Bray's One Month Mead

Williams 728
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I have a one month old BOMM. I carried it outside a few days ago to cool it off and hopefully cold crash it to clear it a bit faster. It's rather dark/cloudy

apparently when I brought it in i must have spilled water out of the airlock and didn't notice for a couple days. Is it toast? should I worry? frown.
 
Bray used a starter in a 2.5 gallon batch of his Perfect BOMM so his recommendation would be yes. In his 5 gallon recipes, he recommends a 1.5 liter starter. In a 2.5 gallon recipe, the starter doesn't have to be that big. You will always be better off making a starter, even in smaller batch sizes, but if you are making gallon batch sizes, a pint starter is already 1/8 the must volume. But in a 2.5 gallon batch, a liter starter is not too much and would be more than adequate providing the yeast are perking away on the honey in there. Even a 500 ml (pint sized) starter would be good as long as you add say at least a 1/2 tsp Go Ferm to get the yeast off to a good start. Let it crank 24 hours before you mix up your must. Use 1 tsp Go Ferm if the starter is a full liter. If you help the yeast at the start, you maximize the chances for an effective fermentation and that's exactly what you want to do.
 
I have a couple questions. First, can I pretty much take any mead recipe and use the BOMM process with 1388 and the SNAs? Obviously they can't be huge meads as the ABV should be <12% but it'd be nice to look for any mead recipe and rock the BOMM with it.

Second question, can I make the one gallon as kind of a starter? That way I'd have a couple bottles plus a high enough cell count to pitch in a five gallon batch. I've done this with beer and loved it. But I'm just wondering if the yeast would be too stressed because of the higher alcohol content. I've made a few meads. I love them. I'm a commercial beekeeper so it goes hand in hand with that. But I love beer and I really like how beer takes a lot less time than a standard mead. So I'm very interested in doing a BOMM. Plus I'm giving a mead/honey presentation to my brew club in June and would love to have a few options available. Thanks!
 
Basically.... just add sugar tell its x potential alcohol + you're deseried sweetness....


Edit, use potential alcohol calculater and hydro meter to figure that out....

Example: yeast one + 5 gal organ cider 1 + 12 lb organic raw hunney 1 = grate! @ 2 weeks prime and drink of gods at 2 weeks of sec. Just stupid good after bottling @ 14.5 tp 14.9 % for this yeast as it was maxed out


Example2: yeast 2 + 5 gal cider 1 + cider 3 + 12 lb honey 1 = way too sweet! Should have been around 9.8 to 11.2 abv for this DIFFERENT yeast.

Sorry i didn't log the SG and FG numbers... but example 2 has a much higher fg but basically the same sg. Thanks to different yeast.

Okay (have some actual numbers on this one, yay!)

Example 3: yeast 1 + 5 gal cider 1 + 12 lb honey = Super dry with a grate mead taste hint after 2 weeks prime and 2 weeks kegged.
SG = 1.151
Fg = 1.004 corrected to 1.006
Abv = 14.6%

Was too dry for my liking but still a lil better then store bought... will NEED to sit with some actual aging time. Yes it's drink-able. .. lots of friends loved it as is, but it's an embarrassment compared to example 1.

Exaple 1 obviously had a more sugars and less water in that 12 lb of honey source 1. Aka slightly higher SG number.... *perfect* FG

Example 2 i had to oxiginate a lil' to sour it a bit to get rid of some of that excess sweetness. (Lots of extra sugar, aka high FG)

Example 3: is the opposite result of exaple 2. (Except id give this one a "passing" mark and Ex2 a "failing")
And has a FG that's a little low. About 1.006.

Keep in mind this very specific to yeast and sugars i used at specific ferm conditions.... and VERRY subjective to how MY taste buds like it. Also, even though example 1 was amazing BEFORE i bottled it. It was freaking celestial AFTER bottling and aging for a few months.

So in conclusion, basically your sweet meads or sack mead or what ever you want to call it (cyzer for me) won't HAVE to be aged like your typical/traditional DRY meads which really NEED to aged...but will still benifit.

I suggest starting with a sweet mead yeast, cider yeast, or some people really like ale yeast (i don't, find they tend to leave a yeasty beery flavor behind that I'm just not fond of) and avoiding the wine yeasts most folks seemed to be going for (like lavvlen? and redstar?) with the more traditional dry meads...

