Bray's One Month Mead

[loveofrose]

1.000 is the gravity of water without any sugar. If your gravity reaches 1.000 or lower, then there is no more available sugar for the yeast to ferment. Bubbles mean next to nothing.

 

[Amphand]

I was wondering more about is there a specific gravity reading you base off to tell when it is finished.

 

[andrewmaixner]

1.000 is the gravity of water without any sugar. If your gravity reaches 1.000 or lower, then there is no more available sugar for the yeast to ferment. Bubbles mean next to nothing.

Well, technically, since ethanol is less dense than water, and there is a significant amount of ethanol after fermentation, the true absolute minimum possible density of a fermented beverage is closer to 0.98ish, if everything in it is fully fermentable.
Very dry wines, or fruit wines that are almost all sugar, can finish that low.

You probably know better than I what the limit is for honey, though, as I presume there is a little non-fermentable stuff in honey. Found one thread in here about it : https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=218544

 

[Amphand]

Would it be better to use super-kleer or bentonite to clear the mead and does anyone know if they affect the taste?

 

[loveofrose]

Would it be better to use super-kleer or bentonite to clear the mead and does anyone know if they affect the taste?

Either will work. I've found cold crashing wastes less mead, but I understand if you don't have the setup.

Yes, they can strip some flavors, but I don't find it particularly noticeable. Don't leave the mead on superkleer too long though (1 month max). It starts to leave a funky flavor if you do.

 

[Mxh5891]

I started a 3 gallon batch of traditional BOMM and followed the recipe to the letter. I followed the one gallon recipe and just added 3 times as much except for the yeast. My question is I didn't make a starter for the yeast. I just smacked the bag and waited 2 hours before adding to my must. It took almost a day for the OG of 1.11 to fall to 1.10. Should I have used a one gallon starter? Or will I be ok with just using the smack pack?

 

[Stephonovich]

After reading this entire thread, plus your blog, I went for it. I used mostly honey from a local bee farm, where they have Tupelo available. That was 12 pounds, and I ended up having to add in another ~3 pounds of some grocery store clover to hit my desired gravity.

Based on the later post discussing WY1388's tendency to chew up precisely 120 points, I opted for a FG of roughly 1.015, and put together 5 gallons at 1.132.

One thing I learned: Wyeast's yeast nutrient (not the smack pack, the powder you can buy) is not the same as Go-Ferm. My starter was completely dead, despite being on a stir plate for 5 days. In an attempt to get it started, I added a pinch of DAP, and it took off within hours.

I used the Fermaid-O method, and have had great success thus far. In three days, gravity has dropped to the 1/3 sugar point; currently at 1.043. With that, a question - since the 72 hour point and 1/3 sugar point coincided, am I done with Fermaid additions? Or should I do another add later?

 

[loveofrose]

I started a 3 gallon batch of traditional BOMM and followed the recipe to the letter. I followed the one gallon recipe and just added 3 times as much except for the yeast. My question is I didn't make a starter for the yeast. I just smacked the bag and waited 2 hours before adding to my must. It took almost a day for the OG of 1.11 to fall to 1.10. Should I have used a one gallon starter? Or will I be ok with just using the smack pack?

While a starter or 2 packs would have been better, it will be fine. It will lag a few days, then take off like a rocket.

 

[loveofrose]

Duplicate post deleted

 

[loveofrose]

After reading this entire thread, plus your blog, I went for it. I used mostly honey from a local bee farm, where they have Tupelo available. That was 12 pounds, and I ended up having to add in another ~3 pounds of some grocery store clover to hit my desired gravity.

Based on the later post discussing WY1388's tendency to chew up precisely 120 points, I opted for a FG of roughly 1.015, and put together 5 gallons at 1.132.

One thing I learned: Wyeast's yeast nutrient (not the smack pack, the powder you can buy) is not the same as Go-Ferm. My starter was completely dead, despite being on a stir plate for 5 days. In an attempt to get it started, I added a pinch of DAP, and it took off within hours.

