Bray's One Month Mead

[Danmor1]

How would the BOMM protocol be adapted to a hydromel? I recently came in to some local darker blueberry honey, and have been interested in hydromels since January, when I started mead, but don't know if staggered nutrients would work well, or if I should frontload everything and hope for the best.

Side note: all my BOMMs have turned out delicious thus far. None has lasted, beyond a sample bottle, more than two months.

Also: will BOMMwork with lighter honeys like locust and thistle, or should I accept a longer wait time for a better end product?

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Go for it the same procedure IMO. Longer aging will improve almost all meads/beers/ciders to a degree, just not all are affected the same way.

I'd be interested to know how belle saison yeast would work on a session mead, as it's monstrous for a cider.

 

[loveofrose]

How would the BOMM protocol be adapted to a hydromel? I recently came in to some local darker blueberry honey, and have been interested in hydromels since January, when I started mead, but don't know if staggered nutrients would work well, or if I should frontload everything and hope for the best.



Side note: all my BOMMs have turned out delicious thus far. None has lasted, beyond a sample bottle, more than two months.



Also: will BOMMwork with lighter honeys like locust and thistle, or should I accept a longer wait time for a better end product?

Although I've never tried it, I would front load a hydromel. The yeast will go very fast and be much less stressed.

All mead improves with age. The BOMM is not excluded in this; it just happens to be tasty in a month as well. A BOMM aged for a year is truly amazing.

The BOMM makes great mead with every honey I've tried so far. It shouldn't take any longer to get a good product unless it's a particularly strong tasting honey (Buckwheat and heather honey, for example). Some honeys are just really strong tasting and need to mellow out. I've used orange blossom, Tupelo, sourwood, palmetto, acacia, mesquite, summer berry, Meadowfoam, and a few others with excellent products. All very different!

 

[Requiemm]

Bray~

I don't have a Sprouts near me so I wanted to know specifically what kind of cider it is. I have access to Trader Joes and Whole Foods so could you suggest a replacement?

 

[loveofrose]

Trader Joes makes a 100% honeycrisp apple cider that works very well.

 

[Requiemm]

Trader Joes makes a 100% honeycrisp apple cider that works very well.

Thanks Bray, next question...

Where do you source your spices? Looking at also starting a Szechuan batch and was wondering.

 

[loveofrose]

Red are available on Amazon.
Green are here:
http://spicetrekkers.com/products-page/chinese/szechuan-green-pepper/

There is a red and green combo pack on Amazon right now if you are quick!

 

[Wiggleplum]

-

 

[Danmor1]

self-deleted for pretentiousness and stupidity.

 

[Danmor1]

Although I've never tried it, I would front load a hydromel. The yeast will go very fast and be much less stressed.

All mead improves with age. The BOMM is not excluded in this; it just happens to be tasty in a month as well. A BOMM aged for a year is truly amazing.

The BOMM makes great mead with every honey I've tried so far. It shouldn't take any longer to get a good product unless it's a particularly strong tasting honey (Buckwheat and heather honey, for example). Some honeys are just really strong tasting and need to mellow out. I've used orange blossom, Tupelo, sourwood, palmetto, acacia, mesquite, summer berry, Meadowfoam, and a few others with excellent products. All very different!

Thanks. I might try a (second) BOMM off a batch of 'summer' honey for the hydromel, frontloading. I can document the process, if you like. I also started a 5-gallon batch with the Forbidden Fruit with clover honey, to play with some variations courtesy of Brewers Best (chocolate peanut butter, banana nut, etc). Do you think blueberry honey would go well with blueberry flavour for a hydromel?

As for lighter honey, if I want to use yeast after the first (and I know you've recommended washing in past comments), would it be best to move from lighter honey to darker before washing, or will there be negligible differences in final product after the yeast cake settles?

 

[TeeJo]

Ha-lay-freaking-loo-yaa!

I finally found a stocking supplier that carries all the BOMM nutrients in one place, and it's just a few blocks from my brother's place as well, so I don't need to get stiffed on postage!

The place is Bosa Grape, a winery supplier in Burnaby BC that I was put onto by one of the sales guys from Scott Labs, the makers of Fermaid K.

I just dropped a old pack of 1388 into a liter and a half of water mixed in with a half kilo of honey, along with a handful of raisins and some currants, ala the JAO-BOMM recipe of sorts, to see if I can build up some yeast while I wait for the arrival of the nutrients. Seems to be alive in there.

Happy days! If all goes well, I should be putting a carboy of the BOMM together!

