Bray's One Month Mead

[Blacksmith1]

Just to be clear I don't do this during the primary fermentation. but my secondaries always wind up producing some lees.

 

[loveofrose]

I try to rack anytime my lees reach1/4 inch or more (don't always catch it in time) unless the recipe specifically says don't touch it like the JAOM.
If I'm wrong with this one I'm sure Bray will let us know.

No. Do not do this until long after fermentation is complete. If you do so earlier, you are removing a large percentage on your yeast that make alcohol and clean up after themselves after fermentation is complete.

Once upon a time before yeast nutrients, folks did this to avoid off flavors caused by autolysis.
Like many old practices, it is now obsolete.

 

[RTHP99]

Hmm, so I’m still confused . Secondary or not for this recipe?

 

[loveofrose]

Secondary is not necessary, but you can if you are having trouble clearing after a month is finished. I usually don’t bother because I can cold crash clear in primary.

 

[brownni5]

Ok, ready to jump into BOMM. I picked up a pack of 1388 - it's "expired," but not by enough that I don't trust it, so I'm going to make a starter. I would also like to include this in my yeast library for Belgian ales (and if all goes well, BOMMs in the future), so I'm going to overbuild and bank in slants and possibly also frozen. My question is, how many cells/ml of actual healthy yeast do I want for a BOMM recipe? With beer, yeast calculators are pretty straight forward, is it the same with Mead?

 

[NeverDie]

Ok, ready to jump into BOMM. I picked up a pack of 1388 - it's "expired," but not by enough that I don't trust it, so I'm going to make a starter. I would also like to include this in my yeast library for Belgian ales (and if all goes well, BOMMs in the future), so I'm going to overbuild and bank in slants and possibly also frozen. My question is, how many cells/ml of actual healthy yeast do I want for a BOMM recipe? With beer, yeast calculators are pretty straight forward, is it the same with Mead?

yes. The only difference may be the higher OG, and so a correspondingly higher pitch rate than for beer.

 

[loveofrose]

Optimal Wyeast 1388 pitch rate is 100 billion cells per gallon for mead; however, 50 billion per gallon doesn’t make too much of a difference.

 

[Blacksmith1]

I've ben wondering, since there is no way I can count that high, how do I tell my approx cell count.
Currently I'm just waiting till it's cloudy and a bit bubbly and then pitching. I let my last one (a quart for 6 1/2 gal) build for about 12 hrs and it seemed to lag badly took over 24 hrs to get going.

 

[NeverDie]

I've ben wondering, since there is no way I can count that high, how do I tell my approx cell count.
Currently I'm just waiting till it's cloudy and a bit bubbly and then pitching. I let my last one (a quart for 6 1/2 gal) build for about 12 hrs and it seemed to lag badly took over 24 hrs to get going.

It's either based on the age of the yeast packet (a yeast calculator will tell you how many are estimated to still be alive given the number of days after they were manufactuered), or else it's you counting the yeast cells in a diluted sample using a microscope and a hematocrit grid.

 

[stallonelookalike]

Hey! My hydrometer broke just before I was about to start my first BOMM. Is there any way someone could help me get a ballpark timeschedule for when to add my second and third nutrient additions? Live in Sweden and there aren't any homebrewshops near me so I'll have to wait for the mail to get a new one. Probably gonna order two hydrometers this time.

 

[NeverDie]

Hey! My hydrometer broke just before I was about to start my first BOMM. Is there any way someone could help me get a ballpark timeschedule for when to add my second and third nutrient additions? Live in Sweden and there aren't any homebrewshops near me so I'll have to wait for the mail to get a new one. Probably gonna order two hydrometers this time.

Maybe. What temperature are you fermenting at?

 

[stallonelookalike]

70° Fahrenheit.

 

[NeverDie]

70° Fahrenheit.

Oops. A week ago I could have answered, but I lost that info for 1388 when I racked.

Maybe someone else can help you.

However, if you're desperate, I could guestimate based on some other yeasts that I still have sugar break data on.

