(5) one gallon batches of mead

[Buhjangles]

Hello,

I'm pretty new to mead and I'm looking for a little direction. I saw a similar thread posted but didn't get any definitive answers on this so I'm gonna give it a shot.

I picked up a 5gal sweet mead kit online:
12lbs honey
5t yeast nutrient
WLP720 sweet mead yeast (made a 1L starter with 1c honey on a stir plate for 24hr before pitching whole liter)

I want to split this into 5 smaller one gallon batches (in 1gal carboys) and do each one different, can you guys give me any advise on what some good combinations would be and and how much to add?

Ex:
1lb of blueberries, 1 vanilla bean for one batch
1lb peaches, 1 stick cinnamon for another batch

I'm all for experimenting, I just don't want to completely overpower a batch with the spices if these will take 6-18 months to mature.

Also, side topic, I pitched the yeast last night and in my research today I've seen a lot of people talk about oxygenating a few times over the first few days, should I hit this with my wine whip when I get home this evening to degas and oxygenate? I did a thorough spin before pitching to aerate it.

 

[JustinCider]

It might be a little light on the honey to be split into 5 batches. Less than 2.5 lbs of honey per? I'd go 3 at least to hit a "sweet" mead. I don't think I've ever used less than 3 per gallon...but i'm far from an expert. Hopefully one of them will chime in and save the day here. Adding fruit to it will definitely add more sugars for the yeast to chew. My 0.02

Good luck man.

 

[Buhjangles]

Thanks for the insight, do you think I could add a 3lb bottle of honey to bump it up?

 

[fatbloke]

Yes........

 

[Complete_Amateur]

Thanks for the insight, do you think I could add a 3lb bottle of honey to bump it up?

You certainly could add more honey, but then you won't really know if it was better to do so. I would try back sweetening one of your experiment bottles after the primary completes (I am assuming you are fermenting all five gallons to start, and then splitting it?). This way you can compare and decide which you prefer. WLP720 should leave some sweetness, according to the information I have seen (haven't used it).

A flavoring experiment is something I have been planning as well, and what I am considering is adding one distinct flavor additive to each individual jug, and then blending them into various combinations at bottling (with careful labeling, of course) and aging (or not) to marry the flavors.

With blueberries, peaches, vanilla, cinnamon, and clove (5 flavors) you could create around 30 unique flavor combinations. Of course, some of these will not be viable (like combining all 5 flavors, or likely most combinations of more than 3), but even some of these may be worth a try.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

2lbs per gallon is completely acceptable in my book. You won't get a 14-15% mead, but you can get around 10%, and since they are experiments, what's the rush in having batches that will require several more months of aging?

 

[Arpolis]

2lbs per gallon is completely acceptable in my book. You won't get a 14-15% mead, but you can get around 10%, and since they are experiments, what's the rush in having batches that will require several more months of aging?

I am with Marshmallowblue on this. Plus that sweet mead yeast does not do well with high gravity musts and can easily get a stuck fermentation.

When using fruits a generally accepted amount of fruit to use would be 3lb per gallon. Do not blend or heat the fruit. Cut it into manigable chunks, freeze it, thaw it and throw in the carboy. Also if you are letting the mead ferment and then splitting the batch it would be beneficial to stabilize the mead before adding fruit. Add in 5 crushed Camden tablets and 2.5 tsp sorbate to the 5 gallon batch then rack onto your fruit after about 12 hours. The Camden helps eliminate any bacterial contaminants on the fruit and the sorbate will hault any further fermentation from the yeast so you get a more fresh fruit taste. Also pectic enzyme is good to add with any fruit mead(melomel) to help it from getting a possible pectin haze which makes it a little cloudy.

Try and keep additions simple. The more flavors you add the longer it needs to age to homogenize the flavors well. You should learn a lot and you will be whipping up all new recipes from the start in no time.

 

[Buhjangles]

I appreciate all the feedback, thanks all. I have a lot better idea of where to take this now.