And ingredient quality does matter.... but you don't have to go crazy and brake the bank. It really can be THAT eazy if you let be.

Also you will need to add nutrients, its a necessity i find.
I recommend reading the complete mead maker. And NOT step feeding your first couple times.... Keep It Stupid Simple at first.






Really hope that helps. Sorry it took so long and i dont have all the numbers, but it's really pretty simple. Cheers. And thanks.
 
Beek said:
I have a couple questions. First, can I pretty much take any mead recipe and use the BOMM process with 1388 and the SNAs? Obviously they can't be huge meads as the ABV should be <12% but it'd be nice to look for any mead recipe and rock the BOMM with it.



Second question, can I make the one gallon as kind of a starter? That way I'd have a couple bottles plus a high enough cell count to pitch in a five gallon batch. I've done this with beer and loved it. But I'm just wondering if the yeast would be too stressed because of the higher alcohol content. I've made a few meads. I love them. I'm a commercial beekeeper so it goes hand in hand with that. But I love beer and I really like how beer takes a lot less time than a standard mead. So I'm very interested in doing a BOMM. Plus I'm giving a mead/honey presentation to my brew club in June and would love to have a few options available. Thanks!
Click to expand...


The answer to both questions is yes. In addition, you can start with a gravity of 1.12 and still go dry. I've even step fed to 19% ABV!

In my signature is a link to my mead article that helps new mead makers. That should help for your brew club.

Cheers!








Better brewing through science!

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
Hi Bray,

Thanks for putting this all together. I have a question for you.

I'm thinking about brewing another gallon on BOMM but want to stop the fermentation early to keep the abv lower and the residual honey in to make it super drinkable.

Have you done this before? Just potassium sorbate and camden tablets right? Anything else I should be aware of?

Also I pitched my first gallon 10 days ago SG 1.1, missed the 2/3 sugar break, but got the nutrients in at the 1/2 on day 6. I just checked today and its at 1.021 so I missed the 1/3 too! This ferments very fast! I'm gonna let it go and see the results of just one dose at 1/2.

At 1.05 on day 6 it was delicious! Just a little sweet. Today on day 10 at 1.021 its less sweet, but a little salty? Does that make sense?

Thanks again,
Max
 
Have you done this before? Just potassium sorbate and camden tablets right? Anything else I should be aware of?

That should work. Cold crash first to stun the yeast, then treat with sulfite. Admittedly, I never do this because sulfites don't treat me well. Check out morebeer.com or lallemand site for proper dosing.


At 1.05 on day 6 it was delicious! Just a little sweet. Today on day 10 at 1.021 its less sweet, but a little salty? Does that make sense?

It's just too young. The first 30 days have drastic changes in taste. Day 30 is very drinkable; Day 90 is wonderful; >Month 6 is phenomenal.



Better brewing through science!

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
I thought this was gonna clear fast?! I dunno what kinda of honey I got from the brew store, but I did the BOMM on it and it's still dark and cloudy, 3 months later.

I did rerack a few weeks ago, and it's still not clearing. Interestingly enough I took the bottom of the first rack, bottled it and put it outside(-below zero here at the time)

A day or two of that, bringing it in before it froze and that bottle cleared. Had some sludge on the bottom though. THICK sludge.

Considering adding some spakloid to the carboy to clear it up. Or maybe just wait it out.

Turned out pretty tasty so far.
 
Some of my back sweetened BOMMS never cleared completely before I bottled. Think they have all been pretty clear prior to back sweetening.
 
Bray, in the Post Fermentation section of your write-up you mention stabilization with potassium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate. How much of each is recommended for a 1 gallon BOMM batch?
 
What kind of container can I use for the starter (sanitized milk jug?) and is Go-Ferm absolutely required?
 
Ok cool. I'm starting the starter tonight. I wasn't able to get the Go-Ferm in time and want to have this stuff bottled up before April 18th, so how much is a pinch of Fermaid K for the starter? Also, if I add more honey to the 3.5 gallons of water will that make the mead slightly sweeter or do I just need to focus on the taste and corresponding gravity? Thanks.
 
