Trying a one gallon Pyment

[Flexmedia]

Hello all,
I found a 1 gallon Pyment recipe that uses Juicy Juice. I was wondering if anyone has tried this and added things to it to improve it...
64 oz White grape Juicy Juice no preservatives
2 pounds honey and 1 pound for back sweetening
Red Star Premier Blanc EC 118

pretty simple, warm the juice and honey with warm water in a bowl. Pour the honey directly into the charboy then add all the juice and shake. Add water, bloom the yeast, then add to the jug and shake again. I’m hoping this will be a sweet, clear mead.

I have acid blend, nutrient, raisins and zest from lemons or oranges. Has anyone tried a recipe similar to this and added anything to improve it? It might be just fine the way it is for what I want. Just checking! Never done a Pyment but I have a lot of honey to experiment.

Thanks!
Art

 

[pdhirsch]

Hello all,
I found a 1 gallon Pyment recipe that uses Juicy Juice. I was wondering if anyone has tried this and added things to it to improve it...
64 oz White grape Juicy Juice no preservatives
2 pounds honey and 1 pound for back sweetening
Red Star Premier Blanc EC 118

pretty simple, warm the juice and honey with warm water in a bowl. Pour the honey directly into the charboy then add all the juice and shake. Add water, bloom the yeast, then add to the jug and shake again. I’m hoping this will be a sweet, clear mead.

I have acid blend, nutrient, raisins and zest from lemons or oranges. Has anyone tried a recipe similar to this and added anything to improve it? It might be just fine the way it is for what I want. Just checking! Never done a Pyment but I have a lot of honey to experiment.

Thanks!
Art

I made pyment a few years ago, using 1 gallon of grocery-store grape juice and 1 pound of honey. You're using 4 times as much honey as I did -- 2 pounds honey for a half gallon, not including the extra pound for backsweetening. Have you measured the OG? It's gotta be really high; you may not need to backsweeten because I don't think the yeast will be able to eat nearly all that sugar. (My pyment came in at about 12% ABV; I used 71B yeast.)

My notes say that I should have added tannin. You don't list tannin as an ingredient -- maybe consider adding some. I'm not sure how much would be right for pyment -- I'd start low, maybe 1/8 tsp.

 

[Flexmedia]

I made pyment a few years ago, using 1 gallon of grocery-store grape juice and 1 pound of honey. You're using 4 times as much honey as I did -- 2 pounds honey for a half gallon, not including the extra pound for backsweetening. Have you measured the OG? It's gotta be really high; you may not need to backsweeten because I don't think the yeast will be able to eat nearly all that sugar. (My pyment came in at about 12% ABV; I used 71B yeast.)

My notes say that I should have added tannin. You don't list tannin as an ingredient -- maybe consider adding some. I'm not sure how much would be right for pyment -- I'd start low, maybe 1/8 tsp.

I haven’t started yet so no reading. Just trying to get some hints before I start. Ive never used tannin. I’ll have to research that. I always thought it was something leftover after fermentation that made it bitter? What yeast did you use?
Thanks
Art

 

[Dan O]

I haven’t started yet so no reading. Just trying to get some hints before I start. Ive never used tannin. I’ll have to research that. I always thought it was something leftover after fermentation that made it bitter? What yeast did you use?
Thanks
Art

He used 71B

 

[KING OF SCORPIONS]

go get some grapes dude it's always more fun to use fresh fruit and imo typically produces a superior product

 

[Flexmedia]

go get some grapes dude it's always more fun to use fresh fruit and imo typically produces a superior product

Ya! I agree but never used juice before

 

[pdhirsch]

go get some grapes dude it's always more fun to use fresh fruit and imo typically produces a superior product

It's also a lot more work to start with fruit, but some of us find it interesting to see what you can do with simpler processes. I'm sure that my pyment couldn't compare to a $100 bottle of fine wine, but it was amazingly good considering that it was just a gallon of store-brand grape juice, a pound of cheap honey, a packet of 71B yeast, and a pretty minimal time investment.

I like experiments like this, if only to set a baseline when I use higher-quality ingredients and more sophisticated processes. As in, just how much better does the more complex batch taste as compared to the minimal baseline batch? If I find that I'm spending three times as much money and time to produce something that's only slightly better than the baseline, then... hmmm... have to think about why I'm really doing this. And conversely, sometimes you find that by spending twice the money and time, the end result is very dramatically better than the baseline.

So IMO it's worth doing things like this just for educational purposes. And the fact that I also ended up with a gallon of fairly decent hooch is a nice little bonus

 

[pdhirsch]

I haven’t started yet so no reading. Just trying to get some hints before I start. Ive never used tannin. I’ll have to research that. I always thought it was something leftover after fermentation that made it bitter? What yeast did you use?
Thanks
Art

71B yeast, as @Dan said. And about the tannin -- I wouldn't say that it's bitter, but it does give the pyment an edge -- it adds a certain sharpness that wine has but grape juice does not, if that makes any sense.

When I've used tannin, I've added it at the end. Depending on your bottling process, perhaps you could fill a few bottles without tannin, then add a bit of tannin to the remaining pyment and fill the rest of the bottles with that. Then you could compare the taste with and without tannin and see which you prefer. My money says you'll like the pyment with tannin in it, as long as you don't overdo it.

 

[Dan O]

go get some grapes dude it's always more fun to use fresh fruit and imo typically produces a superior product

While, I agree with this, it's also easier for people who have little experience to start with something more on the simple side, to get an idea on their own. I still make meads with juices that I've had great success with. Sometimes, having all the fruit in there is fun, but, on the flip side of that coin, getting the process down first is a better plan.
I know I made @ least 15 gallons of just juice meads (1 gallon carboys) before I made the jump @ adding big fruit additions. Yes, the quality of my meads improved dramatically, but, I wouldn't trade that for the experience & knowledge I gained from doing the ones with just juice first. For me, it was a valuable teaching instrument, fun to do, & a confidence builder as well. Now I make my own recipes with a lot more confidence & less worry of the "what if" factor.

 

[bushpilot]

I think this (12% Concord grape pyment) is a good starter recipe (note that it is a 1.5 gallon recipe, you can adjust).

IF you want more of a "wine" profile rather than a "mead" profile, you can eliminate the "extra" water I added. And a bit more tannin would be better, I think.

Almost anything in my ingredient list that you are lacking can be eliminated, and it will likely work fine, though it might take more time to be drinkable. Make sure you use some form of real nutrients (not raisins), and stabilize if you backsweeten with honey.

Mine was very drinkable in a very short time from pitch (about 3 months). My wife on first sip said that it was lower alcohol than my usual brews, which was her way of saying it had no burn, as it was actually a bit higher than I usually brew (I usually go for 9-11%).

 

[Phoenix7801]

You can make Pyments with store bought juice. Hell I did one last year though it also had Black Cherry juice and I used dried tart cherries in primary. Also fermented it with Fleishmanns Active Dry bread yeast. The idea that bread yeast gives a cloudy brew is incorrect. It came out clear. It came out tasty and it got drank.