Bray's One Month Mead

[loveofrose]

TOSNA is fine for a standard BOMM (SG <1.100) with one major adjustment. You need to add upfront, 24 hrs, 72 hrs, and 96 hrs. If you have it, it is best to supplement with GoFerm or Yeast Nutrient upfront to provide vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients.

It will taste very yeasty until the mead is completely clear. This is normal and from the Fermaid O. The ferment will be a little slower, but makes a great product.

 

[onlyjoshin]

Is a tsp of GoFerm up front appropriate?

I forgot to mention, potassium carbonate is hard to come by in Australia. Will I get a similar buffering effect with a tsp of calcium carbonate?

Thanks for your reply!

 

[onlyjoshin]

So after a little more research, (and searching of this thread - sorry I didn't search properly before asking!) I realise that chalk isn't going to cut it.

I'm day 3 of a adjusted TOSNA schedule (as suggested above) and am going to have to get some potassium into the BOMM. All I can source at quick notice is a baking powder substitute, with a mixture of Potassium bicarbonate (501), calcium carbonate (170), monocalcium phosphate (341) - in unknown quantities, although by law, ingredients have to be listed by % weight in Australia....

I was thinking I might 'suck it and see' and add 1 tsp of this.
http://www.lotuspantry.com.au/browser/product.php?sku=456770

A few considerations:
1) Potassium bicarbonate is listed first, so should be more that 1/3 of the ingredients
2) It will be adding some additional chalk - could be a flavour impact
3) I'm not sure what monocalcium phosphate will do - I'm hoping just provide some additional phosphate for the yeast

Can anybody provide any advice on this approach?

@loveofrose - I saw on an earlier post, you mentioned adding a whole banana. Were you serious or just taking the mickey?

Cheers

 

[loveofrose]

I wouldn't add an unknown like that. I would add a banana. Completely serious. See here for other options:
https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Nutrient-fruit/

 

[jblaschke]

Whew! This is a loooong thread to read through! I'm only at the halfway mark, but decided to cut to the chase and add my post.

I came to mead making via homebrew, and for the better part of a decade I made mediocre to awful mead by brewing the same as I had ale. It wasn't until a few years ago--just before BOMM was shared with the world--that I learned degassing and water/ice baths to control fermentation temperature was key to controlling those nasty fusels. If Wyeast 1388 can overcome my hot Texas ambient temperature, I'm all for it!

I started a 3 gallon batch using 2.5 pounds of Walker Honey Farm wildflower honey per gallon (their Dancing Bee Winery makes some nice meads, so hey, who am I to argue?). I started this before I found Bray's 3-gallon recipe variant on page 31, so I simply scaled up from the original recipe: 3/4 tsp of DAP, 2.25 tsp of Fermaid K (my math was off), 2.25 tsp of potassium bicarbonate. I used a homebrew test strip to check acidity, but the strip only went up to 4.4 and the resulting color was a darker blue than the chart showed for 4.4, so I'm guesstimating it's closer to a starting ph of 5. After adjusting for temperature (70F) my og is 1.080, which is a little lighter than my target. Depending on taste at racking, I may or may not add a bit more honey to boost ABV to the 11% range.

I pitched the packet of 1388 after 6 hours, no starter. It's fermenting as aggressively as any must I've had. I degassed five times yesterday, and no matter how hard and long I shook, their was no shortage of CO2. Ditto this morning before work. I've got it next to a window, and the temperature in that corner's remained a consistent 72F thus far. No off odors thus far. I'm approaching 1/3 sugar break, so I'm torn whether to up the nutrient addition to match Bray's 3-gallon recommendations or stick with my original schedule.

I plan on ultimately metheglin-izing this, improving on a recipe that got favorable evaluation at the Texas Mead Fest a few years back. Can I say I'm really, really excited about the potential of 1388? Heat's been my biggest problem during fermentation and this might well be my golden ticket. I wonder if the folks at Wyeast have noticed an uptick in orders for this strain?

 

[loveofrose]

I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the recipe. The BOMM was born in Texas (I'm north of Dallas) so you should be fine. If you need metheglin ideas, check these recipes:
https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/category/mead/

 

[jblaschke]

I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the recipe. The BOMM was born in Texas (I'm north of Dallas) so you should be fine. If you need metheglin ideas, check these recipes:
https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/category/mead/

Thanks. I'm working on a very specific recipe of my own devising I haven't encountered elsewhere. I'll share when I get to that stage. At the moment, I'm just giddy at having something fermenting that doesn't need to be babied with an ice bath!