Brruzr said:
Ok cool. I'm starting the starter tonight. I wasn't able to get the Go-Ferm in time and want to have this stuff bottled up before April 18th, so how much is a pinch of Fermaid K for the starter? Also, if I add more honey to the 3.5 gallons of water will that make the mead slightly sweeter or do I just need to focus on the taste and corresponding gravity? Thanks.
Click to expand...


One teaspoon of Fermaid K will work. You can raise the starting SG to 1.12 with the BOMM recipe and still be done fermenting in a week. Once it hits 1.00, you can step feed small amounts of honey until the yeast give up. With your time constrains, that maybe tough. You can also stabilize. See a couple of post above for that.

I would be wary of going above 1.12 for SG. It may stress the yeast out which causes fusels.


Better brewing through science!

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
I am looking to making a batch of this next week. I got some raw dark jungle honey to use on this. I also plan on using Mangrove Jack's M27 - Belgian Ale Yeast. It has a 14%ABV tolerance. What do you think if boost the SG as close to 1.1 as possible so that it attenuates at around the same FG you had (1.04)??
 
HB_in_Subic said:
I am looking to making a batch of this next week. I got some raw dark jungle honey to use on this. I also plan on using Mangrove Jack's M27 - Belgian Ale Yeast. It has a 14%ABV tolerance. What do you think if boost the SG as close to 1.1 as possible so that it attenuates at around the same FG you had (1.04)??
Click to expand...


Changing the yeast is a sure way to get unsatisfactory results. The Wyeast 1388 is the key to the whole recipe. I'm not saying don't try it, but don't expect it to be ready in a month.

I think something was confused. The FG on a BOMM is 1.000.


Better brewing through science!

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
OK on the FG I got that from the first page of this thread.

Wyeast 1388 is not really an option for me. I am stuck using dry yeasts due to shipping issues. Also the M27s temperature range allows me to ferment at 79F-90F which is my ambient temperature now. I will try it and let you know how it turns out.
 
HB_in_Subic said:
I am looking to making a batch of this next week. I got some raw dark jungle honey to use on this. I also plan on using Mangrove Jack's M27 - Belgian Ale Yeast. It has a 14%ABV tolerance.
Click to expand...

I'm very interested in this experiment. HB_in_Subic can't get Wyeast 1388 in the Philippines and I'd love to hear how this M27 dry yeast can work in the warm ambient temperatures he gets in Subic Bay. The BOMMs work great with the 1388 yeast. But in some parts of the world you've got to try to make do with what you have. It's a worthy experiment. Use what yeast nutrients and energizers you can get and may the BOMM gods be with you! Taste that jungle honey and be sure you like the taste first. Go for it!

Bray I think it may be worthy of a potential side by side gallon batch test with those of us having 1388 and M27, just to see if HB_in_Subic comes up with halfway decent results. Depending on the quality of his jungle honey, this may be a good test to run with some Orange Blossom honey here in the States.
 
buzzerj said:
I'm very interested in this experiment. HB_in_Subic can't get Wyeast 1388 in the Philippines and I'd love to hear how this M27 dry yeast can work in the warm ambient temperatures he gets in Subic Bay. The BOMMs work great with the 1388 yeast. But in some parts of the world you've got to try to make do with what you have. It's a worthy experiment. Use what yeast nutrients and energizers you can get and may the BOMM gods be with you! Taste that jungle honey and be sure you like the taste first. Go for it!

Bray I think it may be worthy of a potential side by side gallon batch test with those of us having 1388 and M27, just to see if HB_in_Subic comes up with halfway decent results. Depending on the quality of his jungle honey, this may be a good test to run with some Orange Blossom honey here in the States.
Click to expand...


Agreed. I want to test several dry yeast side by side to see if something is comparable. I probably won't get to it until summer as there is a lot on my plate until July. It's on the list as well as a water chemistry experiment.


Better brewing through science!

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
For those who can't get the Wyeast and other liquid yeast, I came up with an excellent 2 month wine yeast quick mead.

I used the ideas from the BOMM on a wine yeast in a home where my temp in the winter fluctuates greatly due to our wood stove from 55 to 90.

In a 7 gallon pail, I made a must of of honey and water to between the 6 and 7 gallon mark to a gravity of 1.09 After it cools to 70, pitch a packet of cote de blanc yeast.

