5 1 gallon options?

[fuccillo111]

Brand spankin new to this guys and might be in over my head. Bought a 6 gallon glass carboy, 1 pkg wine yeast(d47 maybe), 4 gal spring water, 11.5-12.5 of honey from my hive and just went for it. Poured the honey in the carboy with half the water and shook the crap out of it then filled with the remaining water. After rehydrating the yeast I tossed that in and put the trap on it then put it in the basement. I had a sg reading of 1.080 before the yeast. This is where I'm at, although I'd like a flavorful semisweet mead. My idea is to break the 5 gallons into 4 or 5 different flavored meads, strawberry, blueberry, watermelon etc. I also picked some hops this fall, that I still have frozen, that I may use. So it's been a week into fermentation and my question is when do I check specific gravity again and how do I know when primary fermentation has stopped? Thanks for any responses.

 

[CanAm]

My friend did the same thing, only with three 5 gallon batches. They all stoped fermenting at 1.050. Your mead needs nutrients beyond what is in the honey.

I helped fix it with some great council from Brey. Here is his website. I’d recommend you get the nutrients for his one month mead.

https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/brays-one-month-mead/

Cheers!

 

[fuccillo111]

Hey thanks for the response! I'm ok waiting 6-8 months for the mead btw so no quick method is necessary. Should I take the trap off and check the sg after just a week? I do have yeast nutrients and some other stuff, but I just followed a simple recipe that didn't call for that.

 

[CanAm]

Not so much that it's quick that's important, but that there are not enough nutrients in the honey for the yeast to stay alive. If it were me I would add the nutrients per the above schedule.

 

[fuccillo111]

Thanks canam...there are just so many recipes and methods there doesn't seem like one way is "better" than others. Youtube videos have folks doing just what I did with good results. I guess there's always the never ending search to improve.

 

[CanAm]

You’re right! That’s one of the best parts of this. Please report back with your outcome.

 

[CKuhns]

My first mead was done exactly the same way you started yours. Temperature was about 70 deg f a little warm for D47. However in 9 months was good and 18 months really good.

I encourage everyone to do exactly what you did and then experiment and perfect your recipe, knowledge and technique. I also encourage trying a Brays One Month Mead and a Joes Ancient Orange Mead. Each will teach you some things along the way.

 

[xplazma]

i been just putting the nutrition in when i'm making it and just let it sit for a month or more as needed till it stops fermenting and then i move it over to another container of the same size to remove the majority of the dead yeast and put the airlock back on

 

[bernardsmith]

I also encourage trying a Brays One Month Mead and a Joes Ancient Orange Mead. Each will teach you some things along the way.

Not entirely sure what making a JAOM will teach anyone except perhaps the sometime need to follow a recipe precisely... JAOM is a novelty mead that works but has not a thing to say about everyday mead making. In my opinion, the best way to learn to make a good mead is to focus on traditional meads - honey, water, yeast and nutrient. There is nothing to hide behind; there is nothing to mask poor protocol; there is nothing to take your focus off the main event.

 

[fuccillo111]

Ok guys so after nearly two weeks here's a pic of the mead. This never did have a lot of foam in there...is this due to too much headspace?

 

[bernardsmith]

Nothing whatsoever to do with headspace, fucillo111. Here's the thing: mead ain't beer and honey ain't grain. You know how when you make bread the carbon dioxide produced by the yeast gets trapped in a net of proteins (we call those proteins "gluten")? That entrapment of gas in the protein is what makes bread "rise". Yes?
A version of that happens in brewing. The CO2 gets tangled , but not trapped in the proteins in the barley. That's what brewers call "krausen". But honey has for all intents and purposes essentially no proteins and so there are no entangled chains of proteins to trap the CO2. Technically, there is no krausen, despite the fact that many "brewers" call whatever froth there might be in wine making, "krausen". In other words, there is very little foam and that is exactly what you saw.

 

[fuccillo111]

Quick update here guys!! So the mead has been fermenting for 3 weeks now and the sg is at 1.022. the small bubbles have appeared to stop but the airlock is still kickin every 7-10 seconds or so. According to my hydrometer this should project to be a dry mead in the 15% neighborhood. What all this mean I honestly don't know...just posting what I see. Any feedback is greatly needed and appreciated. Thanks again.