First Mead - Recipe Review

[rjbergen]

I'm getting ready to make my first mead and I wanted to get some of your opinions on my plan. I want to make a still, sweet mead with orange blossom honey.

12 lbs. orange blossom honey, raw
WLP 720 Sweet Mead Yeast
Carlson Yeast Nutrient and Yeast Energizer

Make a 1L starter with 1 cup honey, top off with water, and yeast nutrient. Prepare 48 hours before brew day and let sit on stir plate.

No-Boil Recipe:
Using 5 gallon carboy, prepare mead by dissolving honey in water and topping off to 3.25 gallons.
Pitch starter and add half of recommended nutrient and energizer.
Aerate daily for the first week.
Add second half of nutrient and energizer at 1/3 sugar break.
Stop touching mead after 1/3 sugar break and allow to ferment for at least a month.
Rack to secondary 3 gallon carboy and allow to age for a couple months.
Add potassium sorbate to stabilize and allow to rest for 3 days.
Bottle and allow to age for another month.

I've read that potassium metabisulfite (Campden tablets) may also be needed for stabilizing, is this true?

Any other tips or tricks to my process?

Thanks for the help!

 

[loveofrose]

See Bray's One Month Mead post. That recipe has tried and true methods that will work with any yeast, but works especially well with Wyeast 1388.

Check it out! Happy mazing!

 

[Arpolis]

With that yeast don't let the name fool you. It has a ABV limit of up to 15% if treated well. It seems like your plan will give it the best conditions to meet that for a traditional mead. When that yeast leaves a mead sweet is usually when the yeast stalls out way before it reaches the potential ABV limit. Honey's sugar content is 100% fermentable so there shouldn't be any residual sugar in your recipe. I would personally suggest another yeast like Lalvin 71b-1122, lalvin k1v-1116 and I have heard great things about wyeast 1388.

Most likely to get a sweet mead you need to stabilize and back sweeten. When you have yeast in a mead that could potentially start fermentation back up due to additional sugars then yes it is recommended to use 1 Camden tablet per gallon and usually 1/2tsp sorbate per gallon. Sorbate works better in the presence of sulfites. Just wait 12 hours after adding that then add honey to your desired gravity. A good semi sweet to sweet mead has a gravity of 1.010 - 1.016. But that is always a matter of opinion.

 

[Halbrust]

I'm a huge fan of ale yeast for a sweet mead!

I also don't trust stabalizing and back sweetening.

 

[rjbergen]

With that yeast don't let the name fool you. It has a ABV limit of up to 15% if treated well. It seems like your plan will give it the best conditions to meet that for a traditional mead. When that yeast leaves a mead sweet is usually when the yeast stalls out way before it reaches the potential ABV limit. Honey's sugar content is 100% fermentable so there shouldn't be any residual sugar in your recipe. I would personally suggest another yeast like Lalvin 71b-1122, lalvin k1v-1116 and I have heard great things about wyeast 1388.

Most likely to get a sweet mead you need to stabilize and back sweeten. When you have yeast in a mead that could potentially start fermentation back up due to additional sugars then yes it is recommended to use 1 Camden tablet per gallon and usually 1/2tsp sorbate per gallon. Sorbate works better in the presence of sulfites. Just wait 12 hours after adding that then add honey to your desired gravity. A good semi sweet to sweet mead has a gravity of 1.010 - 1.016. But that is always a matter of opinion.

I figured I may have to stabilize and backsweeten. Thanks for confirming that.

Another question:
Is there any simple method for determing how much honey to use for backsweetening other than adding in increments and checking gravity? I've seen people state that honey can vary widely in ppg depending on variety and quality.

 

[loveofrose]

I like simple. My simple way is to add a bit of honey, allow it to dissolve over a week, then taste again. Repeat if necessary. This only works if you have stabilized or if your yeast are already at the max ABV tolerated.

I like Wyeast 1388 because it's max ABV is 12%.
As a result, I don't have to stabilize!

 

[Arpolis]

Adding to taste is the next easiest way to do it. But the hard bit about that is that traditional meads start to taste "sweeter" after about 4-6 months of aging. So you usually get a mead just under where you like it and after aging it will be perfect.