What I did for/with Mead today

[T Murph]

I pureed 3 1/2 lbs of blackberries and put them in a purged torpedo keg. I started the base mead back on 12/16 and expected it to be ready to transfer onto the blackberry puree today but it's still bubbling at one per second. So I'll give until tomorrow and then stabilize it so I can put it on the puree Thursday 1/4.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Day 2 after yeast pitch I developed some H2S odor from yeast stress, added some nutrients and whipped the stuffing out of it to degas and give the must a little oxygen. Giving the gasses some oxygen allows them to bond and exit the must, I believe that's the science behind it, and this has never let me down yet. Early enough in fermentation I'll do this to rid the odor and stress, if it persists past the 2/3 sugar break I won't introduce oxygen.

The following day and thereafter there has been no H2S or odors, happy yeast and sweet berry melody. Consistent fermentation has started slowing today, gravity has gone from 1.082 to 1.006.

Pictures are days 3 and 7.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Looking like 4 gallons to transfer, maybe a bit more when yeast finish dropping. S.G. 0.996 after 9 days, having decided not to add additional must due to the earlier yeast stress, this will sit another week to see if it finishes below 0.996 or stays there. Cold crashing after it holds steady for a week, then planning to transfer and clarify before any back sweetening and aging.

 

[MightyMosin]

Last few days have been feeding nutrients, degassing and punch down of grape skins.

The grape skins (in muslin bag) punching down annoys me. Since I use the Fermoster carboys and they have a flat spot on the lid, I used a kegs stainless dip tube to push the bag under and the Fermoster lid to keep the dip tube in place and the bag submerged.

When I started these batches out, I measured out all the nutrients and placed each in a micro zip lock bag. I've been doing this for a short while and it is certainly, for me, preferable to measuring it out at each feeding. It is much faster as well.

 

[Dan O]

I measured out all the nutrients and placed each in a micro zip lock bag.

I never thought about this. Although, I will start doing this when making future batches to save time. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Rish]

punching down annoys me

Since they are in a bag, I'd suggest put a sanitized glass weight/plate in the bag to keep it submerged.

 

[MightyMosin]

Since they are in a bag, I'd suggest put a sanitized glass weight/plate in the bag to keep it submerged.

I had thought of doing something like that but the muslin bag was fairly small and 2.5 Lb of grape skins has a decent amount of buoyancy.

Since I had the stainless tube, I used that to hold it under and so far it is doing a good job of it

 

[Dan O]

Since they are in a bag, I'd suggest put a sanitized glass weight/plate in the bag to keep it submerged.

I bought some glass weights for that reason & they weren't heavy enough for the large bags of fruit I use for my melomels....the bags still floated, even with 8 glass weights in the bag

 

[Kyzaboy89]

I bought some glass weights for that reason & they weren't heavy enough for the large bags of fruit I use for my melomels....the bags still floated, even with 8 glass weights in the bag

Same issue I've had with glass weights and marbles, the amount you need to counter the fruit, which is continuously inflating with gas, displaces to much must or doesn't maintain control of the nag below the surface. Like Mosin does, I had a similar idea with a stainless thermowell or probe that attached to a fermonster/fermzilla lid if it were long enough, simply push the bag down and thread the lid shut. Haven't tried it yet but it seems possible in theory.

 

[MightyMosin]

Like Mosin does, I had a similar idea with a stainless thermowell or probe that attached to a fermonster/fermzilla lid if it were long enough, simply push the bag down and thread the lid shut. Haven't tried it yet but it seems possible in theory.

In the Fermonster, no need to take the lid off. Remove the #10 bung that has the airlock and shove the fruit bag down and wedge the keg dip tube under the rest of the lid. It is working well so far.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Today I woke up to healthy fermentation in my Bochet, came home to degas and check things out. Looking good, vigorous action rolling around in there but can't use the nose due to a rerun episode of the head cold. Oh well, we'll see how things go tomorrow.

 

[MightyMosin]

My D47 bochet fermentation is going slow. Garage temps are low overnight and keeping it slow

 

[T Murph]

My D47 bochet fermentation is going slow. Garage temps are low overnight and keeping it slow

Wrap it up in a blanket or two. I have one that just went into secondary that I had to keep wrapped to keep it at 68 degrees.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

My D47 bochet fermentation is going slow. Garage temps are low overnight and keeping it slow

Also using D47 here and my brew closet sits at 60 on the floor, 62 on the counter, and am curious if you have a preferred temperature or not. How cold does the garage get where you are at?

