Bray's One Month Mead

[loveofrose]

It depends. If you are stabilizing, rack first. If you are letting the yeast hit max ABV, do in primary.

 

[CanadianJesus]

Ok, thanks. I'm not looking to stabilize with sulfates. I have a friend who I want to share this mead with who won't drink wine that contains sulfates on principle due to not wanting to consume 'chemicals'.

Also, I may encounter people in the future who are actually allergic, whether they know it or not.

I'm just going to slowly add honey 2oz at a time until the yeast give up and then add honey until 1.010sg. I want a sweet mead with a lot of honey taste for my methaglin. If people find this too sweet then I'll go for a lower SG for my planned 5 gallon methaglin.

 

[CanadianJesus]

Since this recipe ferments so fast, does it blow a lot of flavor out of the airlock? I'm really anticipating bottling it because everything smells and tastes so much better than my very first batch using 1118 yeast.

I'm already thinking of variations on this recipe using the same basic principles of adding stepped nutrient additions and regular degassing, but I want to try it with a wine yeast, or the Wyeast Sweet Mead yeast in the future. See how something like that goes with 6 months to a year of aging.

Thanks Bray! I have learned A LOT by reading this thread and trying it out myself!

I still have much more research to do of course!

 

[Dan_K]

Since this recipe ferments so fast, does it blow a lot of flavor out of the airlock? I'm really anticipating bottling it because everything smells and tastes so much better than my very first batch using 1118 yeast.

No, if anything it's just as flavorful as other methods.

 

[Dan_K]

So I had some mead my friend made. It was terrible, and this was after a year of aging. And then I asked him about his process, and it was... different. Here's what he told me:

Got big jugs of honey from the commissary (military grocery store). Boiled that with water and cranberries, put it in the fermenter, pitched champagne yeast (dry).
Why champagne yeast?
"I wanted the most alcohol"
Anyway, I gave him a couple bottles of my precious BOMM melomels, I expect it will be an eye-opening experience for him.

 

[CanadianJesus]

I can't wait to try the concepts I learned in this recipe with some other white wine yeasts and let them sit for a year or so and see what the difference is.

I can hardly wait to bottle my first 5 gallon BOMM and taste it at 1 month and then at 3 and 6 months.

I also have plans to make an out of this world 5 gallon BOMM methaglin to drink by October and Christmas as a winter drink. I'll see how my two 1 gallon test batches turn out and I'll make 5 gallons of the best one with maybe some tweaks.

What do you guys think of a Pumpkin Spice mead? I'm also doing a second one of just cinnamon, cloves and cardamom (I think this would make a good winter mead, but we'll see).

 

[Dan_K]

Quick question for those of you who have done this.

My plan moving forward is typically I'll ferment my BOMM For 2 weeks before splitting it up into smaller batches and adding fruit and/or spices. This allows me to have clean and controlled fermentation but still have viable yeast available for secondary. Anyway, here's my cyser plan.

Ferment 2 gallons of BOMM from 1.107 >> 1.005 ~13.5% ABV for 2 weeks
Rack 2 gallons of mead onto:
2 gallons of apple cider
1# of brown sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean
6# of peeled and diced apples
-------------------
Total will be 4 gallons of Cyser

Ferment for 10 days, remove apples, ferment ~5 more days, bottle.
Should end up around 9.2% ABV, and possible to carbonate if I want.

Does this sound like a good plan? I was thinking about reducing the brown sugar to 4oz and doing 1lb of Caramel 30 malt instead, for some residual sweetness.

 

[loveofrose]

It will work, but why not mix everything at the same time?

Or use this: https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Cyser-bomm/

 

[CanadianJesus]

Should I wait the full month before I start step feeding honey to backsweeten or should I do that as soon as gravity reaches ~1.000 and is stable for a few days?

 

[loveofrose]

As soon as it hits 1.000, add the amount of honey to bring it to your desired gravity. Wait and repeat as needed.

