First Batch Mead Question

[STStunner]

I've made 3 batches of beer, 2 batches of wine and 1 batch of hard cider so far. Now I'm journeying into making mead for the very first time. If I add 3-pounds of clover honey per gallon of water in a 2-gallon batch, about what ABV can I expect to achieve?

 

[amaycock071]

That seems about the same amount that I would use. It mainly goes down to what yest you use but say if you went fully for it and tried to push it as far as it will go (maybe with lalvin EC1118) then you could probably expect to see about 14/17% from it depending on if there are any other sugars present too. It depends what you want to be aiming for too. Yes it is nice to have a high alcohol wine on the odd occasion but for something more of a social, all-night drink then around 7-10% would be better

 

[STStunner]

I have used Lalvin EC-1118 yeast in the past for wine, but for mead I was told to use Lalvin D-47 Yeast. Is this correct? I know the yeast isn't as fast acting or as powerful, but I was told that it creates a better mead. Also, I only have 1, 2-gallon fermenter, so is secondary absolutely necessary with mead? I do have a 6.5 gallon fermentation bucket and 6-gallon carboy that I use for wine, but I was worried about the oxidation risk if I was to use these to make a 2-gallon batch of mead?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

You won't get to 18% with 3lbs per gallon. you will get somewhere between 14-16% (fermented dry) depending on how close you are to a gallon of must. You can use whatever wine yeast you prefer. D-47 needs to be kept below 70, or you'll create a lot of fussel alcohols (which will make your mead have a hot alcohol bite).

A secondary "fermentation" isn't required, but a secondary vessel will be. Since meads need to age for long periods of time, they cant be sitting on the bulk of the lees for that long without introducing the risk of off flavors.

You can rack from the 2 Gallon fermenter into your bucket or what have you, clean it out the sediment, and rack it back into your vessel. I did this with my lambic mead to avoid spreading infection to my other carboys (I racked into 1 gal water jugs, cleaned, and put back in the glass carboys).

You should also look into doing some form of staggered nutrient additions and aeration schedule.

 

[STStunner]

I guess I'm out of luck then with D-47, as it's about 70 degrees in here right now. I might could have accomplished this temp goal back in the winter, but since it's getting so close to spring now, I probably can't. I guess now I'm going to have order some more EC-118. I guess I can just save the D-47 yeast for a future project of some sort. I bought 4-oz. of yeast nutrient, it recommends adding 1-tablespoon per-gallon at the beginning of fermentation. If this isn't correct, how do you suggest I add the nutrient additions during the fermentation? Also a longtime brewer on YouTube claims that it is no longer necessary to age mead. He says that mead's were aged in the old-days due to bad quality ingredients being used. This however goes against everything I've ever read on the subject.

 

[fatbloke]

EC -1118 is a champagne yeast and usually what HBS recommend when they know bog all about meads......

A good yeast for meads is K1-V1116. It has a nice wide temp range and will do the honey justice.

Champagne yeast are known for blowing a lot of the VOC's and aromatics straight out the airlock. Thats not to say they're not good yeasts, they are but they're best suited to bland sparkling wines etc........

As others have said, the yeast is up to you but if you're not sure where to start, then the K1-V1116 is a good place to.start. it doesn't really have a downside other than it will do 18%......

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I think it's 1 Teaspoon per gallon. But basically what you want to do is by the 1/3 sugar break (point where 1/3 of the sugars are fermented (1.100 to 1.066 would be the 1/3 break) is add that tsp in. When I'm lazy I do a 50/50 split. I add half a tsp per gallon at the pitch of yeast and the other half when I get close to the 1/3 break. There are lots of schedules you can do (fatbloke says you can put up to 80% right up front without losing any efficiency) but it keeps the yeast consistently fed to have a healthy ferment.

You should also aerate once or twice a day for the first few days.

You may make a good mead in a faster turnaround time than the ancient times, but unless your PH is perfect, your temps are perfect, your SNA is perfect, your recipe to yeast selection is perfect, your mead could use some age when you bottle it (it will only get better anyways so why not).

Edit: as a yeast suggestion for meads, I've been enjoying some good meads made from RedStar Pasteur Red.

If you are feeling impatient, you may want to look into Joe's Ancient Orange Mead, or at doing a hydromel (a lower alcohol mead that requires less age because of that).

 

[STStunner]

I cancelled the EC-118 and ordered the K1-V1116 yeast instead. I'm stuck with the D-47 though, so I'll just save it for something else. I will try to aerate early on and split the nutrients into two different additions, both before and during the actual fermentation. I'm not that impatient, I was just going by what the guy on YouTube had said.

 

[fatbloke]

I cancelled the EC-118 and ordered the K1-V1116 yeast instead. I'm stuck with the D-47 though, so I'll just save it for something else. I will try to aerate early on and split the nutrients into two different additions, both before and during the actual fermentation. I'm not that impatient, I was just going by what the guy on YouTube had said.

Any extra yeast packs keep well in the fridge. Just plastic bag them first.

If they go out of date, just make a starter with them. If the starter.....well.....starts, its proofed the yeast and it'll be fine. I've done that with yeast 18 months past expiry with no issues.....