MikeInStillwater
Well-Known Member
I recently joined the St. Paul (MN) Homebrewers and learned that Steve Piatz is a member. The club has done very well, putting it mildly, in mead competitions. I have long been toying with the idea of making mead, so I bought a copy of his book and dove in. I've been brewing ale for some time now and have accumulated a fair amount of equipment. I recently added a small scale, a wine thief, and an aeration wand.
I decided to start with the second recipe in Mr. Piatz' book, The Complete Guide To Making Mead, which is Orange Blossom. One of the club members told me he got his honey at Costco and it works fine for him. Costco only had Wildflower Honey, so I decided to go with that. The recipe calls for 14 pounds. I bought 16 (seven 2-gal. jugs) because ... I like honey for eating, too.
Here's where my story gets, shall we say, interesting. I have brewed many five-gallon batches of ale and the largest container I have is a 6-gallon plastic pail! It has always been more than enough. When I saw how far the 14 pounds of honey came up in the container I began to get concerned, but I forged on. My son, who I got started in home brewing this year, just happened by and was all too glad to help out. We pulled the hydrometer and tube out of the sanitizer solution and started getting the yeast starter ready (71B-1122). I added a gallon of water to the must, stirred like crazy, and then started taking readings with small additions of water, looking for an SG of 1.115. The hydrometer bobbed but didn't even drop enough to find the scale! We wound up adding 5 gallons of bottled water (all I had on hand) and still didn't reach the hydrometer scale! We gradually got the yeast starter to match that of the must and pitched. We ended up with the must in two containers and divided up the yeast solution proportionately!
On Day 1, after aeration, I got a reading of 1.052. Day 2 I added 2 oz. of Fermaid K and hit 1.042. It's bubbling away now.
Other than my obvious error of not having a large enough fermenter, did I make any noticeable errors? Any advice for moving forward?
I decided to start with the second recipe in Mr. Piatz' book, The Complete Guide To Making Mead, which is Orange Blossom. One of the club members told me he got his honey at Costco and it works fine for him. Costco only had Wildflower Honey, so I decided to go with that. The recipe calls for 14 pounds. I bought 16 (seven 2-gal. jugs) because ... I like honey for eating, too.
Here's where my story gets, shall we say, interesting. I have brewed many five-gallon batches of ale and the largest container I have is a 6-gallon plastic pail! It has always been more than enough. When I saw how far the 14 pounds of honey came up in the container I began to get concerned, but I forged on. My son, who I got started in home brewing this year, just happened by and was all too glad to help out. We pulled the hydrometer and tube out of the sanitizer solution and started getting the yeast starter ready (71B-1122). I added a gallon of water to the must, stirred like crazy, and then started taking readings with small additions of water, looking for an SG of 1.115. The hydrometer bobbed but didn't even drop enough to find the scale! We wound up adding 5 gallons of bottled water (all I had on hand) and still didn't reach the hydrometer scale! We gradually got the yeast starter to match that of the must and pitched. We ended up with the must in two containers and divided up the yeast solution proportionately!
On Day 1, after aeration, I got a reading of 1.052. Day 2 I added 2 oz. of Fermaid K and hit 1.042. It's bubbling away now.
Other than my obvious error of not having a large enough fermenter, did I make any noticeable errors? Any advice for moving forward?