Toxxyc
New and loving it
I posted this elsewhere as well, so here goes:
So this weekend I started another mead. Fermenter can't be standing empty, so I got it running. I made a 25 liter batch, biggest batch of anything to date. My aim was originally a 10% ABV dry traditional I could stabilise and backsweeten to around 1.01 for a semi-sweet offering, but the honey I got (Macadamia & Sunflower) was a bit stronger than anticipated so I slightly overshot my gravity. I ended up at 1.081, for an estimated ABV of 10.8% ABV in the end. Not bad at all, so I'm happy with how it turned out.
Recipe:
6.3kg (13.9lb) of honey, as discussed above.
1 Packet Lalvin 71B wine yeast
RO water (but not blank RO, has a very good water profile).
Fermaid O, feeding according to TOSNA 2.0.
I used the mead calculator and it said I need just over 5 grams of yeast. One packet is 5 grams, so I figured I'll take the risk, since I only had one packet of yeast. Anyway, I got this mead under way. Everything seems to have gone absolutely perfect. Storytime:
Yesterday morning I took the little buckets of honey and placed them in a big pot on the stove, and poured boiling water in around them to get the honey more liquid, so it can be poured. We currently have a terrible cold front in South Africa, and my RO water temps in the fermenter sat at 14°C. Way too cold. So I sanitized a big container, tapped off a lot of the water (8l), and started heating the fermenter up a bit. At 16°C I felt comfortable to add the now-warm honey, and added 6.3kg of the honey.
Once the honey was added, I closed up the fermenter and shook the living daylights out of it. I took a hydrometer reading and it stuck at 1.1 dead. Perfect. I closed up the fermenter again and shook it again. Another reading - 1.1 again. Good. That means the honey was properly dissolved and I don't have some honey lying at the bottom, undissolved. The fermenter was not at the level it should have been and where I calculated at, so I topped it up with warm water bit by bit. I stirred and checked temps. The fermenter temperature was at 26°C, so I added some more cold water to the 25l (6.6gal) mark and hit the 24°C mark. Perfect.
The honey seems to have been slightly sweeter or more dehydrated than the GotMead calculator's norm, and I slightly overshot my gravity. I aimed for 1.075 with my caluclated volume and weight, and measured 1.08 perfectly. Temperature correction at 24°C gives me 1.081, which is slightly over, but I'm still happy with it. If I ferment it to completely dry, I'll come in at just-just under 11% ABV, which is fine.
During the time of mixing the honey and water and all that, I rehydrated my yeast. Got a clean glass with 60ml of warm water at 40°C. The packet says 35°C-40°C but it felt just too hot for me, so I let it sit until I got around 36°C. Added the yeast. Let it sit for a bit and stirred it in. The yeast rehydrated beautifully (best I've managed to date, maybe it helps to follow instructions) and the slurry came down in temp slooooowly. Because I don't have Go-Ferm and I was worried about the yeast's lifetime in the water, I dissolved the first dose of Fermaid O in some warm water and added it to the yeast at 15 minutes. I also introduced a small amount of must at 20 minutes to give the yeast something to chew on in the meantime. This sent the yeast into overdrive and in 2 minutes the slurry in the glass was visibly moving around. First time I've seen yeast THIS active.
By the time I've added the must, the yeast slurry was at 25°C. Must was at 24°C, so I pitched at around 28 minutes. The fermenter's lid was still a bit wet with honey water and to avoid ants I decided to wash it first. Washed it, sanitized it and when I got back to the fermenter, there was already visible fermentation in the mead. I've never ever seen a fermentation start this fast. From now on, I'll ALWAYS rehydrate. Always. The yeast looks just so incredibly happy, it's not even funny. I placed the lid on the fermenter, slipped in the airlock and it took just half an hour before the first bubbles started pushing through.
I stood the fermenter in our bedroom last night (because the rest of the house is just too cold right now), and by bedtime the mead was at the perfect aimed for 20°C. Bubbles are slow, but strong and constant, as I expected from fermenting in the lower end of the yeast's temperature range. Very happy with the ferment so far. Second nutrient addition is due for this afternoon. Can't wait!
UPDATE: OK so fermenter is now staying in the bedroom. I'm DAMN glad my fermenter seals airtight, because ants discovered the fact that it's pretty much a 30l bucket containing 6.3kg of honey. They can't get it, but they're caked around the tap and everywhere on the fermenter I guess a drop of the must fell and dried. I washed the fermenter well before I pitched, but I guess they're after every single drop they can get. Anyway.
I added the second nutrient addition yesterday. Fermenter is staying in the bedroom, simply because the rest of what I have is too cold. There's no point in placing the fermenter in my fermentation fridge when the fridge is sitting at 16°C for the best part of the day, and I don't yet have a heating pad. Will have to invest sometime soon. Pet shop here I come!
Anyway, on the ferment. The smell from the fermenter is amazing. I'm loving this. It's a lot cleaner smelling than the last ferment I did, and I suspect it's because I'm using 71B instead of the Abbaye yeast I used last time. I'll compare the two now, and then I'll know if it's worth using a wine yeast when apparently the Abbaye yeasts make a mead that's "ready faster". Let's see.
I'll be taking a hydrometer reading this afternoon. I HOPE I haven't reached the 1/3rd sugar break yet, but something tells me "you're there already". Time will tell.
EDIT: That being said - does anyone know where in SA we can find Go-Ferm? It seems to be non-existent in SA...
