My first mead

I wanted to do some small batches instead of a 5 gallon batch first. I wanted to do one gallon with apple juice, one with strawberry mango, and the third with blueberry pomegranate.

I should have taken a gravity for the apple juice by itself because it was about 1.050 alone. I read that you should put 2.5 lbs for every gallon. Well that on top of the juice made the gravity like 1.8 or something.

I had to split the one gallon into two gallons and add about a half gallon of water to get the gravity down. One gallon started at 1.075 and the other started at 1.090. It's been a while in the primary. I haven't really been keeping track of time. I think I started it right before Christmas. They are starting to clear up and I should probably get them in the secondary's. I'm not sure how much apple flavor I'm going to get with under a half a gallon of juice.

I want to reuse the yeast from them for the other flavors. I wanted to just add the new stuff on the trub (forget what it's called for mead). Do I need to worry about getting the krausen out of the jug?

77bawls said:

I want to reuse the yeast from them for the other flavors. I wanted to just add the new stuff on the trub (forget what it's called for mead). Do I need to worry about getting the krausen out of the jug?

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It is called lees. And in batches where you have fruit pulp, what forms in the bottom is referred to as gross lees. The problem with just adding more must on top of gross lees is that the gross less may develop sulfur odors. That doesn't happen in every case, but it certainly can, and that can ruin a batch. If you take some of those lees and aerate them well and pitch them in the next batch that may reduce the problems with sulfur.

In a batch made with apple juice, there won't be a lot of fruit particles in the lees and it may be OK. However, apple batches frequently produce sulfur odors and if these batches are stinky at the end of fermentation, you may not want to pour more must onto stinky lees - at least not when a fresh packet of yeast costs all of $1.

So what's the proper amount or honey in one gallon of water to give me 1.1?