 

[jblaschke]

Hit the 1/3 sugar break yesterday with a 1.054 sg reading. Gave nutrient additions of .75 tsp of DAP, 2.25 tsp of Fermaid K. For the record, I pitched Friday night around 11 p.m., so I hit the first sugar break at less than three days. I expected the ferment to go a bit slower, seeing as how I did a straight pitch and didn't make a starter, but the yeasties don't seem to be phased in the slightest.

Temperature's consistently in the 70-72F range. I'm degassing 3-4 times daily, but no matter how long I shake there's always more CO2 blowing out. Strong yeast smell, and no off odors thus far.

 

[jblaschke]

Bang! Zoom! This yeast is fast. My sg reading tonight was 1.020, meaning the must hit the 2/3 sugar break of 1.027 this morning sometime. I degassed and pitched .75 tsp of DAP--getting close to that 9% cutoff, but not quite there yet, I think--and 1.25 tsp Fermaid K because that's all I had left. Temperature is 69F. Ph is 3.6. I hope that's enough nutrition to keep it from stalling out, but inertia is strong in this one. If anything, I feel it's speeding up.

I took a taste, and even at this stage I can say this is the best mead I've ever made. Very clean and smooth, non fusels at all (and I know from fusels). It was floral, lightly sweet with strong citrus overtones. It was somewhat effervescent despite the degassing, so I wonder if that contributed to the citrus?

I'm keeping a close eye on it to watch for any signs of stalling out. If it continues at this pace, the ferment should be done by Friday. Wow! If so I'll rack to begin metheglinizing it, and hopefully start an Abbaye BOMM, as I do love me some complex Belgians.

 

[jblaschke]

Less than 24 hours later sg reading is 1.004. Temperature of must is 69F. Citrus still predominates the taste, with some yeastyness creeping in. It's a little hot, with a faint hint of fusels. I guess the 1388 wasn't entirely happy with my skimping on the Fermaid K this last feeding. Absolutely no sign of this one stalling out. I expect it'll finish up sometime tonight at this rate. Fastest ferment I've ever seen.

 

[loveofrose]

So what's the metheglin idea. I would be pretty shocked if I haven't heard of it. Always happy to be surprised though!

 

[jblaschke]

So what's the metheglin idea. I would be pretty shocked if I haven't heard of it. Always happy to be surprised though!

Ice wine tea metheglin. Taking the notes I got from the Texas Mead Fest judging and hoping to improve upon it. The base mead already is an improvement!

 

[loveofrose]

Are you freeze concentrating to make it like a sweet tea or just using tea for tannins? What kind of tea?

 

[jblaschke]

Nope, even simpler than that. A few years ago we visited Vancouver on vacation, and found amidst the ubiquitous, pre-bagged maple teas, ice wine tea. It's black tea infused with the frozen juice of reisling grapes, as I understand it. Pre-fermented ice wine, as it were. It's a curious, light, spicy flavor.

I had a gallon of mead I'd steeped some vanilla beans in for a month or so, but when I tasted it, well, the whole thing was lacking. Not bad, but terribly bland and insipid. I needed to do something with it, so I remembered that tea and tossed in a bag, again, for a month. I was pretty much amazed by the results. Sort of earthy, but a crisp, bright earthy, if that makes any sense. It didn't really taste like ice wine. Didn't really taste like anything I'd ever had before, really. Unfortunately, I used gelatin to clear it, and that stripped out what modest tannins were present and, well, if it didn't render it one dimensional, it reduced it to two dimensions. I plan on oaking it with some Hungarian oak and am seriously toying with adding some grains of paradise as well to round out the flavor profile. Sounds odd but I think that'd work if not overdone. Ultimately, it's going to be either dry or off-dry. I think it can carry the mead without much sweetness at all, but that's a call I'll make as I taste its progress. I plan on bottle conditioning some to see how it works as a sparkling mead as well.

EDIT: Turns out I'm a liar. The ice wine tea I'm using isn't the standard infused black tea, but rather infused herbal tea from Canada True. Herbal teas included are rooibos, rosehip, hibiscus. I find this amusing, because I'm not normally a rooibos fan.

 

[jh7]

One month today. Damn this is good. It's ONE YEAR good. Thank you, Brey. VERY much appreciate your diligence, and sharing. Peace to you in the New Year!

 

[Far-Strider]

Hey, I was wondering if the BOMM method would also work for making a burnt honey bochet?