So this weekend I started another mead. Fermenter can't be standing empty, so I got it running. I made a 25 liter batch, biggest batch of anything to date. My aim was originally a 10% ABV dry traditional I could stabilise and backsweeten to around 1.01 for a semi-sweet offering, but the honey I got (Macadamia & Sunflower) was a bit stronger than anticipated so I slightly overshot my gravity. I ended up at 1.081, for an estimated ABV of 10.8% ABV in the end. Not bad at all, so I'm happy with how it turned out.
Recipe:
6.3kg (13.9lb) of honey, as discussed above.
1 Packet Lalvin 71B wine yeast
RO water (but not blank RO, has a very good water profile).
Fermaid O, feeding according to TOSNA 2.0.
I used the mead calculator and it said I need just over 5 grams of yeast. One packet is 5 grams, so I figured I'll take the risk, since I only had one packet of yeast. Anyway, I got this mead under way. Everything seems to have gone absolutely perfect. Storytime:
Yesterday morning I took the little buckets of honey and placed them in a big pot on the stove, and poured boiling water in around them to get the honey more liquid, so it can be poured. We currently have a terrible cold front in South Africa, and my RO water temps in the fermenter sat at 14°C. Way too cold. So I sanitized a big container, tapped off a lot of the water (8l), and started heating the fermenter up a bit. At 16°C I felt comfortable to add the now-warm honey, and added 6.3kg of the honey.
Once the honey was added, I closed up the fermenter and shook the living daylights out of it. I took a hydrometer reading and it stuck at 1.1 dead. Perfect. I closed up the fermenter again and shook it again. Another reading - 1.1 again. Good. That means the honey was properly dissolved and I don't have some honey lying at the bottom, undissolved. The fermenter was not at the level it should have been and where I calculated at, so I topped it up with warm water bit by bit. I stirred and checked temps. The fermenter temperature was at 26°C, so I added some more cold water to the 25l (6.6gal) mark and hit the 24°C mark. Perfect.
The honey seems to have been slightly sweeter or more dehydrated than the GotMead calculator's norm, and I slightly overshot my gravity. I aimed for 1.075 with my caluclated volume and weight, and measured 1.08 perfectly. Temperature correction at 24°C gives me 1.081, which is slightly over, but I'm still happy with it. If I ferment it to completely dry, I'll come in at just-just under 11% ABV, which is fine.
During the time of mixing the honey and water and all that, I rehydrated my yeast. Got a clean glass with 60ml of warm water at 40°C. The packet says 35°C-40°C but it felt just too hot for me, so I let it sit until I got around 36°C. Added the yeast. Let it sit for a bit and stirred it in. The yeast rehydrated beautifully (best I've managed to date, maybe it helps to follow instructions) and the slurry came down in temp slooooowly. Because I don't have Go-Ferm and I was worried about the yeast's lifetime in the water, I dissolved the first dose of Fermaid O in some warm water and added it to the yeast at 15 minutes. I also introduced a small amount of must at 20 minutes to give the yeast something to chew on in the meantime. This sent the yeast into overdrive and in 2 minutes the slurry in the glass was visibly moving around. First time I've seen yeast THIS active.
By the time I've added the must, the yeast slurry was at 25°C. Must was at 24°C, so I pitched at around 28 minutes. The fermenter's lid was still a bit wet with honey water and to avoid ants I decided to wash it first. Washed it, sanitized it and when I got back to the fermenter, there was already visible fermentation in the mead. I've never ever seen a fermentation start this fast. From now on, I'll ALWAYS rehydrate. Always. The yeast looks just so incredibly happy, it's not even funny. I placed the lid on the fermenter, slipped in the airlock and it took just half an hour before the first bubbles started pushing through.
I stood the fermenter in our bedroom last night (because the rest of the house is just too cold right now), and by bedtime the mead was at the perfect aimed for 20°C. Bubbles are slow, but strong and constant, as I expected from fermenting in the lower end of the yeast's temperature range. Very happy with the ferment so far. Second nutrient addition is due for this afternoon. Can't wait!
UPDATE: OK so fermenter is now staying in the bedroom. I'm DAMN glad my fermenter seals airtight, because ants discovered the fact that it's pretty much a 30l bucket containing 6.3kg of honey. They can't get it, but they're caked around the tap and everywhere on the fermenter I guess a drop of the must fell and dried. I washed the fermenter well before I pitched, but I guess they're after every single drop they can get. Anyway.
I added the second nutrient addition yesterday. Fermenter is staying in the bedroom, simply because the rest of what I have is too cold. There's no point in placing the fermenter in my fermentation fridge when the fridge is sitting at 16°C for the best part of the day, and I don't yet have a heating pad. Will have to invest sometime soon. Pet shop here I come!
Anyway, on the ferment. The smell from the fermenter is amazing. I'm loving this. It's a lot cleaner smelling than the last ferment I did, and I suspect it's because I'm using 71B instead of the Abbaye yeast I used last time. I'll compare the two now, and then I'll know if it's worth using a wine yeast when apparently the Abbaye yeasts make a mead that's "ready faster". Let's see.
I'll be taking a hydrometer reading this afternoon. I HOPE I haven't reached the 1/3rd sugar break yet, but something tells me "you're there already". Time will tell.
EDIT: That being said - does anyone know where in SA we can find Go-Ferm? It seems to be non-existent in SA...