Dragonbeard
Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2015
- Messages
- 12
- Reaction score
- 3
Hi all,
I've been lurking on the forum for a short while now and am n my second batch of mead.
The first one was a traditional clover honey mead, second one I decided to do some melomels. Sent out a survey to friends to help me choose which fruits to go for.
Base mead: 8gal primary bucket with 5.8gal(22l) spring water, 10lbs clover honey, Bioferm Killer wine yeast. Adding equal parts nutrivit (salts + mineral mix) and Nutrisal (straight up DAP) with SNA, measured according to the sheet in the FAQ sticky.
SG: 1.068
Took off immediately and seems to be doing very well.
After 3 days into fermentation of the base mead, it had dropped to 1.048, so I started preparing the fruits.
Apple: stewed/mashed, then strained (basically homemade applesauce without added)
Banana: stewed/mashed then strained
Blueberry: blended with just enough water to get it to a more or less liquid state, then strained
Cherry: blended with just enough water to get it to a more or less liquid state, then strained
Watermelon: blended, then strained.
All juices/mashes except the cherry one were frozen for at least 24 hours.
defrosted the juices, added them to 5l carboys, added campden, waterlocked with sanitized water.
24h later added pectic enzyme, still waterlocked.
Now I just racked the base mead on top, which had dropped to about 1.030 and just received its stage 3.
Now I've got 2 things that worry me and which I'm looking for advice on:
The apple, banana and cherry are quite mushy and the pulp seems to be floating on top. Will this end up rotting? If so, what can I do about it?
The watermelon smelled fine after 24 hours with the sulfite. When I took of the waterlock today, after 24h with pectic enzyme it smelled nothing like watermelon, while the other fruits still did. It was kind of musty, I'm scared it might be some sort of rot, but I'm not entirely sure. Any ideas and should I be worried? Is this a reaction to the enzyme?
For now I just plan on letting the watermelon sit, do it's thing and see what happens in the end...
Any other things you think I should know?
Oh and here's a picture after sulfites
l2r: cherry, banana, apple, watermelon, blueberry
and one after I racked on the mead
l2r: watermelon, cherry, blueberry, apple, banana
I've been lurking on the forum for a short while now and am n my second batch of mead.
The first one was a traditional clover honey mead, second one I decided to do some melomels. Sent out a survey to friends to help me choose which fruits to go for.
Base mead: 8gal primary bucket with 5.8gal(22l) spring water, 10lbs clover honey, Bioferm Killer wine yeast. Adding equal parts nutrivit (salts + mineral mix) and Nutrisal (straight up DAP) with SNA, measured according to the sheet in the FAQ sticky.
SG: 1.068
Took off immediately and seems to be doing very well.
After 3 days into fermentation of the base mead, it had dropped to 1.048, so I started preparing the fruits.
Apple: stewed/mashed, then strained (basically homemade applesauce without added)
Banana: stewed/mashed then strained
Blueberry: blended with just enough water to get it to a more or less liquid state, then strained
Cherry: blended with just enough water to get it to a more or less liquid state, then strained
Watermelon: blended, then strained.
All juices/mashes except the cherry one were frozen for at least 24 hours.
defrosted the juices, added them to 5l carboys, added campden, waterlocked with sanitized water.
24h later added pectic enzyme, still waterlocked.
Now I just racked the base mead on top, which had dropped to about 1.030 and just received its stage 3.
Now I've got 2 things that worry me and which I'm looking for advice on:
The apple, banana and cherry are quite mushy and the pulp seems to be floating on top. Will this end up rotting? If so, what can I do about it?
The watermelon smelled fine after 24 hours with the sulfite. When I took of the waterlock today, after 24h with pectic enzyme it smelled nothing like watermelon, while the other fruits still did. It was kind of musty, I'm scared it might be some sort of rot, but I'm not entirely sure. Any ideas and should I be worried? Is this a reaction to the enzyme?
For now I just plan on letting the watermelon sit, do it's thing and see what happens in the end...
Any other things you think I should know?
Oh and here's a picture after sulfites
l2r: cherry, banana, apple, watermelon, blueberry
and one after I racked on the mead
l2r: watermelon, cherry, blueberry, apple, banana