I used the Fermaid-O method, and have had great success thus far. In three days, gravity has dropped to the 1/3 sugar point; currently at 1.043. With that, a question - since the 72 hour point and 1/3 sugar point coincided, am I done with Fermaid additions? Or should I do another add later?

I'm still in testing with Fermaid O. Three additions seems fine with a 1.100 BOMM. When the gravity is higher, it starts to get dicey on fusel production. You can add more. It won't hurt anything as long as it is clear before you drink it.

 

[Stephonovich]

I'm still in testing with Fermaid O. Three additions seems fine with a 1.100 BOMM. When the gravity is higher, it starts to get dicey on fusel production. You can add more. It won't hurt anything as long as it is clear before you drink it.

Gotcha. Well, while I don't have an A/B test for you, I'm happy to pass on any results or opinions.

 

[Mxh5891]

Had my first mead explosion today when I added my first round of nutriants. For those newbies out there like me don't forget to degas and add them slowly. I was to excited and added them all fairly quickly. It was all good until a gave it a little swirl. Then I had a nice volcano of bubbles for a about a 30 seconds to a minute.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Had my first mead explosion today when I added my first round of nutriants. For those newbies out there like me don't forget to degas and add them slowly. I was to excited and added them all fairly quickly. It was all good until a gave it a little swirl. Then I had a nice volcano of bubbles for a about a 30 seconds to a minute.

Yup, also, you can dissolve the nutrients in water, or small portion of your fermenting mead, then add the solution back to the fermenter

 

[loveofrose]

Had my first mead explosion today when I added my first round of nutriants. For those newbies out there like me don't forget to degas and add them slowly. I was to excited and added them all fairly quickly. It was all good until a gave it a little swirl. Then I had a nice volcano of bubbles for a about a 30 seconds to a minute.

No worries. Until a MEA(mead explosion accident) cost you $5000, you are doing fine. No lie.

 

[Lefou]

I'm going to assume that's the voice of experience taken from a comparatively larger batch!

 

[andrewmaixner]

No worries. Until a MEA(mead explosion accident) cost you $5000, you are doing fine. No lie.

you can't just post that and walk away without telling the whole story....

 

[CanadianJesus]

+1 on last post! Please do tell!

Btw, I'm picking up bottling supplies to bottle the traditional mead I made over the winter on Tuesday. I have read through this entire thread and plan on giving this wonderful recipe a shot as soon as I can get some local honey! I plan on ordering the correct yeast on my next payday.

 

[loveofrose]

I had a 5 gallon batch of tupelo traditional going. I also had a brand new drill powered degasser. I was attempting to degas with the drill degasser and... nothing happen. No bubbles, no activity at all.

Ok. I decided to hit it hard and give full power.

You've seen what happens when you hit the top of a beer bottle with another beer bottle. Science fair volcano gushing, right?

Now imagine that same thing with a 5 gallon bucket WITHOUT THE LID! It just kept spewing like it would never end. Three rolls of paper towels wouldn't even touch it.

It saturated the carpet down to the concrete. Initially, the closet smelled like vanilla sheet cake, but then it started to sour.

No choice but to rip up the carpet. Thing is, it had permeated under the carpet into the living room. Re-carpet everything, right? No, no, no. The wife needed hardwood floors now as recompense.

Thousands of dollars later, I learned the true value of a $5 giant Tupperware secondary container to hold my fermenters. Now, my secondary containers can hold the full contents of any of my brews. Never again!

 

[Mxh5891]

Wow so glad I decided to have my mead fermenting in my basement shower stall. So when I had my small explosion it just went right down the drain.

 

[cozmogeek]

I went to start a couple gallons of this last night (first mead ever, woohoo!) when I realized that my LHBS sold me wyeast 3822 belgian dark strong ale instead of what I had ordered. Has anybody else used this yeast yet? I didn't see it on the Belgian yeast experiment list. I decided to just go for it anyway and see how it turns out.

 

[wkrawul2]

So, I'm planning on using the base bomm recipe to make a cherry melomel. This might be a open question, but, what would be best to use? Real fruit, concentrate, or puree?