 

[MightyMosin]

Also using D47 here and my brew closet sits at 60 on the floor, 62 on the counter, and am curious if you have a preferred temperature or not. How cold does the garage get where you are at?

I prefer the must to be in the low 60's for D47.
Last week was a colder week and the garage got to about 38 a few nights. I find that the must stays pretty much close to concrete slab temperature which certainly isn't dropping to air temperature as they day warms up to 60-ish. For about two nights, my must dropped to about 50 but warmed up during the day and the fermentation activity helps buffer that temperature some.

My must is currently sitting at 63 and tonight's low air temp shouldn't go below 50; I think these will continue nicely and not blow off too many flavors with an overly excited fermentation.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

I've had a 3 gal bochet going for 3 weeks, d47, used nutrients and aerated well. Been fermenting nicely since day one at room temp. Can still hear it bubbling away in the next room.

Question, should I degass it? I could give it a good shake/stir.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

I've had a 3 gal bochet going for 3 weeks, d47, used nutrients and aerated well. Been fermenting nicely since day one at room temp. Can still hear it bubbling away in the next room.

Question, should I degass it? I could give it a good shake/stir.

Probably not, check your gravity but I'm sure it's well past active fermentation so there's really no need for it unless it's stalled. If there's some off gassing naturally I prefer that CO2 blanket when transferring to help avoid oxidation. Unless there is an odor early on I tend to stir things up daily until I'm done adding nutrients. This is what has worked for me and I hope it helps, Cheers

 

[T Murph]

Yes JohnDBrewer you should degass at least weekly. I simply swirl the fermenter a little and it does the trick.

 

[Ren06]

Travel ban and tons of snow again in Buffalo, no big deal, I’ll make a bunch of meads today. Blueberry melomel and also a dragonfruit melomel.

 

[T Murph]

Ren06 We are under the same conditions in North Alabama. So I'm staying in and playing with beer things. Lol drinking a Czech Pilsner testing a Blackberry Melomel and carbonating an APA. All the while working up my recipe for a Marzen to brew Tuesday.

 

[MightyMosin]

Cleaned my 3 gallon Wide mouth Torpedo Keg. Used my new Mark II keg cleaner on it.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/mark-ii-corny-keg-carboy-washer.html
Also used it to PBW clean some brew buckets.
I like that it can handle the buckets as well as the kegs and carboys. I might be a bit leery of a glass carboy on the stand but it seems sturdy enough.

 

[Johnny2]

I bought my first no rinse sanitizer. I've been using bleach this far. For a nice surprise the bottle had leaked to the shipping package.

 

[MightyMosin]

That's always a fun surprise. I had that with a container of PBW.

For the no rinse sanitizer, I periodically alternate between Star-San and Iodophor.

I alternate so Im not promoting a bacteria that starts to become resistant to a specific product.

 

[T Murph]

That's always a fun surprise. I had that with a container of PBW.

For the no rinse sanitizer, I periodically alternate between Star-San and Iodophor.

I alternate so Im not promoting a bacteria that starts to become resistant to a specific product.

That's a good idea. I typically save iodopher for questionable issues. But I think your train of thought is spot on.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Johnny2]

That's always a fun surprise. I had that with a container of PBW.

For the no rinse sanitizer, I periodically alternate between Star-San and Iodophor.

I alternate so Im not promoting a bacteria that starts to become resistant to a specific product.

I did over 20 brews with bleach as my sanitizer. No problems, but bottling is not fun.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Today I racked my fantasy mixed berry to secondary to clear, due to the fruit not being bagged which I can't remember why, of the original 5 gallons only 3.5 was racked. There is a subtle odor remaining from the early yeast stress but nothing that won't age out.

Need to check gravity on the Bochet but it's moving right along, by day 6 we were down to 1.072 from 1.090. low and slow.

 

[Dan O]

I washed about 75 bottles today to prep for bottling a few batches that have been bulk aging....some for almost a year...others for over a year.

 

[Ren06]

Bottled up 3 gallons of bourbon stave aged bochet and 4 gallons of the cherry mead today.

 

[Ren06]

Brewing Raspberry lemonade session for the family

 

[MightyMosin]

Today saw racking of:
5 gallon Blueberry Cyser
5 gallon Blueberry Cyser
1 gallon Mesquite with pineapple
7 gallon Cabernet Sauvignon pyment

I also took care of the cleaning of all those containers that were racked out of... and I messed up my 7 gallon Fermonster with too hot of water. It said look at my impression of a shrinky-dink.