 

[loveofrose]

Yep. Bochets are a go! For easy and safety, I suggest cooking the honey a few hours in a crockpot. Too burned gives an acrid flavor. You are shooting for a light colored honey to turn amber.

 

[cozmogeek]

I shared a bottle of my first BOMM (orange blossom, sweet) yesterday. It has changed a lot since I started it back in May last year (bottled in June). It is pretty damn tasty and so far everybody that likes sweet wines has enjoyed it.

We also tried a bottle of my blueberry which was really gross when I bottled it in September. It too was surprisingly good. I think I need to go visit the local honey shop and start some more batches!

 

[Skyforger]

Thank you for all the time you put into answering questions Bray! I haven't the time right now to read the entire thread, so I'm sorry if this is redundant, but a gluten allergy makes me unable to use WYeast starters directly. Is there any good solution for this we've found, or is it best to just ramp up and wash the 1388 a few times to remove the malt residue?

Also, one of the main concerns I had which drove me to attempt to read the whole thread was that the recipe may have been refined and updated later on. A link to your website, bringing me to the up-to-date recipes, alleviated this concern. Is it possible to edit the original post with a link there so other new readers can benefit the same way?

 

[loveofrose]

Thank you for all the time you put into answering questions Bray! I haven't the time right now to read the entire thread, so I'm sorry if this is redundant, but a gluten allergy makes me unable to use WYeast starters directly. Is there any good solution for this we've found, or is it best to just ramp up and wash the 1388 a few times to remove the malt residue?

Also, one of the main concerns I had which drove me to attempt to read the whole thread was that the recipe may have been refined and updated later on. A link to your website, bringing me to the up-to-date recipes, alleviated this concern. Is it possible to edit the original post with a link there so other new readers can benefit the same way?

To remove starter gluten, you have 2 options:
1. Wash the yeast as you suggest.
2. Streak on LB agar plates or store on slants.

Unfortunately, this forum does not allow me to edit any post. I would have done so long ago if it did.

 

[Far-Strider]

Yep. Bochets are a go! For easy and safety, I suggest cooking the honey a few hours in a crockpot. Too burned gives an acrid flavor. You are shooting for a light colored honey to turn amber.

I have a fairly unused crock pot. How long should I suspect to cook the honey, and would low temp be better suited as not to overly burn the honey?

 

[Skyforger]

Thank you! It's a bit of a nuisance but once I have a yeast culture going it'll be good. Wasn't able to find Fermaid K or bulk orange blossom honey locally today, I'm trying to figure out if I should go for broke and get a 60lb bucket of honey at lower per-pound cost or if that would be a tad ambitious haha. Does anyone know any particular sources to check out?

Also, what's up with Fermaid O? I see it referenced everywhere wrt this topic but it's not part of the prescribed method here.

 

[loveofrose]

This recipe was worked out before Fermaid O existed. My test with Fermaid O have not yielded consistent result with liquid yeast, therefore, I don't recommend it.

For dry yeast, the TOSNA protocol works great.

 

[loveofrose]

How long to cook honey? Until it is a rich amber color. I dip a drop on a paper plate over time until in looks right.

 

[gfxprotege]

deleted

 

[buckhorn]

I have read this entire thread over the last week -- a lot of good info here, thanks. Now I have my questions.....

cozmogeek - you stated the following:

I shared a bottle of my first BOMM (orange blossom, sweet) yesterday. It has changed a lot since I started it back in May last year (bottled in June). It is pretty damn tasty and so far everybody that likes sweet wines has enjoyed it.

Do you have details of this batch (OG,FG, did you backsweeten, carbonate...)?

I like my wines sweet and do not like the taste of beer at all - I am wanting to try this recipe, but have some questions in my mind on how exactly I want to proceed. Your batch sounds like what I am looking for so any brew- notes you have will help me.

LoR - Thanks for your efforts and knowledge.
In the thread a couple times you referenced higher OGs than ~1.1 -- To do the sweeter mead can I start at these higher OGs, or will the yeast just adapt and make a higher ABV% and still end up dry? Am I better to plan on fermenting dry, then back sweetening to be sure? (Note: I really don't want to step feed at this point as I am not looking to increase ABV, just residual sugars)

I would like to experiment with the carbonation tablets - but don't know a lot about them. For anyone that has used them - Am I able to use K-Meta/Sorbate to halt fermentation and still use the tablets, or will the Sorbate counteract the tablet? Am I better to just klear/cold crash then rack and bottle with tablet not using the chemicals?

