Brewing mead: Controlling alcohol percentage? Grapefruit flavouring?

[Ymir]

I'm getting ready to brew a batch of mead. This will be my second attempt; I botched the first one by taking advice from too many people. Though essentially the big mistake there was that someone told me I'd used enough honey to make three batches, and I ended up diluting it so that what would have been perhaps 33 bottles became 89. A couple of people praised the end product, but I suspect they were just being nice.

So. This time I'm going to be considerably more cautious, stick to one recipe, and not listen to too much advice.

But... one piece of advice I do need: I'm going to add grapefruit to modify the flavour. I've got three grapefruit here. My plan is to mutilate them and drop them in. But, is there such a thing as too much grapefruit? Is there any danger that I'll increase the acidity to a point where it interferes with the fermentation process?

Also, I'm aiming for just slightly under 15% alcohol. My earlier attempt came out at 7%, so about halfway to my target. Is there any way I can fine-tune the alcohol percentage?

 

[Barzahl]

To fine tune abv you need to measure the specific gravity of your must either with a hydrometer or refractometer, since there's an abv target you're trying to to hit we'll assume your must ferments to a final gravity of 1.00 you take your current gravity let's say it's 1.2 subtract from it your hypothetical final gravity, 1.2 - 1 = .2 then multiply it by 131.25
.2 x 131.25 = 26.25 and that's your potential abv, obviously if you overshot like that you would have to dilute it a good way to avoid that is to use a mead calculator https://gotmead.com/blog/the-mead-calculator/ as a starting point (it won't be perfect because the amount of sugar in honey varies a bit) than take gravity readings and adjust if it isn't close enough for your liking. Another thing to bear in mind is that yeast doesn't always hit the alcohol tolerance listed on the packet sometimes it stops early others it can go past

 

[Rish]

The ppg of honey is about 35 so 3# of honey in a 1 gallon must will give you an SG of about 1.105 for about 13.8% abv. As @Barzahl pointed out, honey can vary in sugar content so you need to check the SG if you can. For the grapefruit, if you use the rind you may get some bitterness from the pith. What I would suggest (and what I do when flavoring mead) is that you let fermentation finish then juice the grapefruit and add the juice to your mead in the fv. You can taste as you add so you don't over do it. This will also prevent flavor and taste loss occur during vigorous fermentation. Then give it more time to ferment out the sugar in the juice. Good luck!

edit: You can also add the zest, just avoid the white pith which will add bitterness.

 

[Ymir]

Thanks guys. I'm hunting for a basic recipe to use now. The bucket seems to hold 30 liters max, so I'll aim for five gallons.

Now I'm not up on all the abbreviations common to brewing, so I'll be researching those right away. Like I'm pretty sure ppg isn't parts per gazillion, heh heh.

 

[Rish]

@Ymir , you might have already found these but just in case:

https://www.omnimead.com/us-mead-recipes
This is the website of Dr. Bray Denard, a mead maker who is very well known and respected in the mead making world.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forums/mead-recipes.80/
This is the HBT mead recipe forum.

 

[nashiora]

I've only ever done fruit in primary fermentation so far, but I'm planning to switch to racking a traditional, or nearly, onto the fruit/syrup/juice for secondary fermentation for future batches to compare. I'm more likely to say that's a good idea for fruits with higher acidity, just in case.

I really liked doing strawberry and blueberry syrups, just throwing all the fruits in a big pot over medium low heat and gently pressing the juice out, straining out larger solids and seeds as best I could and saving the thick syrup, no additional sweeteners or flavors, to go in the must. I don't know how that works for larger fruits like oranges or grapefruits yet, I'd probably peel them and do the same to just the insides. You might also try zesting the grapefruit, leaving the white pith alone, and adding the zest in separate to the fruit's meat/the syrup you make from it if you go that route.

Either way, try to keep it simple. Don't try too many things, pay attention to just a couple of variables. 3lb per honey per gallon of mead, and the 3 grapefruit sounds like more than enough. Try it in primary, secondary or "both" (depending on when you rack and where if you draw a line) and just take note of it.