 

[Dan_K]

So I have always had a hard time mixing my honey into the water, but I wanted to share my observations on this matter. This time I made a 6 gallon batch of mead, and when I pitched the yeast there was maybe 2.5" of honey on the bottom of the carboy. A solid layer of honey. I wasn't overly concerned because I've seen this before. So after a couple days I notice the honey layer starts to shrink. I am on day 4 and now there is only 1" of honey at the bottom. By tomorrow morning, it'll be gone. Point is, the yeast will find the honey if it's in there.

 

[andrewmaixner]

So I have always had a hard time mixing my honey into the water, but I wanted to share my observations on this matter. This time I made a 6 gallon batch of mead, and when I pitched the yeast there was maybe 2.5" of honey on the bottom of the carboy. A solid layer of honey. I wasn't overly concerned because I've seen this before. So after a couple days I notice the honey layer starts to shrink. I am on day 4 and now there is only 1" of honey at the bottom. By tomorrow morning, it'll be gone. Point is, the yeast will find the honey if it's in there.

Time to coin a name for that!
Automated Passive Honey Dissolution/Addition ?

It's probably less the yeast, and moreso the kinetics (movement) of the solution leading to the honey dissolving. Of course, the yeast and CO2 are what cause the movement.

 

[CanadianJesus]

That is why I do all my primary fermentation in a bucket. Much easier to stir in the honey and degass that way.

 

[dyqik]

I was trying to do the primary in a bucket for my first BOMM today, but the 2 gal bucket and lid I bought at the LHBS don't fit together. So I'm doing it in a gallon carboy.

I'm going to split the 1 gallon between a straight dry mead, and rack the other half onto 3lb of blueberries from the yard. We got over 30lbs of blueberries off of six bushes this year, and there are still blueberries out there on them. Our freezers are full.

 

[CanadianJesus]

So I racked my first 5 gallon batch into a glass carboy 2 days ago to see how clear it got. It was still fairly cloudy after 30 days, but the color of the mead was evident. I didn't want to bottle it like that so I hit it with Sparkalloid and now 2 days later it is nearly clear enough to read through with about an inch and a half of sediment at the bottom. The lower quarter of the carboy is still a little cloudy.

I noticed a bit of a bite to it when I tasted it. Is this normal after the first month? I think it may be because I missed my sugar breaks slightly, but I couldn't help that because it fermented so fast. Next time I'm doing the new Fermaid-O protocol and fermenting in the basement where it is a steady 16 Celsius.

I'm thinking of bottling it tomorrow or Thursday and running it though a filter. Will the filter help clear it even more? It needs filtering anyways because there's a few pieces of wax floating at the top.

Also, my two 1 gallon experimental batches are going along nicely. I just added my second round of back sweetening honey, 8 oz total in each jug. I'm going to check the SG tomorrow and see if they've eaten though that yet. I hope I kill off the yeast soon, I don't want too high of an ABV, but the spices will probably cover the alcohol taste nicely anyways.

 

[CanadianJesus]

Ok, I bottled my 5 gallon traditional batch.

It has a DAP off taste. I wish I read the part about not adding DAP at or under 1.030 before I went ahead and did just that...

Will this taste age out at all, or is going to have that off taste forever?

I plan on re-doing another 5 or 6 gallon traditional using the Fermaid-O protocol in a few weeks or a month or so.. I really want a spectacular mead to make this year and have around for some time.

 

[loveofrose]

If unstablized, it will age out to some degree. Depends how bad it is. I have batches that finally lost it after 4 years.

 

[skunkape01]

I just made my first 5 gallon bomm. 9 days ago it was SG 1.100 . Last night it is 1.005 and still bubbling. I added water to airlock 7 days after starting...added ferm k and dap at around 1.070 and 1.035.
I'll be going to the beach tomorrow for a week. Will it be ok to leave it in primary for 1 more week or should I rack? I'd like to rack it with 3-4 lbs of frozen blackberries but am afraid of the berries oxidizing if I rack before I leave. I plan on backsweetening with more orange blossom honey since I know it'll be dry. I made the starter with 1388

Ill be doing 5 gal bomm cyser after I get back next weekend

 

[Drewed]

