Orange blossom Mead

I wanted to know if some one could help with this Mead Recipe. I would like to know if all of the ingredients would go in at one time and would you boil this mead? I ordered all the ingredients on line and want to make sure I make it right. I dint know that much about Mead. This will be my first batch. Can someone help?

Thanks Roger




Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Lalvin D47
Yeast Starter: no
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: no
Batch Size (Gallons): 1
Original Gravity: 1.106
Final Gravity: TBD
Boiling Time (Minutes): 1
Color: ORANGE!
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 60
Additional Fermentation: 60
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 60

Zest and juice from 2 large oranges - clean well to remove pesticides!
2lbs orange blossom honey
8oz wildflower honey
1/5th AHS fruit mead pack
1/4 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient
1/2tsp Yeast Energizer
Fill w/ water

This must smells GREAT!!! There's nothin like fresh orange juice and zest! I expect this to be GREAT in 6-8 months. This is a little different than JAOM, a little more modern yeast, no bitter rinds to mellow out after fermentation, and I didn't add any spice to this. This will get back sweetened with some more orange blossom after it finishes to counter the bitterness, so get yourself some Potassium Sorbate and Campden tablets to knock out the remaining yeast after you rack to secondary.

You do not need to boil the must, you just add the honey to the water and thoroughly mix. You'll want to aerate the must everyday until 1/3 of the sugar is fermented, so til around 1.070 or there bouts depending on the actual OG; at the 1/3 sugar break, you'll also want to add the same amount of nutrient and energizer you added at the beginning (ie you will be doubling the recipe's nutrient amount). The aerating and extra nutrient addition is not absolutely necessary, but it will give you a more drinkable mead sooner without as much aging required.

You will also want to add the orange zest and juice in secondary.

You should let this age a few months before you backsweeten, because you may find that once the alcohol taste dies down some, the sweetness of the mead may come through more.

mccann51 said:

You do not need to boil the must, you just add the honey to the water and thoroughly mix. You'll want to aerate the must everyday until 1/3 of the sugar is fermented, so til around 1.070 or there bouts depending on the actual OG; at the 1/3 sugar break, you'll also want to add the same amount of nutrient and energizer you added at the beginning (ie you will be doubling the recipe's nutrient amount). The aerating and extra nutrient addition is not absolutely necessary, but it will give you a more drinkable mead sooner without as much aging required.

You will also want to add the orange zest and juice in secondary.

You should let this age a few months before you backsweeten, because you may find that once the alcohol taste dies down some, the sweetness of the mead may come through more.

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Thanks so much for all the input. I have a couple of more questions. In your opinion how much of the yeast pack should I use? I assume for this one gallon batch I would not use the full yeast pack. Also on the yeast nutrition would I add an additional dosage every day I aerate the must? Thank you very much for all of your help. I cant wait to make my first batch of mead.

Roger

The yeast packs can be used for up to 6 gallons of must. I always use a full pack when I do 1 gallon batches (it's cheap enough to not bother trying to split it...)

You usually want to do 3 nutrient additions. When you mix the must, when active fermentation starts, and like mccann said, at ~1/3rd sugar depletion.

Hightest's recommended nutrient rates are (for 1 gallon):

Step 1: 0.9g fermaid & 0.9g DAP
Step 2: 0.56g fermaid & 0.56g DAP
Step 3: 0.36g fermaid & 0.36g DAP

I don't measure that accurately; and while it helps with a quicker fermentation, it is not absolutely neccessary to completely follow the staggered schedule....

I agree, I usually just add a full packet, unless I'm brewing a bunch of batches at once, and then I may split it up.

Since you're using Fermax and Energizer instead of Fermaid K and DAP, what AZ_IPA wrote might not be applicable to what you're doing. I hesitate to advice you add three times the recommended nutrient, as if it's not all used I've heard it can leave a bit of a salt taste; I don't have enough experience to know for sure, though. My advice (based on what more experienced meadmakers have told me) would still be to add the 1/4 Fermax and 1/2 Energizer after the lag phase (usually the day after pitching) and at the 1/3 break; you would not want to add this every day you aerate.

One other thing: when rehydrating your yeast, DO NOT put in any nutrient or energizer. You didn't mention that you would, but I thought better stated than not. The salt in the nutrient will not allow the yeast to properly rehydrate.

Thanks so much for all the info. I will be making the Mead nexed week end.

Roger

Let us know how it goes! Cheers!

Thanks mccann for noticing that I was referencing DAP and Fermaid, while the OP had energizer....

Keep us posted K5!

What is DAP?

yurtbrewer said:

What is DAP?

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DAP stands for Diamonium Phosphate ( I know I spelled that wrong...). It is considered a Yeast Energizer, I believe, while Fermaid is considered a Yeast Nutrient.

Not to split hairs, but just to clarify, the terms Yeast Energizer and Yeast Nutrient are very innocuous that can be very different from producer to producer.

Fermaid K would be considered a yeast nutrient, but I've often seen Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) advertised as yeast nutrient.

DAP is an inorganic form of yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN) that is often used in wine and meadmaking, because of the lack of amino acids (and thus N) in the musts. Beer does not have this issue due to the protein content of barley. Something like Fermaid K is a much better "yeast nutrient" because it supplies the yeast with other necessary nutrients, to keep them healthy, beyond just N.

OK so in this case, I have also made an orange blossom mead and I only used Fermaid K. I noticed that fermentation is prolonged and that it hasn't finished up in the secondary, where it's been for over a month. Should I have used DAP and would that have helped my fermentation finish out?

Thanks!
Yurtbrewer

Yurtbrewer, we'd need to know all the details - starting gravity, batch size, quatitiy of nutrients added, etc. Did you aerate? What's the pH? What the temperature?

There are many possible reasons for a slow/stuck fermentation. Nutrients (or lack thereof) is only one. DAP is not essential to be added for complete fermentation. Remember that Fermaid K contains DAP in the mixture. You can successfully ferment using only Fermaid K, but you need to use proper amounts.

Medsen

Ok, so I added a Yeast Nutrient when I started my Orange, Clove Cinnamon Mead last sunday. I have not opened the fermentor since we pitched the yeast 5 days ago. Should I open the bucket and add more nutrient and stir it to aerate? Will this speed up the fermenting process?

Again, folks, detail is important. When you say I added yeast nutrient that tells people nothing. If you stay I added two tsp of nutient to a 5 gallon batch, that says more. If you also tell us what type of nutrient, that gives the information needed for folks to make an assessment.

If you haven't aerated, and the batch isn't past the half-way point, aerating it may be useful.

Medsen