Then I added 1 tsp of yeast nutrient and 1 peeled, sliced banana. I did this again when it reached 1.06 and 1.03. When it hits between 1.00 and 1.02 rack it to a 6.5 gallon carboy. I started this on 1/24/15 and on 2/22/15 I tasted and it had finished at 1.00. It had a great taste but a tad hot at just under 12%. I siphoned off back to the pail, added campden tablets and potassium sorbate and backsweetened with the same honey to 1.015 and racked back into the clean 6.5 gallon carboy.

Today, 3/15/15, It had cleared completely (was nearly clear before backsweetening, had few lees after). I tasted again and it is very good. I did all the math and I believe the FG after backsweetening brought it down to about 10.4% +/- .5%.

It is definitely drinkable at just under 2 months of age from start to finish, but no doubt will only taste better with age. When I get back home from our family's st patty's day get together, I will post a photo of it in a glass.

The main reason I tried this was because I would have to order the Wyeast online as neither of my lhbs's carry liquid yeast and at the time, I was only getting yeast from my lhbs. I have started buying liquid and other ingredients online for some of my homebrews, so I do plan on trying the original recipe and comparing the two.
 
Included a couple of photos of the quick wine yeast mead that I came up with. One with words behind the glass to show the clarity since my kindle takes crappy photos that always make my brews look cloudy. Although it is still a touch hot, it has a nice slightly floral nose, with a wonderful fruity taste on the palette, with a slight bite of hotness in the back taste which I think will mellow after a month in the bottle.

As soon as my supplies get here tomorrow I'm going to have a furious brew night to get myself stocked back up in the beer department before getting back to testing different dry yeast strains for making quick mead. In a couple weeks I'm going to order a few more yeast strains to test a bunch of 1 gallon batches to compare them side by side during the process, taste at 1 month, bottling at 2 months, crack a bottle at 3 months, again at 6 months and again at 1 year. Planning to test the Cote De Blanc again, alongside Belle Saison (which I've been having great success with in cysers), the original BOMM yeast 1388 and 2-3 others. If anyone has a dry yeast that would like me to test just let me know and I will add it to the list. Like I said, would like to test 2-3 more alongside the first 3 that I mentioned.

IMG_20150315_220254_1_kindlephoto-729980.jpg


IMG_20150315_220603.jpg
 
Set the BOMM off today. 1.098, lower end of the scale, figure I can feed in more honey as needed. Only did the starter for about 18 hours because I am impatient! But keep giving it some swirlies to make sure we get the yeasties going. Thanks for the recipe! Gotta love geeks, we love the science in this house. :tank:
 
I finally started mine this weekend. Saturday I dug out the jar of local wildflower honey from a beekeeper I know. Been hanging on to this for about 6 months. It smelled amazing and floral! I added the water, stirred with my cordless drill and added the nutrients and yeast. I ended up with about 2 gallons in a 3 gallon carboy.

Sunday afternoon was my first de-gassing. Holy $#!+! this stuff foams when stirred! I had a foam geyser that shot two inches above the neck of the carboy. And that was with the 1 gallon headspace! Well, at least the kitchen floor got scrubbed. :eek:

I was much more careful with today's de-gassing. :)
 
Chops1867 said:
I finally started mine this weekend. Saturday I dug out the jar of local wildflower honey from a beekeeper I know. Been hanging on to this for about 6 months. It smelled amazing and floral! I added the water, stirred with my cordless drill and added the nutrients and yeast. I ended up with about 2 gallons in a 3 gallon carboy.

Sunday afternoon was my first de-gassing. Holy $#!+! this stuff foams when stirred! I had a foam geyser that shot two inches above the neck of the carboy. And that was with the 1 gallon headspace! Well, at least the kitchen floor got scrubbed. :eek:

I was much more careful with today's de-gassing. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah the first time I degassed mine, I was yelling to my wife to bring me a towel. After that I put my fermenter in a Rubbermaid tote to hold any messes. It starts becoming less and less foamy as you go on. After a week or so it'll barely foam at all. Just make sure you degas before adding your SNAs. Otherwise you'll have must all over your floor again lol!
 