 

[cozmogeek]

I just got a small carton of really good blackberries I plan to smash and rack a gallon of this stuff on top of them in a week or two. Is there any general guidelines when is a good time to do that? Prior to this I've only made fruit wines where the fruit is the source of the sugar for the yeast so it goes in at the beginning. I just added my last round of nutrients yesterday so it's 2/3 done.

 

[loveofrose]

I went to start a couple gallons of this last night (first mead ever, woohoo!) when I realized that my LHBS sold me wyeast 3822 belgian dark strong ale instead of what I had ordered. Has anybody else used this yeast yet? I didn't see it on the Belgian yeast experiment list. I decided to just go for it anyway and see how it turns out.

Nope, never tried it. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[loveofrose]

So, I'm planning on using the base bomm recipe to make a cherry melomel. This might be a open question, but, what would be best to use? Real fruit, concentrate, or puree?

I would place it in this order:
1. Real fruit, seeds removed.
2. Purée: Vinters Harvest is great.
3. Concentrate, but make sure there are no preservatives.

 

[loveofrose]

I just got a small carton of really good blackberries I plan to smash and rack a gallon of this stuff on top of them in a week or two. Is there any general guidelines when is a good time to do that? Prior to this I've only made fruit wines where the fruit is the source of the sugar for the yeast so it goes in at the beginning. I just added my last round of nutrients yesterday so it's 2/3 done.

When you add fruit determines the type of flavor you get in your mead. Add to primary for a wine like effect. Add to secondary to preserve the natural fruit flavor. When is best depends on your goals!

 

[cozmogeek]

Secondary it is! I got some rainier cherries and macadamia nuts today that I think I'm going to use for the 2nd gallon. There's a rum made in Maui that has cherry and macadamia and it is my favorite so I figured I'd try something similar with the mead. The lady at the distillery said they put it in a bag and let it steep like a giant tea bag. I am going to try the same thing (crush the nuts and smash up the cherries and let them hang in the mesh bag for a week or two). This is going to be a very expensive gallon.

I decided since I didn't get the right yeast maybe I'll flavor these 2 gallons and try to make some plain mead next time with the proper yeast. There's a bee keeper supply shop a couple miles up the road from me that actually has orange blossom honey (from California) so i'll go refill my jar when these 2 gallons are done and start 2 more.

 

[cozmogeek]

My fermentation seems to have slowed WAY down at 1.030. Even after adding my 3rd dose of nutrients it didn't seem to help. Things are already settling and clearing up. I tried shaking it all up last night and it was all settled out already this morning and it's barely bubbling at all. In the past 4 days or so it's only gone from 1.030 to 1.027. I don't think this yeast of mine is gonna do the job in a month.

 

[loveofrose]

My fermentation seems to have slowed WAY down at 1.030. Even after adding my 3rd dose of nutrients it didn't seem to help. Things are already settling and clearing up. I tried shaking it all up last night and it was all settled out already this morning and it's barely bubbling at all. In the past 4 days or so it's only gone from 1.030 to 1.027. I don't think this yeast of mine is gonna do the job in a month.

Two questions. Is it Wyeast 1388? What is your temperature?

 

[cozmogeek]

Two questions. Is it Wyeast 1388? What is your temperature?

No unfortunately I ordered 1388 and they gave me something else and I didn't realize it until I got home. It is wyeast 3822 belgian dark strong ale.
My house has been about 73 degrees pretty consistently during the time this has been fermenting.

I'm probably going to end up going and ordering the yeast again and starting another batch as soon as this is done... or maybe sooner if this is going to take a while. I just hope it doesn't stop completely.

 

[Stephonovich]

Chiming in with this: I'm also having a slow ferment. I found out that my initial reading 3 days in was way off. I did use 1388, and the temp is about 70 degrees. I started out at 1.132, and depending on whether you believe BeerSmith or Sean Terrill, I'm at either 1.036, or 1.052. Judging by the sweetness, I'm tempted to say it's closer to the former, but still - pretty low, and it hasn't been dropping much every day.

Should I add more nutrients? I rouse it every day. I could also pitch more yeast; I'd just have to build it up.