Good luck!

 

[Ymir]

So, for my first batch, I'm not going to try fine-tuning the alcohol level; I'm just going to try to produce something drinkable.

I believe I first started this batch a couple of days after making my first post. I did not get hold of a hydrometer until just recently. I've already transferred the mead from the bucket to a carboy, where it's bubbling steadily. Is it a bit late in the game to attempt to use the hydrometer effectively?

 

[nashiora]

So, for my first batch, I'm not going to try fine-tuning the alcohol level; I'm just going to try to produce something drinkable.

I believe I first started this batch a couple of days after making my first post. I did not get hold of a hydrometer until just recently. I've already transferred the mead from the bucket to a carboy, where it's bubbling steadily. Is it a bit late in the game to attempt to use the hydrometer effectively?

If you share the base of your recipe, we can maybe help you estimate the original gravity so you can still get an approximate ABV using the hydrometer now. For example, 3lb honey per gallon of must has a gravity of approximately 1.100. Depending on how much grapefruit you added, if you did, we could roughly estimate on top of that. It won't be perfect, but it might still be useful; you're not doing something commercial, after all, so a rough number is better than no number for thinking about your next batch.

Even in the absence of an original gravity, the hydrometer reading can tell you approximately how much sugar there is anyway. you can judge its sweetness with your tongue, obviously, but seeing how dry it is could be useful.

 

[Ymir]

Four litres of raw honey in about five gallons of water (sorry about mixing metric and standard measures, everything is marked differently around here).

I sprinkled in some grapefruit zest a few days after starting the brew.

 

[nashiora]

Four litres of raw honey in about five gallons of water (sorry about mixing metric and standard measures, everything is marked differently around here).

I sprinkled in some grapefruit zest a few days after starting the brew.

If I did my conversions right (4 liters of honey to about 12.27 pounds?), I'd guesstimate the original gravity around 1.083 for the honey if it's 5 gallons *total*, not 5 gallons of water *plus* the 4 liters of honey. If it's actually 5 gallons of water, then it's lower at around 1.068.

 

[Ymir]

The heck of it is, I don't even remember which it was. But I'm guessing I put in the four litres of honey, and then filled the bucket with water to the 5 gallon line. So, 1.083 is more likely to be accurate. Thank you!

 

[Ymir]

Now, I moved the brew from bucket to carboy, with zero airspace between the brew and the bung; there's still a constant flow of bubbles streaming up - kind of beautiful to watch. Is there a point at which it will stop bubbling; would that be indicative of yeast exhaustion? Would the brew be ready before or after that point, if it occurs?

 

[nashiora]

Lots of bubbles is a good indicator that fermentation is happening, but it can degas for a while after the yeast are (mostly) done. Use your hydrometer, take readings every two to three days. when the readings are stable for a week or two, and at a gravity you're expecting, then you can assume it's done fermenting. If your gravity is still high, the fermentation may have stalled. Basically, it'll be good to constantly keep an eye on it if you're unsure.

Worth noting: if our original gravity estimate is accurate at 1.083, you're going to expect not much more than 11% ABV. If you'd like, you should still be fine to add more honey to increase that number, so long as your yeast can handle higher ABV. What yeast are you using?

If you do want to try for closer to 15%, you'll want to raise our estimated original gravity to at least 1.110 for an estimated 14.5%. That's an addition of 0.027, maybe 3 to 4 more pounds of honey (about a liter, let's guess). Since you don't have any room to do that, you'd have to remove some liquid first. Maybe the 11% will have to be fine

 

[Ymir]

Yeah, this is a test brew. I'll aim for my precision alcohol level in a later brew, when I'm a bit more sure of what I'm doing.

 

[Ymir]

Erm, so I dropped the hydrometer in and it floated at the "10" mark. Well it says "10" on the one side, there's a "40" pretty close on the other side.

 

[Raptor99]

Post a picture so we can help you read it. I think you want a picture of the side showing the "10"

 

[Ymir]

Here's a few pics, including another side I just spotted, which has a "5%" near the "10".

