My first mead

[BrewBrain]

Long time beer brewer, first time mead uh....maker? brewer? meader?

Anyway, I sort of just winged it, figuring this is probably like beer making, and it will be mead in the end as long as I don't get an infection. True? Or are there any real gotchas that are not just tales and preferences? It seemed like every "never do this" was a "don't worry about" in the next article I read.

Here's what I've done:

12 lbs of orange blossom honey
4 gallons distilled water
1 packed of Red Star Cote des Blancs dry wine yeast
LD Carlson Yeast Nutrient

I bought the honey at a farmers market back in October and it had gone to sugar, so I heated up the jars in a pot of hot water until it cleared up. I then dumped it into my sanitized bucket. I added half a gallon of boiled distilled water and mixed thoroughly. Next, I added the rest of the 4 gallons of distilled water, stirred vigorously to oxygenate, then added the yeast, which I had re-hydrated.

That's where I'm at now. I have it in my fermentation chamber set for about 70 - 74 degrees, and will add 5 tsp of the yeast nutrient during active fermentation. I don't have any yeast energizer.

I plan to stir it up during active fermentation ever day or two to degas, which is certainly different than beer. I'll let rack to a glass carboy after fermentation has stopped, then rack every so often to clear it up over the next however many months it takes to clear.

Sound good? Have I goofed it up yet?

 

[On-target]

I am not sure of the temp range for that yeast but that may be a bit warm. I have a batch with the same ingredients in secondary about six months in. Make sure you add enough nutrients. Good luck!

 

[BrewBrain]

that temp is towards the middle of the range for that yeast if I remember. I think it was a wide range - 68 - 84 or something close.

I am not sure of the temp range for that yeast but that may be a bit warm. I have a batch with the same ingredients in secondary about six months in. Make sure you add enough nutrients. Good luck!

 

[BrewBrain]

This is probably yeast specific, but I'm wondering if there is a general rule for how long it takes to get to FG. I pitched Sunday late afternoon, and as of yesterday, gravity had dropped from about 1.090 to about 1.082 or so. I am getting no airlock activity, but I suspected the fit may not be 100% air tight from the start. I only pitched one re-hydrated packet of this dry yeast, have added nutrients twice (breaking up nutrient additions - 2 tsp after 24 hours, another 2tsp after 48 hours, and one more tsp to add tonight after 72 hours).

Anything seem fishy, or just keep waiting?

 

[wayneb]

In my experience, with traditional meads (ie nothing but the honey and yeast nutrients for the yeasties to chew on), although they may be slow to leave the initial lag phase, once they get going you can see a drop of 10 to 15 gravity points per day, at least through the first 1/2 of primary fermentation.

From your description of your process you are doing pretty much everything right. The slight slowness in your observed gravity drop might just be that you're using the old Epernay II yeast (now Cote des Blancs) from Red Star. That one crawls along, relative to other yeast strains, but eventually it will finish the job. If it seems to get markedly slower as time goes on, I'd suggest checking the pH of your must. If it is below about 3.4, then the must may be too acidic to allow the yeast to reach its full fermenting potential. If this is the case, then you can add some potassium carbonate or potassium bicarb in order to raise the pH a bit.

 

[BrewBrain]

Great - thanks! I added the last of the yeast nutrient last night and stirred it up to degas, and there was a lot of CO2 being released. The gravity also moved about 8 - 10 points from the day before, so it is definitely working now.

I think I may split the batch into five one-gallon batches and rack over different fruits and spices in secondary once primary fermentation completes.

In my experience, with traditional meads (ie nothing but the honey and yeast nutrients for the yeasties to chew on), although they may be slow to leave the initial lag phase, once they get going you can see a drop of 10 to 15 gravity points per day, at least through the first 1/2 of primary fermentation.

From your description of your process you are doing pretty much everything right. The slight slowness in your observed gravity drop might just be that you're using the old Epernay II yeast (now Cote des Blancs) from Red Star. That one crawls along, relative to other yeast strains, but eventually it will finish the job. If it seems to get markedly slower as time goes on, I'd suggest checking the pH of your must. If it is below about 3.4, then the must may be too acidic to allow the yeast to reach its full fermenting potential. If this is the case, then you can add some potassium carbonate or potassium bicarb in order to raise the pH a bit.

 

[BrewBrain]

Alrighty then. First post in it looks like almost two years. I got pretty busy with other things, and well, this mead is still in secondary in my fermenter. I just gave it a taste, and I don't know what to think since so much time has passed and this is my first shot at making a mead.

The flavor was pretty hot. Is that pretty normal for a straight dry mead with nothing added? Since all sugars are pretty much consumed by the yeast, it seams reasonable to me, but just wanted to ask. It looks great otherwise - very clear and looks like mead.

My plan is to mix this with either some honey to sweeten it up, or maybe split it and add some raspberries to half. Don't know for sure, but I can't drink it the way it is. I'm not a big hard alcohol fan, and this reminds me of hard alcohol at the moment.

Thanks,