First Mead - Staggered Nutrient Addition Timing

[shawnbou]

Hi All - I've been homebrewing beer for over a year but I just pitched my first mead yesterday.

The recipe was medium traditional, a hybrid of Ken Schramm's medium show mead recipe and the "basic mead" recipe in hightest's FAQ, which I downloaded here. (They're pretty similar recipes anyway). I used:

13.25lbs local wildflower honey
~4gal water
10g Lalvin ICV/D-47 - rehydrated per instructions w/12.5g Go-Ferm
Fermaid-K & DAP (staggered)

My OG was 1.097 and target FG looks to be around 1.010.

Following hightest's SNA schedule, I added 4.5g each of Fermaid-K & DAP before pitching. This morning I added the stage 2 nutrients (2.8g each), 18 hours in and airlock was bubbling away beautifully.

My question is this: I know I'm supposed to add stage 3 nutrients (1.8g each) at the fermentation midpoint, which I calculate to be around 1.053. I know every fermentation is different, but based on the above recipe, can anyone give me an educated estimate on how long I can expect that to take?

I just don't want to go taking samples every day - risking contamination and throwing all that must/mead away - just to find out I should have waited until day 8 (or whatever) to start watching for the midpoint.

Thanks, I really appreciate anyone's wisdom they can share with me on this. And hightest - if you're out there somewhere - thank you, your FAQ's were indispensable.

 

[smstromb]

I know every fermentation is different, but based on the above recipe, can anyone give me an educated estimate on how long I can expect that to take?

You hit the nail on the head with the first part of that sentence. There are WAY to many variables to take into account to estimate the time. Things that effect the fermentation time are temperature, PH, yeast strain, any wild yeasts that may come from fruit, the amount you aerate, amount of yeast nutrient/energizer added and when.

Really the only thing you can do is to take hydrometer readings often and see if you can get a feel for how fast your mead is fermenting (Which still is just a rough estimate as a lot of variables can change over time). If you sanitize all of your tools correctly then you shouldn't have any problems taking readings. Remember that mead is unlike beer in the fact that it needs aeration during the primary fermentation so opening up your carboy/fermentation bucket shouldn't be a real issue since you should be doing it to aerate anyway. I've seen people ruin their mead by fermenting it as fast as possible and I've tasted excellent mead from people who are patient enough to ferment it nice and slowly. Keep in mind that the faster you ferment your mead the longer you have to let it age (sometimes 1-2 years if you have a high fusel alcohol content). Slowly ferment it and you can be enjoying it within a couple months of aging.

I've used Lalvin D47 in the past and from experience I've found it to be a faster fermenting yeast especially when introduced to higher temperatures. With Lalvin D47 you REALLY need to keep an eye on your temperature. The best temperature for your strain of yeast is between 58-69 degrees F. Anything below 58 and you'll ferment too slow and anything about 70 degrees and you may find an out of control fermentation (Strong nail polish remover smell and HEAVY alcohol taste). If you find yourself dealing with a hot summer then you really need to figure out a solution to keep it cool. If you're lucky enough to have a fridge big enough then that might work. Also, I've found putting a wet towel around your fermenter and blowing a fan on it will help cool it significantly.

 

[shawnbou]

smstromb, thanks for your feedback on this. I think making the jump to mead making reawakened all those newbie doubts and fears that I had finally overcome as a home (beer) brewer. I got so dialed into my process with making beer that I had it down to a science of knowing when was a good time to take readings, so I had minimal waste ... and by waste I mean "drinking my samples".

For this mead, I'll just take my readings every day like a good boy. At least until I get to the midpoint and add my last nutrients. Then I'll wait a few days between each sample and rack to secondary when it's close to done.

Also, thanks for the advice on this yeast strain. My temps are under control so I think I should be in good shape. It's gonna be a long bunch of months waiting to drink this thing!

 

[remilard]

You are stirring the must periodically, right? It is minimal additional effort to take a sample at that point. If you are worried about the volume of the samples, if you have an accurate (read produced for a lab not a kitchen) graduated container you can always blend the sample with a liquid of known gravity (water) measure the gravity of that and then back out the gravity of the mead.

 

[shawnbou]

remilard - Yep, I'm stirring the must twice a day at least.

The effort is not so much in taking the sample, as it is in throwing away a few ounces of my precious mead LOL ... or even drinking the sample. I've never been a fan of returning samples to the fermenter.

But I'll just deal with it. A few ounces a day during primary is a small price to pay for a great mead later on. And it will be educational tasting each one.

 

[bob1852]

would brew balls work?

 

[shawnbou]

would brew balls work?

LOL! Never heard of these until now. Sounds interesting.

http://www.brewballstore.com/