Yes, I handled today's degassing the same as James Bond's martini: shaken, not stirred! It went far better this time. :)

I have high hopes for this, never been much of a mead fan, but I had a taste of a good mead the other day. It was very yummy! One of the members of our local homebrew club makes nothing but mead. I'm anxious for him to try this.
 
Has anybody tried making this using acacia honey instead of the orange blossom? I have 3kg of it, which I am using half to make a sweet mead out of a book I was given for a gift and thought I could try your BOMM with the rest. Any opinions?
 
HawleyFarms said:
For those who can't get the Wyeast and other liquid yeast, I came up with an excellent 2 month wine yeast quick mead.

I used the ideas from the BOMM on a wine yeast in a home where my temp in the winter fluctuates greatly due to our wood stove from 55 to 90.

In a 7 gallon pail, I made a must of of honey and water to between the 6 and 7 gallon mark to a gravity of 1.09 After it cools to 70, pitch a packet of cote de blanc yeast.

Then I added 1 tsp of yeast nutrient and 1 peeled, sliced banana. I did this again when it reached 1.06 and 1.03. When it hits between 1.00 and 1.02 rack it to a 6.5 gallon carboy. I started this on 1/24/15 and on 2/22/15 I tasted and it had finished at 1.00. It had a great taste but a tad hot at just under 12%. I siphoned off back to the pail, added campden tablets and potassium sorbate and backsweetened with the same honey to 1.015 and racked back into the clean 6.5 gallon carboy.

Today, 3/15/15, It had cleared completely (was nearly clear before backsweetening, had few lees after). I tasted again and it is very good. I did all the math and I believe the FG after backsweetening brought it down to about 10.4% +/- .5%.

It is definitely drinkable at just under 2 months of age from start to finish, but no doubt will only taste better with age. When I get back home from our family's st patty's day get together, I will post a photo of it in a glass.

The main reason I tried this was because I would have to order the Wyeast online as neither of my lhbs's carry liquid yeast and at the time, I was only getting yeast from my lhbs. I have started buying liquid and other ingredients online for some of my homebrews, so I do plan on trying the original recipe and comparing the two.
Click to expand...

I'm intrigued by your test batch HawleyFarms. Usually with a wine yeast in a mead must you are looking at extended fermentation times 6 months to a year. But I like the staggered nutrient additions you propose with adding potassium in the form of a banana along with yeast nutrient. I might add a bit of yeast energizer too. So basically you are forcing an accelerated primary fermentation with the staggered nutrient additions to the Cote de Blanc yeast. I like where you are going with this.

This is worthy of a one gallon test batch using Orange Blossom Honey. I have a one gallon batch of Orange Blossom BOMM Mead using the Wyeast 1388 yeast almost ready to use as a taste test control sample. I'd like to see how your method compares to the true BOMM result even with the BOMM having a one month head start. HB_in_Subic may want to pay attention to your method if Cote de Blanc yeast will ferment in his warmer temperatures. It's supposed to go up to 86 degrees F.
 
LoR, as many others have said, thank you for doing the work and taking the time to respond to all the questions, and by the sheer number of replies you can see the interest.

To others, take LoRs advice and setup a free account at gotmead.com and check out his original yeast experiment post and his Belgian Yeast Experiment post. Good stuff in there, plus it's so interesting to see how the BOMM started and progressed to where it is today (and the naming it BOMM as well!).

My request to you LoR, if you would be so kind. Please consider re-posting your thinking on the BOMM, the perfect BOMM, the cyser BOMM, and the JAO BOMM, and obviously anything else that strikes your fancy. The info is all in this thread and I think I have copied it down, but it is largely dispersed and difficult to track.

Best Regards,

John

p.s. my first mead is 1 gallon, SNA using BJ's store brand, clover honey and D47. At least it fermented on the cool side (<63-66) and it tastes surprisingly... not bad at 1 and 2 weeks (SG 1.006). I'm hooked, and I can't wait to try the BOMM as per your directions w/ OB honey.
 
Haha. John, you have impeccable timing. My brother has been kind enough to host a new website with all my brewing endeavors. Enjoy!

www.denardbrewing.com

It's beta and we haven't added a lot of content yet (I've brewed a LOT). Let me know what you think!

Cheers!

Bray
 
At what gravity do I need to rack this recipe and how long after I rack it do I need to bottle it?
 

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