heat the water is to make it easier to mix the honey. If it's just too tough to mix, warm up your honey & even your juice by filling your sink with hot tap water & place the containers in it to warm up; this works very well.

3: Use warm water & mix the powders in it well. This will prevent a mead eruption by eliminating nucleation points on the particals of powder & makes it easier to mix. Use water that you'veboiled (to sterilize) and allowed to cool. No need to actually boil the nutrient.

4: How long in secondary? That depends. If you have more than 1/2 inch of lees (sediment) on the bottom, it's usually time to rack. You'll also want it to clear, just give it time & it'll clear al by itself. As far as waiting, mead is all about time; if you want good mead, you'll have to wait. Gives to a reason to make more than 1 type of beverage.
Regards, GF.

The reason it can be left in primary so long is because you have no fruit solids, or others, to deal with. This is quite a common process when making an all liquid mead, no primary bucket just straight to carboy.

4) Seriously, 3mo in primary and then rack to secondary for how long? How do you guys wait*so long? I thought beer was bad.

Beer IS bad....tasting. That's how I wait so long. My worst wine brew tastes better than your best beer brew, and it's more potent. One glass of my wine= three glasses of your beer! When ya got 10 or 15 gallons going strong, you know it'll last till the next batch.

T_Baggins said:

4) Seriously, 3mo in primary and then rack to secondary for how long? How do you guys wait*so long? I thought beer was bad.

Beer IS bad....tasting. That's how I wait so long. My worst wine brew tastes better than your best beer brew, and it's more potent. One glass of my wine= three glasses of your beer! When ya got 10 or 15 gallons going strong, you know it'll last till the next batch.

Click to expand...

The last beer I bottled finished around 10.5% (IPA) and my stout I bottled before that finished at 14.7%. The two Belgian quads I bottled before that clocked in at roughly 10 and 11%. You must brew some STRONG wine if it's triple what my beer is...

Back on track. I haven't brewed anything due to school and work. Thursday is my final (probability and statistics) and it's supposed to be 100. So Friday morning I plan on brewing a saisonIand then this mead. Wish me luck.

well, ok, maybe not triple lol esp that stout! I average 14-16. Had 1 to 18. funny thing is, the 18 taste better than the rest! now I have a variety of yeast to mix n match on that same recipe. I've drank all my ready wine, 'cept for hat I bottled round th 3rd of this month. In a year that'll be a real testament to my technique... I hope. Nothing in primary now, it's been WAY to hot in my house till just the other day. Was like 95F in here! Got a new A/C yesterday and cold crashed this b!tch! nice at 70-73 and steady. perfect for the yeasties 'bout to start the pomegranate/blueberry.

Good luck with the mead! BTW, I posted some yeast selection info in mead forum... may help If you do'nt allready have the compleat meadmaker.

I just checked my rack, I do have a bottle that was born in march... it was really tasty straight from the secondary. Wanna hang out some time? Seeing how you are the closest neighbor so far. Also I DO have "The Compleat Meadmaker" if you wanna check it out.

Speaking of fermenting temps... How does 80* affect the primary.... (Got screwed on mead brewing location....)

Oh. And maybe a jump to 88* after a week....

I believe that would totally depend on what yeast you use, as a matter o fact I recently posted a list of yeasts and their abilities in the mead forum. there are a few that can go as high 95F! but may have other characteristics you may want to read up on.

I'm using champagne yeast... Haven't had a chance to tea up on it yet. I left for Idaho last week, and when I picked up my gig at the airport, she said it was still going strong at 88*....

nice, I just started a batch from concentrate using Pasteur Champagne, it took off like a rocket and still going strong. My temps vary from 72-78 I'm sure the higher end of the scale speeds up the process.

Well I tried this and ended up getting stuck fermentation. I started out at 1.154 and months later it stayed at 1.080. I rehydrated a packet of ec-1118, (only did a 2.5 gal batch) and added a little of the mead to it to get the yeast accustomed to the alcohol. The ec1118 didn't do anything to the mead in the glass, but I poured it into the fermenter anyway. Another month later, and I'm still at 1.080.

Any idea how to get it down to 1.030?

You were on the right path, but may not have gone far enough:
1. Rehydrate more yeast. Alternatively, you could siphon yeast from the bottom of your current batch and add a low-abv solution to it in order to get it active again. New yeast is probably the safest route.
2. Add 1/4 cup of mead to the yeast once it is foamy
3. Add 1/2 cup of mead to the yeast after 12 hours
4. Add 1 cup of mead to the yeast after 12 hours
5. Keep doubling the amount of mead added in 12-hour increments until you hit one gallon
6. Combine the remaining mead and the new batch/starter/whatever you would like to call it

Your mead is already at almost 10% abv, so it will take some effort to get it going again.

Sounds like you need the nuclear restart option. It's a pain, but it works. Here you go:

Stuck Fermentation Nuclear Option

1. Go over to www.morebeer.com and pick up some Uvaferm 43 yeast. This yeast is the king of unsticking ferments. Tolerance is 18% ABV, so beware. Also get yeast hulls and anything else you need.

2. Add yeast hulls (aka ghosts; 20-30 gram per 5 gallons of must) to soak up toxins and stir. After a few days, rack off sediment. If necessary, dilute a bit with water to get your gravity is a reasonable range of <1.12.

3. Make a starter as follows:
-Sanitize everything.
-Add 6 oz of honey + 1 TBSP GoFerm + 20 grams UvaFerm43 to a 2 liter flask.
-Add one cross shaped magnetic stir bar.
-Add water to 1 liter.
-Stir on stir plates for 2-3 days.

4. Acclimate starter.
-Now add a cup of your stuck must to the starter and give it a few hours.
-Repeat until you have 2 liters. This process may take a day or two.

5. Pitch starter into stuck must. You should see the gravity drop a bit in the first few days, then really take off.

6. Pray. Because if this doesn't work, nothing else will.

Cool, so I was on the right track. Thanks both of you for the information. I will pick up some more yeast and try again.