At some point in the future, I would like to do experiments with fruits.... I have only done wines where I have placed the fruit into the primary and I am looking to get a more direct/controlled fruit flavor. I am thinking I could make a BOMM and then rack onto the fruit for a week or two -- am I thinking on the correct lines, or is there a better way?

Thank Everyone for their time and knowledge.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Drank the last bottle from my first batch (by-the-book recipe), at 1.5 years old now. It had definitely changed, in a good way. I'll have to make 5gal batches now instead of 1 or 2, so there is more to age out that long.

 

[cozmogeek]

I have read this entire thread over the last week -- a lot of good info here, thanks. Now I have my questions.....

cozmogeek - you stated the following:

Do you have details of this batch (OG,FG, did you backsweeten, carbonate...)?

I like my wines sweet and do not like the taste of beer at all - I am wanting to try this recipe, but have some questions in my mind on how exactly I want to proceed. Your batch sounds like what I am looking for so any brew- notes you have will help me.

I back sweetened with more of the orange blossom honey after it was done. I put 2 or 3 tablespoons or so of honey into each bottle during bottling rather than trying to sweeten the entire batch at once and having to dissolve all the honey before knowing if it was sweet enough.

My starting gravity was 1.080 and it ended up right about 11% ABV. If you saw my previous comment I thought it had kind of a beer taste to it but that seems to have aged out after waiting 6 months after bottling.

I'm going to start another 3 or 5 gallon batch sometime in the next few days. I think if you're not going to add fruit or anything you want to make sure to start with a tasty honey. The orange blossom is a lot tastier than clover or wildflower honey.

 

[loveofrose]

I have read this entire thread over the last week -- a lot of good info here, thanks. Now I have my questions.....



cozmogeek - you stated the following:



Do you have details of this batch (OG,FG, did you backsweeten, carbonate...)?



I like my wines sweet and do not like the taste of beer at all - I am wanting to try this recipe, but have some questions in my mind on how exactly I want to proceed. Your batch sounds like what I am looking for so any brew- notes you have will help me.



LoR - Thanks for your efforts and knowledge.

In the thread a couple times you referenced higher OGs than ~1.1 -- To do the sweeter mead can I start at these higher OGs, or will the yeast just adapt and make a higher ABV% and still end up dry? Am I better to plan on fermenting dry, then back sweetening to be sure? (Note: I really don't want to step feed at this point as I am not looking to increase ABV, just residual sugars)



I would like to experiment with the carbonation tablets - but don't know a lot about them. For anyone that has used them - Am I able to use K-Meta/Sorbate to halt fermentation and still use the tablets, or will the Sorbate counteract the tablet? Am I better to just klear/cold crash then rack and bottle with tablet not using the chemicals?



At some point in the future, I would like to do experiments with fruits.... I have only done wines where I have placed the fruit into the primary and I am looking to get a more direct/controlled fruit flavor. I am thinking I could make a BOMM and then rack onto the fruit for a week or two -- am I thinking on the correct lines, or is there a better way?



Thank Everyone for their time and knowledge.

For your sweet mead question, you can either max out ABV tolerance or stabilize as you suggest. Here is a post of rules I use for Wyeast 1388:

BOMM Gravity and Nutrient Update

After much research (tasty research), I've established some guidelines for Wyeast 1388 to make mead making easier/faster (read "I got sick of step feeding).

It seems Wyeast 1388 alcohol tolerance in mead is 15.7-16% ABV. Using this knowledge, I've been adding more and more honey upfront to see if the yeast would remain clean. I'm very happy to say that it does. Below is a chart of starting gravities and where Wyeast 1388 will stop. Keep in mind it's alway plus or minus a few points.

Original Gravity -> Finish Gravity
1.120 or less -> 1.000
1.130 -> 1.010
1.140 -> 1.020
1.150. -> 1.030

If you add more honey upfront, you need to adjust your nutrient timing. Since 1388 eats through 120 points, it's always subtraction of 40 points per addition. See chart below:

Nutrient Addition Timing Adjustments
1.120 - Add upfront, 1.080 & 1.040.
1.130 - Add upfront, 1.090 & 1.050.
1.140 - Add upfront, 1.100 & 1.060.
1.150 - Add upfront, 1.110 & 1.070.

Same amount of nutrients per standard recipe, just different gravity addition times.

Hope that helps others. I know I've enjoyed this!


For your fruit question,you can add either upfront or rack in fruit after fermentation. Or both if you want a fruit blast. It yields different flavors depending when you add fruit. Experiment!

 

[loveofrose]

Addendum: If you stabilize with chemicals, be sure to cold crash first.