First Mead....

[wolfstar]

Started a 2.5 gallon batch of local honey mead yesterday. 7 lbs of local (within 3 miles), Unpasturised/unfiltered mesquite/orange blossom honey. My next door neighbor's father has a farm and sells the honey unadulterated, 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient, and a "starter" I made 3 days prior with 16oz (weight) honey and 32 oz water, 1/4 teaspoon yeast nutrient and 2 packs of Montrachet. I had extra montrachet laying around as the local home brew supply threw us a bone for repeat visits for cider fixins. I did not boil the honey, only got the water hot enough to disolve the honey, about 90*. Cooled and pitched at 76* and am fermenting at about 72*.

So...
7lbs local honey
1tsp yeast nutrient
montrachet yeast

Simple, I did not add acid or anything else. The honey is inexpensive and readily available so if this fails, it could be worse. As of now it is going pretty good with lots of bubble and a decent foam cap.

 

[travestyofnature]

Congrats on the first batch of mead!

 

[wayneb]

Let me add my congrats and best wishes for your success! Sounds like you've done everything "right" so far. But one word of caution - Montrachet is one of those yeasts that can be problematic in meads. First of all, it isn't really an isolated single strain, like the more modern commercial strains that are sold today. Rather it is a couple of different yeast strains that generally play well together, since none of them has evolved the "killer factor" that inhibits the activity of others. So, in a way, you're working with "old school" yeast.

But it does tend to like more than the average amount of available nitrogen in the must, or it can get really stinky really fast. And once it starts throwing off noticeable amounts of hydrogen sulfide there's not much that you can do except to try to get it outgassed as quickly as possible. Adding nutrients at that time (it usually doesn't start to smell bad until after the 1/2 sugar break point) usually won't fix the issue. Once you get the H2S production, that yeast will also start producing lots of phenolic components, some of which taste peppery or harsh, some of which smell like medicine (or worse, like the plastic used in Band Aids), and those phenolics take a long time to age out. The phenolics are also more likely to be produced the higher the temp of fermentation. If you can get yours below 70F, that would be better than the 72F it currently is at.

So, if you keep your yeast well nourished with available nitrogen early in the fermentation and keep them relatively cool, they will be happy. Under those conditions Montrachet has produced some of the finest meads that I've ever tasted.

 

[ScottM]

x2 on the well nurished yeast. My first batch was with Montrachet (3 lbs of orange blossom and water to 1 gal), and I followed the nutrient additions as per Hightest's posts in the FAQ. Fermentation was very steady and smooth, without a noticable odor. It's been racked twice, and is crystal clear right now. The samples I've drawn have been chrisp, and quiet floral on account of the orange blossom honey. I'm just waiting to bottle it because I've got to borrow my uncle's corker and I want to wait until I can cork this batch and my next batch at the same time.

Good luck with this batch!!

 

[wolfstar]

Thanks for the info! Using the "swamp cooler method" I got it down to 66*. I have a cider going right now as well using this method and it stays consistantly at 66*-68* in our house. I am seeing a lot of bubbls being formed in the fermenting must itself, more than i have seen in my ciders or brews...

 

[wayneb]

You will likely get lots of bubbling, but less total krausen, than you would in a beer wort. There is much more sugar being consumed early in fermentation of a mead must (at least those that start out at higher gravities than beer wort), so you get more net CO2 production early on in the fermentation.

 

[wolfstar]

Bottled this one tonight...let me say that I am hooked. The honey character really came through, +1 to local unpasturized honey...This one has a pronounced alchohol burn, so we are going to let it relax till late next year before we really dig in.

We are starting 5 more gallons of mead on wednsday, along with another beer. We are experiencing some great brew weather here in southwestern Arizona:rockin: