my first mead batch

[jdektattoo13]

six gallons
20 lb. Kirkland clover honey
1-clove
1/2 cinnamon stick
tsp. lemon peel
tsp. ginger
tsp. coriander
tsp. cardamom
four tea bags- white tea
1/2 bag brown sugar
1 cup fermex ( read package wrong, it called for teaspoon per gal. being it was such high gravity (1.170) i doubled recommended amount, but thought it said tablespoon, so it got 12 tablespoons, roughly a cup)
2-vials of white lab wlp099, pitched one as soon as must reached 72 degrees, the second forty hours into ferment.
aerated twice a day for first four days with air stone five min each time.
48 hour reading 1.130
72 hour reading 1.070
96 hour reading 1.026
racked to secondary day 8
168 hour reading 1.020
216 hour reading 1.010
264 hour reading 1.006
now still 1 bubble every minute or so.
thinking of putting 1/2 oz. of hallertau hop pellets in for a week dry hop, and some medium toasted oak chips to with it..then plan to back sweeten right before bottling, which i plan to do around June, also is there a possibility of making some of this batch sparkling? Any and all feed back is greatly appreciated. BTW; this stuff is strong, just want to make a great product!!!!

 

[GratefulDabHead]

I'd recommend throwing in 5-10oz of honey into your bottles/keg in place of priming sugar and they carbonate and come out kinda like champagne


The Dab Head

 

[aiptasia]

You've got so much going on in that recipe that you should probably hold off on the hops addition. Whatever happened to mastering a nice simple sweet mead before going all complex flavors in the must?

That's an enormously high gravity mead to go from 1.130 to 1.006 is tremendous and being that you used such a highly alcohol tolerant yeast, it could fall even lower. It's likely to be very hot and will probably require a nice long conditioning period to mellow out. You might be looking at a year or more in the bottle before it becomes drinkable. Hops aroma and flavor will have long since died out by then.

 

[jdektattoo13]

Mead is at 1.000, air lock has stopped pretty much. Still co2 bubbles at top of carboy though, and is not clear at all yet. Should I leave it alone? Been thinking about racking to a third and finning it, to soon ? Any feed back is appreciated.

 

[Complete_Amateur]

Mead is at 1.000, air lock has stopped pretty much. Still co2 bubbles at top of carboy though, and is not clear at all yet. Should I leave it alone? Been thinking about racking to a third and finning it, to soon ? Any feed back is appreciated.

You could try cold crashing before racking and fining. That might help clear it significantly. However, I might just let it sit for a while to settle, cool off, and age a little before racking again. Have you tasted it yet?

 

[jdektattoo13]

I is strong bit taisty 23% by volume



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[MarshmallowBlue]

Nice range of ingredients that don't look over-done. And look at that fermentation, you're almost done!

 

[jdektattoo13]

I super-kleared it. It's a light amber color and sooo clear.


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