amount of honey

[koniowsky717]

So im doing my first mead on sunday (traditional) and my original recipe was
5gal batch
16lbs honey
2packs of yeast
12.5 go-ferm
20g fermaid-o
-im going for an SG of 1.115 to end up with a mead around 14%

as i was buying all my supplies, the guy said i should make 5.5gal of must to make sure i have enough to fill the secondary.
using the calculator this comes out to-
18lbs honey
3packs yeast
18.75g go-ferm
22g fermaid-o

I basically want a professional to give me the go ahead on this recipe lol

 

[Maylar]

Looks OK according to the BatchBuildr calculator.

 

[koniowsky717]

I ended up with what looked like around 5.3 gals and used just about the whole 18lbs of honey. Tried to take a hydrometer reading and i couldn't really read it due to foam It looked like it was between 1.1 and 1.12.. Is this good, or am i about to have a pretty strong nasty tasting mead

 

[AkTom]

You should be good. You should read up on staggered nutrient additions. Depending upon temperature and a few other things, you may have to wait 6 to 8 months but shouldn't have a whole lot of hot flavors.

 

[koniowsky717]

Yes, i am doing SNA with fermaid-o.. adding around 6g the first 3 days then 5g on day 6 or 7

 

[Shammarr]

@koniowsky717, I was wondering how has this receipt been going. I was looking at your receipt and it looks pretty good and about the ABV % I was looking at. I will be looking at it being a little sweet was I was not sure if you had to back sweeten it? I may have missed it but what kind of yeast did you use, I was looking at Lalvin EC-1118, which is why I was figuring I would have to back sweeten the mead.

 

[TimKonn2]

@koniowsky717, I was wondering how has this receipt been going. I was looking at your receipt and it looks pretty good and about the ABV % I was looking at. I will be looking at it being a little sweet was I was not sure if you had to back sweeten it? I may have missed it but what kind of yeast did you use, I was looking at Lalvin EC-1118, which is why I was figuring I would have to back sweeten the mead.

I used lalvin 71b-1122, 1118 will make a sg with 1.115 go completely dry..

my mead stopped fermenting at 1.010, which is right were the 71b should stop at about 14%. I prefer it on the dry side, so its perfect for me. It already taste pretty good, only being in secondary around 2 weeks. Not even close to clear though. I do plan on doing this batch again but raising the OG to about 1.140and using 1118 to get ABV of 18% with FG at around 1.010

If you want yours sweeter, you can try raising the OG to around 1.120 using 71b or backsweeting in secondary

 

[Shammarr]

Thanks, I don't mind the ABV of 18%, and right now I just got the 1118. I think I will try your OG 1.140 with the 1118, and back sweeten in the secondary. I believe if I need to I can back sweeten more if I need to. Thanks, and have a great new year.