I also have a pound of marshmallow root soaking in 2 gallons of spring water for use tomorrow. The next 10 days should have some lower temperatures that will be perfect for fermentation out in the garage. I'll do a six gallon batch of my Marshmallow Bochet tomorrow with some tweaks.

I think I'll also do @Dan O Pomegranate Cherry mead as a two gallon batch. I'll try and work in a 5 gallon Honey Crisp session tomorrow as well, if I can manage it.

 

[Dan O]

It said look at my impression of a shrinky-dink.

Sad part is the loss of a Fermonster

 

[MightyMosin]

I also popped upon a 750ml bottle of my 1st Marshmallow Bochet.
That stock is very low as it had a lot of tasting before bottling actually happened.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Today saw a one gallon Holiday mead started with my enthusiastic wife wanting to learn to brew. She picked a recipe from online and we threw it together, not a fan of all the sanitizer and note taking but overall excited.

Swirled my Bochet to get some yeast moving around as it's still bubbling along happily, not planning to open and check gravity until it slows down more.

 

[MightyMosin]

O2 and nutrients added to the two meads I have going. The O2 was added twice today; 12 and 24 hour post yeast pitch.

 

[007]

Started 6 gallons.

 

[MightyMosin]

Bottled (22) 750ml bottles of Viognier pyment... another 50+ bottles to do at another time as they are in other kegs.

 

[Rish]

Bottled (22) 750ml bottles of Viognier pyment... another 50+ bottles to do at another time as they are in other kegs.

I see from all your posts than you make a ton of mead. If I may ask, what do you do with it all?

 

[MightyMosin]

Well, I certainly make less than the legal limit... that is a ton to me. I share a decent amount with friends to get feedback on what I have made.

In the case of the wine kits when I make a pyment, I will typically get 2 to 3 times the volume as if it was made as a straight wine. Those typically will go into an oak barrel and site for a year as they need aging just like a typical wine does. Those barrels will lose volume as part of being in a barrel, then I get to minus the tasting that get taken... sometimes that equals a lot over the year.

You ever wish you had mead a year or two or more down the road to see how it ages and matures? That's difficult if you drink and share most of it. In short, you have to make more than you drink and share. My pyments are an example of ones that get set aside with a variety drank short, medium and the rest set to see how they are a few years later.

Some meads like the sessions and some fruits ones are ready for consumption in relatively short time and those get enjoyed close to immediately. My Blueberry Cyser is one that just can't hang around long enough.

I used to mostly make 1 gallon batches and advocate that approach while learning and practicing, as well as recipe development.
The second mead I made (1 gallon) was just too hot and not very tasty. I periodically tasted it and it just sucked. I eventually stuck it to the back and forgot about it. About 16 months later while bottling 1 gallon carboys I found it. I tried it again and it was spectacular and I only had about .6 gallons left. I had waited so long and it became great, but I had so little. After that is when I started to make 5 gallon my standard size. If I'm going to wait them out, I want to make that wait more worthwhile.

I have a variety that are still sitting around in carboys because I really do not enjoy bottling. I guess I'm a bit of a pack rat with the mead making. Those that I really enjoy don't seem to hang around as long as I would like.

A bit long winded answer, but I think that tells you what you asked.

 

[T Murph]

@ MightyMosin I have to agree with your comment on aging meads and making larger batches. I enjoy making 1 gal batches and experimenting with flavors. But I drink them up too quickly. Everytime I make a 5 gal batch I'm able to keep around much longer to appreciate how they mature and mellow. I recently finished consuming 2 3 yr old Sparkling Melomels and still have about half a growler of a third one. On 1/20/21 I made 3 5 gallon batches, all were Sparkling Melomels. I had obtained 5 gal of Gallberry Honey and while it tasted a bit tart I figured I would see if it would get better with age. At first it was undrinkable. After 6 months it had mellowed noticeably so I stored them away again. To my surprise after 2 yrs the became quite good and over the past year they transformed into a very nice semi dry Melomel.

 

[MightyMosin]

I enjoy making 1 gal batches and experimenting with flavors. But I drink them up too quickly.

Exactly!

I did a 1 gallon recipe development batch of an Horchata inspired mead. It had a yeast fault that tasted a bit like corn chip on the after taste. That eventually faded with everything that eventually settled to the bottom... It was a bit of a wait and what was left was really good but it really went fast as it was drank up quickly. That reminds me that I need to revisit that one again on a larger scale.