Hello,
New here. I looked at brewing mead for a very long time, have read Schramm's book more or less cover to cover and done a lot of reading. I started brewing a few batches of mead around two months ago, have 3 small batches in secondary now. On to the main story.
If you get bored easily you can skip the story. And jump the questions.
I started a batch a few days ago. I was aiming to make a raspberry melomel. I was loosely following a recipe and had intended to use raspberries in the primary then changed my mind. I decided it would be better to add the berries for secondary. I however forgot to change yeasts. So the batch is bubbling away right now with Lalvin EC-1118. This is going to end up a lot drier than I had intended, ideally I would have switched to something like 71B, which is what I have used previously. I originally was doing 13lbs of honey in about 5.5 gal. When I added the second stage nutrients today I went ahead and added 2 extra pounds of honey I had left over. so its 15 lbs in approximately 6 gal now. Original SG at pitch was 1.082, I didn't check when I added more honey, but I would guess 1.09 give or take a little.
So my new plan is to let the powerful yeast run wild, ferment as far as it can go then bottle condition to have a nice dry sparkling raspberry melomel. I however an not currently prepared to handle a sparkling mead and had a few questions.
1. How long should I let this go in primary? Previous batches I left the mead alone until there was a significant layer of yeast at the bottom and it was starting to clear. Should I rack sooner onto the berries so they can ferment a little as well?
I plan to rack the majority of the 6 gallons onto around 6 lbs of frozen then thawed raspberries to get a medium fruit flavor and reserve the last gallon or so to add back to the mead if I loose some coming off the berries.
2. How long should I leave it on the berries? I have read anywhere forma week to two, and to wait for the berries to loose their color.
3. I have done some research on bottle conditioning but am a little confused. I plan to use Belgian style beer bottles to cope with the pressure and corn sugar for priming. Is there a table or recommended amount of sugar to use? I am very fond of bubbles, the more the better. I would prefer higher than beer levels.
Any help is greatly appreciated. I think my plan for this batch is sound I just need feedback and a little guidance from the more experienced brewers.
Thank,
pink
New here. I looked at brewing mead for a very long time, have read Schramm's book more or less cover to cover and done a lot of reading. I started brewing a few batches of mead around two months ago, have 3 small batches in secondary now. On to the main story.
If you get bored easily you can skip the story. And jump the questions.
I started a batch a few days ago. I was aiming to make a raspberry melomel. I was loosely following a recipe and had intended to use raspberries in the primary then changed my mind. I decided it would be better to add the berries for secondary. I however forgot to change yeasts. So the batch is bubbling away right now with Lalvin EC-1118. This is going to end up a lot drier than I had intended, ideally I would have switched to something like 71B, which is what I have used previously. I originally was doing 13lbs of honey in about 5.5 gal. When I added the second stage nutrients today I went ahead and added 2 extra pounds of honey I had left over. so its 15 lbs in approximately 6 gal now. Original SG at pitch was 1.082, I didn't check when I added more honey, but I would guess 1.09 give or take a little.
So my new plan is to let the powerful yeast run wild, ferment as far as it can go then bottle condition to have a nice dry sparkling raspberry melomel. I however an not currently prepared to handle a sparkling mead and had a few questions.
1. How long should I let this go in primary? Previous batches I left the mead alone until there was a significant layer of yeast at the bottom and it was starting to clear. Should I rack sooner onto the berries so they can ferment a little as well?
I plan to rack the majority of the 6 gallons onto around 6 lbs of frozen then thawed raspberries to get a medium fruit flavor and reserve the last gallon or so to add back to the mead if I loose some coming off the berries.
2. How long should I leave it on the berries? I have read anywhere forma week to two, and to wait for the berries to loose their color.
3. I have done some research on bottle conditioning but am a little confused. I plan to use Belgian style beer bottles to cope with the pressure and corn sugar for priming. Is there a table or recommended amount of sugar to use? I am very fond of bubbles, the more the better. I would prefer higher than beer levels.
Any help is greatly appreciated. I think my plan for this batch is sound I just need feedback and a little guidance from the more experienced brewers.
Thank,
pink
