CAlexander
Well-Known Member
Hello all!
Made my first batch of mead yesterday and I'm incredibly stoked. I had a few questions, but first, here's what I used:
I based the recipe on Malkore's Not So Ancient Mead, but I adjusted it a bit for batch size and to mellow out the spices & orange flavor. I used the following:
6 Gallon Batch
Started with 1-1/2 Gallons of Store Bought Spring Water at about 160 Degrees
Added 15 pounds of Orange Blossom Honey
Added 6 tsps of Yeast Nutrient (Per Label Instructions, Fermax)
Added 3 tsps of Yeast Energizer (Per Label, 'Crosby & Baker Yeast Energizer')
Added juice from 3 oranges (through a strainer)
Steeped 4 tsps orange zest, 4 cinnamon sticks and 3 cloves in cheesecloth for about 15 minutes.
Cooled the wort, added to carboy with enough spring water to bring it to 6 gallons. Stirred wort violently to mix it together and aerate, then added White Labs Sweet Mead Yeast. (1 vial)
A couple of questions. First, like a few others I've seen, I've got the majority of the honey collecting at the bottom of the carboy. This started to happen almost immediately, so despite all of my agitating attempts I could not get a good OG reading. I figured I could use the calculator that is floating around to get a rough OG, so that should be fine. That being said, this morning the honey was very clearly all gathering at the bottom. Should I be regularly stirring this, or should I leave it?
I've heard I should be frequently aerating the wort. Should I do this once a day? More? Should I stop when it begins fermenting?
Finally, from what I've read I've gathered that I should be adding nutrient and energizer when the wort begins to ferment, and again when 1/3 of the sugar is fermented. Is this correct? Should I add the full amount, or less?
Any other comments or suggestions? Thanks!
Made my first batch of mead yesterday and I'm incredibly stoked. I had a few questions, but first, here's what I used:
I based the recipe on Malkore's Not So Ancient Mead, but I adjusted it a bit for batch size and to mellow out the spices & orange flavor. I used the following:
6 Gallon Batch
Started with 1-1/2 Gallons of Store Bought Spring Water at about 160 Degrees
Added 15 pounds of Orange Blossom Honey
Added 6 tsps of Yeast Nutrient (Per Label Instructions, Fermax)
Added 3 tsps of Yeast Energizer (Per Label, 'Crosby & Baker Yeast Energizer')
Added juice from 3 oranges (through a strainer)
Steeped 4 tsps orange zest, 4 cinnamon sticks and 3 cloves in cheesecloth for about 15 minutes.
Cooled the wort, added to carboy with enough spring water to bring it to 6 gallons. Stirred wort violently to mix it together and aerate, then added White Labs Sweet Mead Yeast. (1 vial)
A couple of questions. First, like a few others I've seen, I've got the majority of the honey collecting at the bottom of the carboy. This started to happen almost immediately, so despite all of my agitating attempts I could not get a good OG reading. I figured I could use the calculator that is floating around to get a rough OG, so that should be fine. That being said, this morning the honey was very clearly all gathering at the bottom. Should I be regularly stirring this, or should I leave it?
I've heard I should be frequently aerating the wort. Should I do this once a day? More? Should I stop when it begins fermenting?
Finally, from what I've read I've gathered that I should be adding nutrient and energizer when the wort begins to ferment, and again when 1/3 of the sugar is fermented. Is this correct? Should I add the full amount, or less?
Any other comments or suggestions? Thanks!