 

[stallonelookalike]

An estimate would be very helpful.

 

[NeverDie]

An estimate would be very helpful.

OK. If you pitched on day 0, then maybe SB1 on day 3 and SB2 on day 5.

 

[stallonelookalike]

Thank you!

 

[Miraculix]

I would go with day two and three or two and four.

But also based on other yeasts....

 

[NeverDie]

Actually, if you lack a hydrometer but have a digital scale: a pretty accurate method (at least for 1 gallon batches) is to take note of the weight of your honey in grams. Weigh your entire fermentation vessel just after pitching. Then SB1 is when the total weight drops by 10% of the weight of your honey, and SB2 is when the weight drops by 21% of the weight of your honey.

The data supporting all this is posted in a different thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/weighing-your-bomm.663190/ Both I and another forum member have checked this against SG and get the same results. This is all measured on BOMM traditional meads. The type of yeast doesn't seem to matter.

 

[Redeemer]

I've finally come to the end of this thread. It was a journey, and I'm kind of sad I've finished. I've only been a member here a couple of months and the knowledge in here spans years. I've used the BOMM method for all my recent batches, mostly cysers, and am truly blown away. While I agree that yes, the Wyeast 1388 is the linchpin, the method has proven to be an improvement with everything I've made so far since discovering this site. A sincere and heartfelt thanks to Bray, as well as all of the comments and questions from the community, which I myself would have asked.

I've recently washed the 1388 yeast from an apple / pear cyser that turned out amazing, and took one of my jars and began a starter. My thoughts are a blueberry acerglyn though I haven't settled on a recipe.

Bray? Calling Bray. Any thoughts on a BOMBA (Bray's one month blueberry acerglyn)?

 

[NeverDie]

I've finally come to the end of this thread. It was a journey, and I'm kind of sad I've finished. I've only been a member here a couple of months and the knowledge in here spans years. I've used the BOMM method for all my recent batches, mostly cysers, and am truly blown away. While I agree that yes, the Wyeast 1388 is the linchpin, the method has proven to be an improvement with everything I've made so far since discovering this site. A sincere and heartfelt thanks to Bray, as well as all of the comments and questions from the community, which I myself would have asked.

I've recently washed the 1388 yeast from an apple / pear cyser that turned out amazing, and took one of my jars and began a starter. My thoughts are a blueberry acerglyn though I haven't settled on a recipe.

Bray? Calling Bray. Any thoughts on a BOMBA (Bray's one month blueberry acerglyn)?

Sounds enticing. How about you backsweeten with a barrel aged maple syrup (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Crown-Maple-...d+25&qid=1556419623&s=gateway&sr=8-3-fkmrnull)? Perhaps that way, in one stroke, you immediately import the flavor of a barrel aged acerglyn.

I suggest you start a new thread and then link to it from here.

 

[Redeemer]

Good call. Will do.

 

[loveofrose]

I've finally come to the end of this thread. It was a journey, and I'm kind of sad I've finished. I've only been a member here a couple of months and the knowledge in here spans years. I've used the BOMM method for all my recent batches, mostly cysers, and am truly blown away. While I agree that yes, the Wyeast 1388 is the linchpin, the method has proven to be an improvement with everything I've made so far since discovering this site. A sincere and heartfelt thanks to Bray, as well as all of the comments and questions from the community, which I myself would have asked.

I've recently washed the 1388 yeast from an apple / pear cyser that turned out amazing, and took one of my jars and began a starter. My thoughts are a blueberry acerglyn though I haven't settled on a recipe.

Bray? Calling Bray. Any thoughts on a BOMBA (Bray's one month blueberry acerglyn)?

I’m glad this thread has been helpful. There is so much here that I decided to start a website to make the information more manageable, but I’m sure there is more here than I remember.

For For a blueberry acerglyn, I would suggest 4 lbs of blueberries per gallon and back sweeten with the maple syrup. The maple syrup flavor gets lost in Fermentation so its best to backsweeten with it.

 

[Redeemer]

I’m glad this thread has been helpful. There is so much here that I decided to start a website to make the information more manageable, but I’m sure there is more here than I remember.