 

[Raptor99]

The scale you want to use is the one labeled Sp.G for Specific Gravity. The line near the top labeled "000" is for SG 1.000, which is pure distilled water. Reading downward, the 10, 20, 30, etc. represent 1.010, 1.020, etc. At the very top is "990" which stands for 0.990. That would be near the SG of a finished wine dry, because the ethanol has a lower SG than water, so adding ethanol causes the SG to be lower than 1.000.

 

[nashiora]

So you're probably looking at 1.040, if I understood your description properly. Double check your measurement now that Raptor has explained just to be sure.

 

[bwible]

As previously said, most people talk about mead making in pounds per gallon (ppg) in the US. An important distinction I didn’t see previously mentioned is its pounds IN a gallon, not pounds PLUS a gallon.

In the US we get honey in different size packages, usually a quart, half gallon or a gallon. A quart jar holds 3 pounds of honey. Note that if you mix a quart jar of honey with a gallon of water, your total volume will be 1.25 gallons, not one gallon. This affects the gravity and thats why you need to use the hydrometer. That and honey can vary as mentioned.

First thing you usually do is decide how much mead you want to make. There are people here making 1 gallon batches, 3 gallon batches, 5 gallon batches, etc. Then you decide how strong you want it to be. This will determine how many pounds you use IN each gallon. Figure all your measures from there. As was mentioned, 35 is a good estimate of the gravity of one pound of honey in one gallon of water.

Remember that ciders and meads, unlike beer, ferment all the way to 1.000 or under, 0.998 etc. Here is an online calculator for gravity and alcohol %:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/

For flavorings, grapefruit or otherwise, check out Apex flavors. They make hundreds of flavors specifically for the alcoholic beverage industry that can be used in beer, mead, cider, wine, or even to make your own hard seltzer or flavored vodka:

https://www.apexflavors.com/Beverage-Industry

This is a great book to learn all about mead:

https://www.brewerspublications.com...ch-to-award-winning-fruit-and-herb-variations

 

[Ymir]

Well, with four litres of honey, and apparently a litre of honey weighs about 3.16 pounds, so I guess that's 12.64 pounds of honey, with the rest of the bucket filled to the five gallon mark.

 

[bwible]

So 12.64 pounds x 35 points per pound = 442.4 / 5 gallons = roughly 1.088

If that ferments to zero it would be right about 11.5%

 

[Ymir]

That sounds pretty darn good for a test brew. I intend to be much better prepared for the next batch!

 

[Ymir]

I gotta say, I'm used to VBulletin forums and I don't much care for the "quote" function on this forum. It never seems to show the person's quote when I hit the "Quote" button.

 

[nashiora]

I gotta say, I'm used to VBulletin forums and I don't much care for the "quote" function on this forum. It never seems to show the person's quote when I hit the "Quote" button.

I've never used the "+Quote" button itself, only the reply + edit what I want quoted; but for this one, I tried it. Clicking "+Quote" adds a button next to "Attach files" and "Upload Video" and from there I was able to insert the quote.

 

[Raptor99]

Highlight text, click the Quote popup, then when you want to paste it into your message, Click on the Insert quotes button below your message. Like this:

I don't much care for the "quote" function on this forum

 

[Ymir]

The specific gravity is at the 20 mark, so 1.020 I guess? Is going from 1.040 to 1.020 an improvement? The brew is still bubbling steadily.

 

[Rish]

Yep, that is definitely what you want to see. I'd check it occasionally until you get 2 or 3 readings that are the same, somewhere around 1.000. You should then be ready to package.

 

[Ymir]

Got three brews on the go at once: this mead, a red wine, and a crabapple cider. They're at 1.020, 1.010 and 1.002 respectively.

 

[Ymir]

Well, I think I goofed up. The hydrometer reading seemed to stabilize and I bottled everything. But, now the mead is bubbling in the bottles, and, well, long story short, I've got corks bouncing off the ceiling. I guess I better put it all back in the carboy.