Bray's One Month Mead

[brottman]

I did a batch with Costco clover honey. It was hot until about 3 months then suddenly seemed to settle down. Now at 4 months, still a touch hot but improving rapidly.

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

What's the best way to back-sweeten? I've got a wildflower and clover BOMM that I racked today that have both fermented dry. I figure I'll add a couple ounces of honey but I'm more concerned with how to mix it in. I know oxidizing mead is tough but I worry about using my drill powered mixer and introducing too much oxygen at this point. Any tips?

 

[loveofrose]

Just add the honey and wait. It will naturally dissolve. You can gently swirl it with the airlock still on to insure a consistent gravity.

 

[Nimikin]

If you don't have a stir plate, just make a gallon batch and pitch the whole thing BEFORE it ferments to 1.05. Around 2-3 days will be more than enough time to build the yeast numbers up. (Good answer from skydiver, by the way)

Fermaid O produces a more aromatic mead, but the dose is different. You will need 1 TBSP (~10 grams) per addition per gallon. So for 5 gallons, you need 50 grams per addition for a total of 150 grams. I only buy the stuff in kilos as a result.

Fermaid O ferments are slower and it is difficult to hit >15% ABV upon step feeding honey, BUT the quality of the mead is noticeably increased.

To be clear, Fermaid O replaces Fermaid K AND DAP.

Hi. I was getting ready to buy my nutrients for this and this post slightly confused me? Looking at Fermaid O, it has NO DAP. It's recommended dominate is 1.5 g per gallon. It also has half the nitrogen of the Fermaid K. The Fermaid K dosing is 25/12/12 according to the data sheet. Could these be switched in your post, or am I misunderstanding something? Thank you.
Respectfully, Nimikins

 

[loveofrose]

Hi. I was getting ready to buy my. Uterine to for this and this post slightly confused me? Looking at Fermaid O, it has NO DAP. It's recommended dominate is 1.5 g per gallon. It also has half the nitrogen of the Fermaid K. The Fermaid K dosing is 25/12/12 according to the data sheet. Could these be switched in your post, or am I misunderstanding something? Thank you.

Respectfully, Nimikins

DAP is diammonium phosphate. It is a free nitrogen source. Honey is extremely low in nitrogen so you need a supplement. Fermaid O does not have DAP, but it does have free nitrogen in the form of peptides from lysed yeast. The concentration is not nearly as high as purified DAP, hence the need to a a metric ****load of it....BUT the resulting mead is far more aromatic.

The dosing suggested by lallemand is for wine must, which means nothing in mead. Wine must has far more nutrition naturally than honey must and requires much less supplement. I and others at gotmead.com have worked out the optimal dosing for mead, which is what I stated.

 

[Nimikin]

Alright. Thanks for clarifying. I could only find Fermaid O in very small quantities, so I wanted to check before I spent the $$ to get a larger quantity. This will only be my second mead, but I'm really excited to start it.

 

[wkrawul2]

HELP PLEASE! !!

So I just bottled my mead after letting it sit for the recipe time. It tastes like it's carbonated and has not cleared. I never racked it, I allowed it to age/clear in the bucket I used. Do I need to worry about the bottles exploding?!?! If so, is there a way for me to save this three gallon batch? Like pouring the bottles carefully into a carboy and waiting for it to clear. Or is the whole batch now ruined?

 

[loveofrose]

HELP PLEASE! !!

So I just bottled my mead after letting it sit for the recipe time. It tastes like it's carbonated and has not cleared. I never racked it, I allowed it to age/clear in the bucket I used. Do I need to worry about the bottles exploding?!?! If so, is there a way for me to save this three gallon batch? Like pouring the bottles carefully into a carboy and waiting for it to clear. Or is the whole batch now ruined?

Why ever did you bottle before it cleared? Yes, you probably have bottle bombs. Or not. It depends on the final gravity. What was the final gravity?

 

[loveofrose]

This recipe is not based on time. It is based on a final, stable gravity.

 

[wkrawul2]

Last gravity I took was at the final sugar break before letting it sit. I'm emptying all the bottles into a carboy now. They were definitely going to be bombs. Should I add any K Metabisulphite or just let it sit. I'm sorry, I'm completely new to this. This is my second batch ever made

 

[wkrawul2]

What would a "stable" specific gravity be?

 

[IJesusChrist]

What would a "stable" specific gravity be?

When it's stable, I.e. np change over 48 hours

 

[loveofrose]

Sanitize your hydrometer and drop it in. When it is clear and reaches 1.000, then it is safe to bottle.

We all screw up in the beginning. Just keep Mazing!

 

[wkrawul2]

"Np" change? What is that short for?

 

[wkrawul2]

Sounds good. Thank you!

 

[wkrawul2]

So... I also know the other problem. Didn't use wyeast used the equivalent. Brew store woman said she was ordering me wyeast. When I went to pick it up, it was WL equivalent. When I asked about it, they said it was the same yeast as wyeast 1388. They just used a different distributor. I will have to attempt this again when I have the free time, and I'll just get the yeast online. Thanks for the help and info

 

[loveofrose]

Yeah, there is no equivalent. The white labs yeast may have come from duvel brewery, but it is not the same yeast at all.