For For a blueberry acerglyn, I would suggest 4 lbs of blueberries per gallon and back sweeten with the maple syrup. The maple syrup flavor gets lost in Fermentation so its best to backsweeten with it.

Thanks for this advice Bray. I will post a separate thread when I have my recipe finalized, sometime between this Thursday and Saturday. I'm going to do a 5 gallon batch. I've read your Fruit Bomb recipe and specifically thinking about my berry additions. Adding blueberries to the secondary to intensify their flavor. Do you see any arguments against instead, doing a second addition late in the primary and extending it another week or so? I would prefer not having to rack into a tertiary which I would have to do if I added the berries to the secondary.

I like your idea of starting with honey and using the maple just to back sweeten, but I ultimately want to carbonate this. I was thinking 12 lbs of honey up front, and then 2 lbs maple syrup at the first break. I will need to research the sugar content of blueberries to ensure I don't get the gravity too high. Lastly wanted to prime with maple syrup to carbonate. I plan on this being something I can drink young, so will follow the standard protocols so as not to void the warranty.

A couple things I have working against me are, the inability to cold crash 5 gallons, as well as the ambient temp in my office being 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I may have to primary this in my bedroom where its 70 - 74 degrees.

Any and all suggestions and ideas welcome from anyone.

 

[z-bob]

How do y'all bottle mead? Especially 1 gallon experimental batches. Beer bottles with crown caps, even if it's still mead? I have brown wine bottles and corks. But I think smaller bottles might be better for when I open one way too soon (and then open another one a little too soon...)

 

[NeverDie]

How do y'all bottle mead? Especially 1 gallon experimental batches. Beer bottles with crown caps, even if it's still mead? I have brown wine bottles and corks. But I think smaller bottles might be better for when I open one way too soon (and then open another one a little too soon...)

According to rph_guy, if you bottle with a cork and your mead unexpectedly restarts fermentation, resulting in explosive internal gas pressure, it will blow the cork rather than explode your bottle. If that's true, and if it works reliably that way, then, at least to me, that sounds like good insurance against Murphy's Law and the smart way to go.

 

[Maylar]

How do y'all bottle mead? Especially 1 gallon experimental batches. Beer bottles with crown caps, even if it's still mead? I have brown wine bottles and corks. But I think smaller bottles might be better for when I open one way too soon (and then open another one a little too soon...)

One gallon typically yields 4 standard 750 ml wine bottles after racking. If the mead is clear and you've stabilized it with k-meta (or campden) and sorbate, you can just bottle and cork like any wine. I also use 375 ml clear wine bottles and T-corks for short term storage.

 

[Blacksmith1]

A full gallon (I try to start with extra for topping up) gets me five .750 bottles.

 

[z-bob]

I suppose I could do a couple of 750's to set aside for 6 months, and small bottles to open earlier...

I'm planning to start a gallon soon using the BOMM feeding schedule and K2CO3 addition, but I don't have any 1388 yeast so I"m going to use wine yeast; probably Vintner's Harvest AW4 because I have a lot of it. (so it won't be ready in a month, it'll need some aging) Also I'm going to use a pint of clover honey and a pint of homemade dark invert syrup. That should give me an OG of about 1.110. I expect it to end up about 15% ABV and taste like a bochet, but I've never had a bochet before so I guess I don't know what to expect. It'll be kinda dark and boozy. Also a test run before I order the right yeast, some better honey, etc. and try the real thing.

 

[loveofrose]

AW4 is a dry yeast. You should use GoFerm to rehydrate and TOSNA for your schedule. My schedule is for liquid yeast.

 

[z-bob]

AW4 is a dry yeast. You should use GoFerm to rehydrate and TOSNA for your schedule. My schedule is for liquid yeast.

Thanks. I was just going to overpitch the yeast (use a whole packet, rehydrated, for 4 liters of must), but I'll order some GoFerm from Amazon. I will have to look up "TOSNA", I know I've seen that acronym here somewhere.