My First Mead

[JayPiddleytoe]

Hello everyone,

First time brewer, here. I have begun my first mead. The must seems well, and it's within the first hour. I have applied Yeast Nutrient K1-V1116 for the ability to possibly chew through around 18%. I have done an initial gravity reading, and it is reading at around 1.190. This according to a calculator will reach around 26% possibility, even though mine will stop at 18% around. I am now scared that I have messed up. That's a lot of sweet left over isn't it?

I bloomed it around 78 degrees for a total of 20 minutes before pitching. I have not pitched in any of my Fermaid-O yet. The temp of the jug is sitting at an even 76 degrees right now. My question is this... did I mess up? The honey I used was a wildflower honey from a local farm here in town, though from what another person told me his wildflower honey probably comes from the cotton fields that are close to his house, so it is probably going to be "airy and lighter". I am afraid it is going to be way way way too sweet. What say the experts here on this great forum?

 

[JayPiddleytoe]

And now I think I messed up. i just added the Fermaid-O and forgot to slurry it first and just added it to the mixture. When I realized what I did, I immediately stirred the top, and now I am scared. Did I mess up my first batch now? *sighs* First time brewing worries are here, ya'll.

 

[Rish]

Welcome to HBT!
It definitely could turn out very sweet. You could split this into 2 fermenters and adjust water and honey to get a lower og. You're okay with the Fermaid. The yeast will find it but if you're doing additional additions you definitely need to do the slurry to avoid the dreaded mead volcano!

You may have better responses over in the mead forum. This one is primarily beer since mead making is technically not brewing. Good luck!

 

[JayPiddleytoe]

Okay, thank you.