 

[wkrawul2]

Lying bastards... All because I said I was going to buy it online, and they wanted to keep me going through them. (at least, that specific employee did) Should've known better... ::sigh:: Something else I wanted to ask you, since, I work in the medical laboratory field. SG of 1.000, is the specific gravity of water... How is it that the alcohol can have that SG also? Figured there would be a slight variation. I understand that SG deals with how "concentrated" a liquid is, so I figured in ETOH the fluid would still have a higher SG... Sorry, I'm getting curious on the nerdy end of things. Ha ha ha!

 

[loveofrose]

The SG of pure ethanol is 0.785. If you reach sufficiently high alcohol, your gravity can hit 0.95 as a result of mixed water and ethanol. I've never seen it, but others have reported it.

 

[loveofrose]

For anyone who is interested, I've started a new yeast experiment over at gotmead.com under yeasties and beasties section called Dry yeast BOMM/Aromatic Experiment. Hope to find some new tools (yeast) to add to the arsenal. Enjoy!

 

[Pinchecharlie]

so i having honey bees know that for the most part the honey is capped in the cell at about 18% moister and i read that on average that gives the honey x amount of sp (sorry cant remember exact figure). anyway i harvested about 40 pounds of honey late this year that was a mixture of capped and partially capped honey. I didnt care about selling it as a high moister honey can ferment naturally in storage (a bad ferment). I had this idea that the honey was the perfect candidate for mead as it would be used soon and be mixed with water anyway but now I am wondering with all the specifics of gravity testing is this honey going to have a different sg? does it matter?or is sg just what it is when its measured? meaning add or subtract untill reading correctly? sorry Ive actually never brewed anything before and Iam gearing up for this reciepe soon. thanks charlie

 

[Edbert]

or is sg just what it is when its measured? meaning add or subtract untill reading correctly? sorry Ive actually never brewed anything before and Iam gearing up for this reciepe soon. thanks charlie

You have it right Charlie, SG is starting gravity (sometimes called OG for original), you need to follow a recipe to get the correct SG/OG before pitching (adding) yeast. If your honey has lees moisture than normal then simply adjust the water you add to get within the correct SG range.

When it finishes (the Final Gravity stops moving) you are done. This recipe always finished pretty dry for me with a FG below (sometimes way below) 1.00 which is water. I usually add honey back in for taste, just make sure the yeast is dead or fermentation could start up again and possibly cause bottle-bombs which can be dangerous but are always messy.

 

[Nimikin]

Has anyone else done this with the forbidden fruit yeast?
I added 1 gallon wild flower and 52 oz of clover honey and filtered water to make 6 gallons with a SG of 1.085
I started a starter three days before with 1.5 liters of water and 6 oz of honey and the smacked pack.
Added 3/4 tsp potassium bicarbonate and 6 TBSP Fermaid 0.
Within a few hours had very obvious signs of fermentation, including krausen.
The next morning the krausen had fallen somewhat and it smell really, really bad. Now, 24 hours later the SG is approx 1.06 and I added another 6 TBSP of the Fermaid O.
This is only my third brew, and I have heard that this yeast can be really funky smelling, but that was in the beer side, so I was wondering if anyone else had tried it in a BOMM.

Edit: SG at 1.055 when I degassed tonight. Might have splashed some on myself while degassing. Taste amazing right now, so I'm guessing the horrible smell WAS just sulpher from the yeast.

 

[usmcbalzano]

so I've found the same recipe on a few sites all posted by bray. few say tsp for nutrients other say tbsp. i started my batch with tbsp and half way through decided to look at other sites thats when i sow tsp. can anyone tell me what one it is supposed to be?

 

[loveofrose]

so I've found the same recipe on a few sites all posted by bray. few say tsp for nutrients other say tbsp. i started my batch with tbsp and half way through decided to look at other sites thats when i sow tsp. can anyone tell me what one it is supposed to be?

For 1 gallon batches, it's tsp. For 5 gallon batches, it's TBSP.

 

[Nimikin]

For those looking for Fermaid O, I found it here:
http://dpwigley.com/hoptoit/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=6234
Even with shipping it beat everywhere else hands down.

 

[loveofrose]

For those looking for Fermaid O, I found it here:
http://dpwigley.com/hoptoit/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=6234
Even with shipping it beat everywhere else hands down.

Wow. That is a good price. Thanks!

 

[usmcbalzano]

Im sure its been asked before and im just not seeing it. Can other yeast nutrients be interchangeable? Like fermaid o, fermax, etc. Because for some reason im only finding 80g of fermaid k and most of that is used up in a 5 gal batch. Thanks for the info.

Day 3 on BOMM and its fermenting hard. My buddy thought i said put acid blend in so it has 2 TBSP in it. Hope it does not hurt anything.

 

[loveofrose]

Acid blend is an awful idea. It drops the pH and contributes to stalling. It's an old practice that we now know to be detrimental. In the future, add after fermentation is over IF you think it needs.

I only suggest the Fermaid K + DAP or Fermaid O. The former is in the original recipe, but later l found Fermaid O to be great at 1 TBSP per gallon for each of 3 additions. Yes, it uses a lot!

 

[usmcbalzano]

I will remember no acid for later meads. At k east it didnt hurt this one to much. Day 5 and its at 1.00. Ok just to clear things up do you mean that you dont nead dap if fermaid o is used or that the fermaid k and o are interchangeable with the only difference being O only needs 1 TBSP for each addition to 5 gal. If so then cut 1 gal addition in half as well? Thank you for all your help, this mead is a god send