TeeJo

 

[braidenlowe15]

Do you have any articles on how to start cultures of yeast? I'm looking create my own strain that is less finicky

 

[TeeJo]

I am 7 days in, and my gravity is at 1.038, I just added the second nutrient addition, and it smells...Wonderful!

I started mine with an older smack pack, and a gallon of starter must mixed up using the raisins and currants that were mentioned in the JAOBOMM recipe a few pages back, but without the spices, and that seemed a pretty good start. I guess the warranty is about nul and void, but...

Once I got my nutrients delivered, I made a batch by the simple method of taking the honey I had salvaged from some damaged bee equipment, and adding water until the OG was at 1.100. Came out about a 4 gallon batch.

So far, so good. I gotta say, if it ends up tasting anything at all like it smells now, it's a keeper of a recipe, and like as not I will start another batch right away.

TeeJo

 

[robimus]

I have a gallon of bomm I made about 7 months ago and was thinking of adding some dried orange peel and coriander. Would it be too late to add these flavours or is a new batch a better idea ? I've done berries in the secondary that turned out great ,just want to give this a try. Thanks!

 

[sublxed]

I wanna say thanks for your hard work and love of mead loveofrose, I made 3 one gallon batches, the BOMM, the Cyser and your Orange Spice, all were excellent and powerful. Have you or has anyone experimented with the San Diego Super yeast?

 

[loveofrose]

I wanna say thanks for your hard work and love of mead loveofrose, I made 3 one gallon batches, the BOMM, the Cyser and your Orange Spice, all were excellent and powerful. Have you or has anyone experimented with the San Diego Super yeast?

Not that I know of. I'm gearing up for a new yeast experiment, but I've got to empty a bunch of carboys first!

 

[GreyRaven]

Thank you LoveOfRose for all the work.

I have a traditional BOMM about a week in, and decided to experiment with another one last night with the leftover honey. The new one is based on MeadLover's Winter Mead, using cranberry and apple juices, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. Beautiful red color and vigorously fermenting as of this morning. I'll give updates when they're done, and until then I'm going to keep reading and learning.

I'm particularly interested now in growing yeast to maintain a supply without having to buy a smack pack for each gallon batch. SWMBO is preemptively saying no to new equipment investments, which of course means that I have to figure out a different way to make a go of it.

 

[loveofrose]

Thank you LoveOfRose for all the work.

I have a traditional BOMM about a week in, and decided to experiment with another one last night with the leftover honey. The new one is based on MeadLover's Winter Mead, using cranberry and apple juices, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. Beautiful red color and vigorously fermenting as of this morning. I'll give updates when they're done, and until then I'm going to keep reading and learning.

I'm particularly interested now in growing yeast to maintain a supply without having to buy a smack pack for each gallon batch. SWMBO is preemptively saying no to new equipment investments, which of course means that I have to figure out a different way to make a go of it.

Look on my website for how to make a yeast bank. That alone saves a lot in yeast!

www.denardbrewing.com

 

[TeeJo]

Whups! Gravity says 0.996. Wowsers!

Might come out a little on the dry side....

Nuthin for it but to park it in the basement to sit for the next few weeks and see how it turns out.

TeeJo

 

[Ike]

Noob question incoming!

This is only my second mead. My first was a longer-aging one: brewed in primary, transferred to secondary to clear "newspaper" clear, then bottled as-is and put down for the Big Sleep. Results will be assessed on Christmas Day this year.

For this one, though, I would like to backsweeten. SO, I need to stabilize. No problem there, other than the fact that I'm still in the primary and would like to limit transfers to keep the volume of the batch up since it's only a gallon before trub loss.

OK to stabilize in primary? Just sprinkle it on top without stirring, and hope it mixes appropriately?

OR, do I need to transfer to a secondary, top off with water back to a gallon to limit headspace, then stabilize?

OR, it's been mentioned that meads are oxidation-resistant. OK to go to a secondary and NOT add the water to top off, then stabilize?

THANKS!

<--- mugs of mead!

 

[loveofrose]

Noob question incoming!



This is only my second mead. My first was a longer-aging one: brewed in primary, transferred to secondary to clear "newspaper" clear, then bottled as-is and put down for the Big Sleep. Results will be assessed on Christmas Day this year.



For this one, though, I would like to backsweeten. SO, I need to stabilize. No problem there, other than the fact that I'm still in the primary and would like to limit transfers to keep the volume of the batch up since it's only a gallon before trub loss.



OK to stabilize in primary? Just sprinkle it on top without stirring, and hope it mixes appropriately?



