BigKahuna I need your help.

Since you are the resident mead expert I have a question for you.

I went ahead with my sweet raspberry melomel this morning and I have about 45minutes to correct what I think could be a huge oversight.

I didn't realize that D-47 has an alcohol tolerance of 14%.

So after adding my 15lbs of Orange Blossom honey and 2 bottles of the Raspberry Syrup my OG is 1.135 for a 5gallon batch. Which would put my FG right around 1.030 if it the yeast die at 14%.

Will that be too sweet? And remember that if the raspberry flavor is gone I plan on adding more of the syrup which would add even more sugar to it.

Based upon Beersmith if I take 5gallons of a 1.135 must and add 1gallon of water I should end up with 6gallons of a 1.113 must. Which if the yeast die at 14% should leave me with a FG around 1.007.

So I have two options.

1.) Rack the must into a 6gallon carboy and add the 1gallon of water.
2.) Let the D-47 ferment out to 14% and then pitch some Cuvee yeast in the hopes that it will ferment the rest of the sugar. Hit it with campden, back sweeten and force carb.

Thoughts?

And thanks in advance for all of your helpful advice and don't worry you will be getting a couple bottles of these!

If you use the Cuve, it WILL take your mead to DRY!
If you're going to force carb, I'd just leave it with the D-47. See what it does, then when it's done you can pitch the Cuve....if you think you need to. ***EDIT: On Second thought, I'd actually thin this down as stated below. D-47 has a habit of crapping out at 12% sometimes***
1.030 is VERY sweet, and could be cloying depending on your taste.

Having said that, I think I'd bring down that 1.135 if I could.

Do you have a 1 gallon jug? It's always fun to have a gallon of something that you also have a big amount of. I've had this oversight before, and I just kept taking must out of the 5 gallons jug 1/2 gallon at a time and adding water back till I hit 1.100. Then I toped off a 1 gallon jug with the same must and pitched a different yeast.

Hint: A milk jug will hold your must until you find a gallon glass....as long as it's not for like weeeeeeeks.

Thanks for the info! Diluting this seemed like the right thing to do. This should be a sweet mead, but not cloying sweet. Which is where I think it would be if it did indeed finish around the 1.035 mark.

Added some more nutrients to make up for the extra water and moved this over to a 6gal carboy. New gravity is 1.116, a lot better than the 1.135 it was at before the water. Plus i get another gallon of mead!

Thanks again and shoot me your address via PM.

I would have recommended adding a gal of water also...