...
I'll be going to the beach tomorrow for a week. Will it be ok to leave it in primary for 1 more week or should I rack? I'd like to rack it with 3-4 lbs of frozen blackberries but am afraid of the berries oxidizing if I rack before I leave. I plan on backsweetening with more orange blossom honey since I know it'll be dry. I made the starter with 1388

Ill be doing 5 gal bomm cyser after I get back next weekend

Leave it in the primary. It will be fine

 

[Dan_K]

Interesting Dilemma I've got, I used 15.8 gallons of honey to make 6 gallons of mead. That's 2.63 lbs/gallon. It fermented completely dry, and I don't really like dry mead. (later on I backsweetened it) I think from now on I'll use a minimum of 3.2 # / gallon. I want a minimum of 1.010 FG on my base meads, so that means an OG around 1.130 I believe. It's just less hassle to add the honey upfront.

 

[skunkape01]

I just made more like 1 hour ago. Did 6 gal. sg is 1.115

 

[loveofrose]

Wyeast 1388 will reliably eat through 120 points. Anything after will be left behind.

 

[growlrr]

Depending on the yeast and nutrient schedule, you could still ferment dry even starting at 1.130, plus the ABV at that point will be something similar to lighter fluid. Back sweetening, while an additional step, allows you to get exactly where you want in a controlled manner. Just my .02.

 

[loveofrose]

Depending on the yeast and nutrient schedule, you could still ferment dry even starting at 1.130, plus the ABV at that point will be something similar to lighter fluid. Back sweetening, while an additional step, allows you to get exactly where you want in a controlled manner. Just my .02.

This is true in most cases, but I've got this particular yeasts number. Still clean even at this ABV.

 

[CanadianJesus]

Ok, so I finally managed to kill my yeast with alcohol poisoning in my experimental methaglin batches. The current abv of both of them is just under 18%

This yeast can easily compete with any champagne yeast in regards to potential abv if honey is step fed right. I just didn't want to add sulphates for this so I went the route of killing them off with alcohol.

I just added my final back sweetening doses, so in a few days they should both read 1.010. I'll take one last hydrometer reading just to make sure it's at where I want it, and then I'm going to cold crash them in the freezer to drop the yeast out of suspension.

I'll then rack to two 1 gallon carboys and add my spices in a tied up cheese cloth. I'll take a taste after a week and see if the spice profile is where I want it, if I need more spice I'll leave them in longer, if they taste good then I'll just remove my spices and go ahead with bottling!

I also picked up 10kg of honey today, so I now have 15kg of honey at my disposal to make two more 5 or 6 gallon batches. One is going to be another attempt at a traditional using the Fermaid-O protocol and the other will be my large batch methaglin also using the fermaid-O protocol. The methaglin I choose for the big batch will be using the spice profile of whichever of my experimental batches tastes better!

I'm pumped to get making more mead!

I'm going to have a nice supply for the coming years. I'll probably continue to refine my craft and make a few batches every year from now on. I've learned a lot from this site. It truly is a wealth of information here.

 

[CanadianJesus]

What should I do if I were want to make a BOM into a raspberry melomel. Would I add the fruit to secondary? I really just wanted a fresh raspberry flavor without the fermented flavor of raspberriy in my wine.

 

[growlrr]

How do you measure final ABV when step feeding? I've always used the "OG - FG = ABV" chart, but wouldn't a step feeding program constantly change the SG every time you add honey and the yeast feast?

 

[Maylar]

Yes. You'd have to measure SG before and after each addition and add the difference to your OG. Or.. you can take a guess by assuming you've added 35 points per pound per gallon.

 

[loveofrose]

...I really just wanted a fresh raspberry flavor without the fermented flavor of raspberriy in my wine.

In this case, add to secondary. Be sure to taste frequently. The tannins from berries are nice in the proper quantity, but get astringent if left too long.

 

[loveofrose]

How do you measure final ABV when step feeding? I've always used the "OG - FG = ABV" chart, but wouldn't a step feeding program constantly change the SG every time you add honey and the yeast feast?

You need the total weight of honey and the final volume.