Search results

Medsen, obviously you have not tried what my suggestion was, or you would actually have the knowledge that tiny amounts of sulfite and sorbate will stop certain yeasts without off flavors. I wouldn't have posted my actual positive yeast stopping experience if the end results were negative...

I would get a new yeast like D47 going in a starter, then pitch that. And when the SG gets to where you want it to be, stop the yeast by racking onto sulfite and sorbate. As long as you don't use a super strong yeast like Lalvin 1118, you can be control the ending sweetness consistently.

I get local wildflower honey for $1.75/lb, and found a somewhat local source of orange blossom honey at $70/30 lbs (about $2.33/lb). There's a place in Milwaukee that has it a little cheaper.

You might want to taste your meads soon. In the past, I put 1 whole split Madagascar vanilla bean in 1 gallon of semi-sweet mead. The next day already, it was way too much vanilla taste. It was a mistake, but I use it for blending now.

Other than #36, I'll bet that you have much better tasting concoctions for all with 11-12% ABV. So far I've had very good results with adding chocolate shavings into the secondary of 12% semi-sweet mead.

I've experimented a lot with different clearing agents with plain meads and melomels. One consistant thing I've found about plain meads (no fruit) is that bentonite works very well to clear, usually within a couple of months tops... and without changing the flavor. As for melomels, bentonite...

You've already removed most of the yeast through time that it has settled out, and your 3 rackings. I'd just add 5/8 teaspoon pot. sulfite and 2.5 teaspoons sorbate to your 5 gallons, then backsweeten. After that I'd let it sit for a couple of months to settle again.

From my experiences adding chocolate in the secondary, when you add chocolate in whatever form (powder, chips, liquid) most of it settles to the bottom and is racked off. Taste and color change, but without haze and it tends to clear pretty much naturally within a few months. Based on taste...

Yes, I like the malic/tartaric better in sweet mead. While some small bit of it might be personal taste, the main reason I tried that malic/tartaric 2/1 ratio is because I saw that used in a dry mead recipe with no citric acid. I have to agree with wayneb, based on my own results also, that...

Just another bit of info that I've learned from experience with acids and mead.... You will get a taste difference from what types of acid you add back in. I had a 3 gallon batch of sweet mead that I accidentally oversweetened. Originally I then planned to just add acid blend to the whole...

Wash golden raisins before you use them. When I went to buy golden raisins to use with a wine recipe I noticed that all the golden raisins had sulfer dioxide as an ingredient (which is used to keep the raisins golden). I bought and then washed a pound of Trader Joe's gold raisins and then...

D-47 will peter out at about 12-13% with a mead, from my experiences. A calculation that I figured out, tested, and have seen to be very accurate so far with 3 batches is this: beginning SG minus ending SG divided by .00736 = % alcohol. Given that probably looks comfusing, here is an...

If your alcohol level is high enough, it kills the yeast. Having SG readings would help in determining this, but since you don't, you'll have to go by the alcohol taste. It's not a perfect measurement, but since it tastes like rocket fuel, the alcohol is likely pretty high. And as for what...

I've never been impressed with the Wyeast sweet mead yeast, from my experiences using it in the past (too sweet, petered out too soon, or never took off). I don't use it anymore. Prior to adding the cherries.... I would have repitched with some Lalvin 1116 yeast. Given your beginning SG...

Yes, but it's mellowed just a tiny bit... it's still way too strong by itself. It works very well to blend with other batches. For example, I took a gallon of my blackberry mel and added about 1 cup of the vanilla mead, which gave the already super good blackberry a slight vanilla...

How long you let your mead sit on the bean(s) depends on the quantity of mead, # of beans, quality of the beans, and of course your preference for taste. As an example: I took a 1 gallon batch of sweet mead and added 1 whole Madagascar vanilla bean (split and scraped). Just 1 day later the...

Home Distillation of Alcohol (Homemade Alcohol to Drink) Here is another place that shows how dilution works. 3/4 of the way down the page, and just input #s into the "down to ___%" to see how dilution affects your mead. Of course when you working with just a gallon, a little dilution...

Same here, usually use Bentonite with meads and melomels, but never had a loss of flavor or aroma.