OR, do I need to transfer to a secondary, top off with water back to a gallon to limit headspace, then stabilize?



OR, it's been mentioned that meads are oxidation-resistant. OK to go to a secondary and NOT add the water to top off, then stabilize?



THANKS!



<--- mugs of mead!

To stabilize, you first need active fermentation to stop. This can be through cold crashing or the yeast run out of sugar. It's hard to stabilize a fully active batch of yeast.

Next, rack off of the yeast cake onto your stabilization chemicals. It is always best to reduce headspace with top off. Mead is more forgiving, but it can oxidize.

 

[Ike]

To stabilize, you first need active fermentation to stop. This can be through cold crashing or the yeast run out of sugar. It's hard to stabilize a fully active batch of yeast.

Next, rack off of the yeast cake onto your stabilization chemicals. It is always best to reduce headspace with top off. Mead is more forgiving, but it can oxidize.

Thanks! Yeah, fermentation is caput on this one. Thanks for the "how to!"

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

So I bought everything needed for this mead. The only omission was the Wyeast 1388 as the local homebrew shop is out until the next shipment arrives. The guy there talked me into buying the Wyeast 4347 Extreme Fermentation. Has anyone used this and if so: how did it come out?

 

[loveofrose]

No no no. It won't work with any other yeast. Try it if you wish, but the yeast is the linchpin in the recipe.

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

Thanks dude. I'll order a few packs online. I plan on doing one with straight wild flower honey, another with the same honey but with American oak cubes and the last one with the same honey but with French oak cubes. Should be fun. Thanks for being a kick ass resource for everyone here.

 

[Aristaios]

Made a hydromel bomm SG 1.054 FG 1.000 from 1.5 lbs of honey for a 1 gallon batch. Front loaded all of the nutrients.

Galaxy dry hopped it after primary fermentation.

Then split it into three 22oz bottles to age for 12 weeks.

1. Beer level carbonation
2. Half beer level carbonation
3. No carbonation

The fully carbonated one was the best/awesome, the flat one was not so good and had some nutrient taste to it. For the half carbonated, I tried some, then added another carb drop and conditioned it for another couple weeks and it ended up being not as good as the fully carbed one.

I might try it again front loading with just half the amount of nutrients.

Would it stand to reason that you would only need half the amounts because there is almost half as much honey in this one?

Although I've never tried it, I would front load a hydromel. The yeast will go very fast and be much less stressed.

All mead improves with age. The BOMM is not excluded in this; it just happens to be tasty in a month as well. A BOMM aged for a year is truly amazing.

The BOMM makes great mead with every honey I've tried so far. It shouldn't take any longer to get a good product unless it's a particularly strong tasting honey (Buckwheat and heather honey, for example). Some honeys are just really strong tasting and need to mellow out. I've used orange blossom, Tupelo, sourwood, palmetto, acacia, mesquite, summer berry, Meadowfoam, and a few others with excellent products. All very different!

 

[cmhaynes]

I've decided I wanted to try out the JAO BOMM, and I have a few questions:

1. Are you supposed to degas it the same way you would a regular BOMM?

2. You are fermenting it in the plastic spring water jug, right? What size stopper works with those?

3. Do you ever have issues with blow-off?

Thanks

 

[Ike]

2. You are fermenting it in the plastic spring water jug, right? What size stopper works with those?

One trick I've used is to drill a hole in the lid of whatever jug I'm using (1/2"? 5/8"? can't recall exactly, but it's easy enough to figure out) that will fit the black rubber grommet everybody uses in the lids of their AlePails. Drill, place grommet, insert airlock, and go!

NOTE: make sure the hole you drill is a wee bit bigger than the grommet, so the grommet will fit but still have room to grow when you insert the airlock. First time around with this trick, I cut the holes so the grommet just barely fit and the airlock squeezed the grommet against the cut (metal) edge of the cap enough to cut them pretty much in half.

 

[loveofrose]

I've decided I wanted to try out the JAO BOMM, and I have a few questions:

1. Are you supposed to degas it the same way you would a regular BOMM?

2. You are fermenting it in the plastic spring water jug, right? What size stopper works with those?

3. Do you ever have issues with blow-off?

Thanks

1. Yes.
2. Standard size on Ozarka, other brands have varying sizes. A pin pricked balloon also works.
3. Sometimes. I always ferment in a secondary container to contain the potential mess.

 

[Ike]

... A pin pricked balloon also works....

Superb solution for a low-tech airlock. Talk about a V-8 moment.