New to meadmaking and have tried a few melomels -- need help

[Badird]

Thanks to everyone here I have been able to acquire a cursory knowledge of what to do for my first two batches. And I have learned a lot from my mistakes already , but had a few more questions to iron out. Sorry in advance for the length.

My first batch, a strawberry melomel (2.2lbs honey, 2lbs strawberry, tap water, D-47, finished primary fermentation after about 2.5 weeks. OG was around 12.5% (I dont remember the reading but its written down at home) and I was using a 14% yeast. The truth is, because I am fermenting in 1gal glass carboys (my first mistake) I ran out of room to get all of my desired honey (my second mistake), so I added more 0.8 lbs honey, water, and 1lb strawberries to the secondary and filled to the neck of the carboy. As predicted, fermentation started up again and has progressed for about a week. I plan to try to cold crash when fermentation stops to help clarify and rack into a 3rd container where it will age.

Question 1: Is the third rack necessary? There will be some lees at the bottom of the secondary, however.

Question 2: Id like it to have a strong and sweet strawberry flavor. Do I need another 1lb of strawberries for the 3rd rack/age? I dont know of a way to get the newer strawberries out of the secondary and into the 3rd, though I could siphon off the lees and dump the strawberries?

Question 3: any prediction for how long Ill have to wait for it to age? I tasted during first rerack and it was very boozy. The nose on the secondary smells MUCH better and Im already excited to taste it!

Question 4: Am I at risk for contamination by racking 3 times, even though everything should be sanitary/sterile?




My second batch, a peanut butter raspberry mead was a bit trickier (3lbs honey, 3 lbs raspberry, tap water from 2 lbs of boiled peanuts, D-47). I realize I should have waited to try more advanced recipes (my third mistake), but I listened to a mead podcast where the Garagiste meadmaker says he boils peanuts for 3-4 hours and uses the remaining water as his must. And his results are among my favorite! Didnt sound difficult, but I never got the oil/water to separate properly. My final product, even after skimming the top layer off, looked like Miso soup! But I carried on anyway.

The must tasted amazing, had an OG around 20%. It finished fermenting after about 2 weeks and I reracked at 3 weeks due to a busy schedule. It clarified pretty nicely, but I had a tremendous amount of lees (partly due to the peanut water, Im certain) and a bit of peanut scum on top. I have reracked, added another 1lb of whole raspberries, and found that I only have about 2/3 of a gallon. Final gravity was 1.006. This also tasted and smelled very boozy and dry like wine.

Question 5: Its bad to keep 1/3 gal of air in the secondary fermenter, right, because of oxixation? But if I add more water, it will dilute the mead and could result in fermentation again due to the sugars in the raspberries. And while I prefer to avoid sulfites, are they necessary to stop fermentation if I add fruit to the secondary?

Question 6: How should I progress with batch 2?

Question 7: When should I degas my meads?

Question 8: Id prefer to stay away from sulfides, clarifiers, etc. Are they necessary to make mead taste the best, or is it more aesthetic?



Lessons learned-- Please feel free to add/recommend beyond this:
1) Use filtered water. My tap water is excellent, but it has some Chlorine.
2) Use Go-Ferm for rehydration of my yeast
3) Add yeast nutrient at different times of the initial fermentation
4) Brew in a bucket that holds more than 1 gallon
5) Aerate the mead on a schedule, not randomly

 

[Badird]

All suggestions are welcome, please!

 

[Badird]

I think I can start answering my own questions after a few days of research. While bordering on the absurd, I am responding for future beginner mead-makers who may have similar questions. Feel free to correct me as virtually all users are more advanced than myself.

Q1: Yes, rerack after clarifying and off the lees. Aging on lees provides off flavors from autolysis. As for how to recoup the lost strawberries, I can dump them out through a strainer and pop them into the 3rd container for aging. They may have a trace amount of lees on them, which could be rinsed or negated.

Q2: No, see 1. I may benefit from the addition of strawberry juice, but anticipate that to be negligible based on the amount of strawberries used in the primary.

Q3: Because I used tap water and zero yeast nutrient, it could take quite a while for this mead to become 'good' if ever. I plan to let it rest on strawberries for many months while thieving some at a time to taste/enjoy. The short answer is, it may take a year or longer

Q4: Not any more likely using good, sterile technique and the carboy is filled.

Q5: Yes, oxidation will provide off-flavors (which is the enemy of mead). Any risk of a second fermentation is worth preventing oxidation.

Q6: Fill with water, honey, and potentially more fruit?

Q7: Since I have not used Calcium Carbonate to buffer, there isnt a tremendous need to degas the Carbonic acid. Still, there is nothing wrong with messing with your mead; its not beer. Aeration, on the other hand, is more important during pitch and feed steps during fermentation.

Q8:

a) Its my limited understanding that clarity affects perception, which affects taste. And while there may be SOME difference there, it may not be worth worrying about. At least not for me. I am too green to say definitively, but clarity amongst IPAs was very important until the massive East Coast IPAs came out cloudy and smooth. So it will come down to preference, I think.

b) Additives that stop fermentation may still be required to stop fermentation, especially if you prefer a sweet, lower ABV mead. I cant reconcile the idea of backsweetening a low ABV mead without killing the yeast altogether, because cold-crashing is not completely reliable. But I may be wrong.

c) The yeast nutrient benefits vastly outweigh the costs. They will aid MOSTLY in time as your mead will ferment faster with fewer off-flavors and will age faster because you dont have to mask the off-flavors.

 

[Blacksmith1]

1. Maybe. If you have 1/4 or more lees, rack. If any after 3-4 months rack so they aren't there when you bottle. Sulfite every other racking.

2. Yes but I'd rinse them with distilled water.

3. The answer you don't want to hear is, if there is Chloramine in your water you will most likely have a "bandaid" like flavor.

4. The chances of an infection from racking are pretty low unless you don't clean you equipment.

5.adding any sugars to the vessel can restart fementation. This is not a bad thing. Just means a higher ABV. secondary fermentation usually has some activity going on. Just less active than primary (unless you add a good amount of sugar)

6. O2 turns wine into sherry under controlled conditions. Too much O2 is not a good thing. I'd try to hit the same honey eater balance as the original must if it was me. More fruit will take up the space honey and water will.make more to drink. Either way works.

7. I may be wrong but calcium carbonate is to buffer the acid, so degas.

8. I hate three part questions
A) Clarity is great but not needed. Yes some people will go "ewww". Their loss.

B) Stabilizing your mead, cider, wine, etc. Will protect it from O2 and refermentation causing bottle bombs.

C) It's the difference between living on a balanced diet, or living on ramen noodles.

 

[Badird]

Thank you!

As far as the bandaid flavor, that sucks, but I expected for my first batches to be a learning experience. Experience in a particular field is directly correlated with the amount of mistakes made, after all!

 

[Blacksmith1]

Again, that's IF it contains that stuff. Hopefully it only has chlorine which will dissipate in about a day from it's first exposure to air. Since it fermented, I figure the chlorine was gone.

Bottled or filtered water is better.

 

[AkTom]

You can use a bucket for the initial fermentation. Cover with a towel. Don’t seal it up. One of the advantages of the bucket is when you rack off fruit, it’s going to fit I a 1 gallon jug. Another reason, easy to stir and degas.
Don’t be in a hurry.
After you bottle, wait a while. If it’s not good, cap it again and try in another month.
Take notes.
Send some samples to me.
Cheers