1st attempt at Mead

[jackinil]

Got ambitious and decided to try a mead[melomel]. Probably should have tried a 1 gallon first but already had the equipment for 5 gallon batches of beer so went with a 5 gal batch. Recipe as follows:
15 lbs Kirkland Honey[labeled Wildflower]
15 lbs tart frozen cherries,thawed
2 tsp pectic enzyme
10g 71B dry yeast

After mixing the honey with 2 gals of water,added the cherries. Rehydrated the yeast with Goferm and added it to the must.
Added Fermaid K at 24,48 and 72 hours. OG was 1.16.
Took about 24 hours for the yeast to really get going but it went like gangbusters after that. It was bubbling once every second and when I opened it to stir it sounded like bacon frying,really active.
Opened to check it yesterday and cherries have lost a lot of their color. Now bubbling once every 5-7 seconds. Tasted some, sweet but rich cherry flavor. SG checked in at 1.035
Looking to rack it next week after Labor Day[going away for the weekend]. So far,so good.

 

[jackinil]

Bubbling is almost non-existent. Checked the SG and it was 1.00. Tasted pretty dry. Is it too early to rack it off the cherries? Yeast was pitched on 8/19. I'm out of town from tomorrow til Monday night so it would have to wait til Tuesday.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

if you were home to manage the fruit cap, I’d say give it more time, but you run the risk of mold developing on the fruit cap if you’re not there to push it down, so yes rack it.

 

[bernardsmith]

at a gravity of 1.000 it's ready for racking.

 

[jackinil]

I racked this mead again due to about 1/2 inch of lees on the bottom. Tasted great,might need a bit of backsweetening. a smidge too tart for me. Definitely a belly warmer,could feel it after tasting. also had a tiny bit of carbonation.

 

[DBhomebrew]

I racked this mead again due to about 1/2 inch of lees on the bottom. Tasted great,might need a bit of backsweetening. a smidge too tart for me. Definitely a belly warmer,could feel it after tasting. also had a tiny bit of carbonation.

Mead takes time. Lots of it. Yeast in suspension can taste tart. Time will smooth ethanol warmth. Carbonation can be the very tail end of fermentation or just the remanants of off-gassing. Either way, it's a sure sign it's too young to make any judgement of what the mead will be when it grows up.

 

[jackinil]

Update-Had to go out of town for a couple days. Came home to about 1 1/2 gallons left in the Fermonster I used for a secondary. Seems there was a leak by the spigot I hadn't noticed. Nice trail of melomel leading to the floor drain. Moral of the story-Always do a leak check.........

 

[jkuhl]

I racked this mead again due to about 1/2 inch of lees on the bottom. Tasted great,might need a bit of backsweetening. a smidge too tart for me. Definitely a belly warmer,could feel it after tasting. also had a tiny bit of carbonation.

The warm burning feel can mellow out with time, and can be handled through backsweetening as well. Carbonation is a sign of off gassing and/or ongoing fermentation, the yeast might still be active, but too slow for it to be apparent in airlock activity. I'd give it more time and definitely take a few more gravity readings.