double checking calcs, vol, methods, etc.

[thorson138]

Hey all--I put together a traditional mead of between 5-6 gallons on 5-12-10 and I just want to go through the steps I took and see what you all have to say concerning my methods overall. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

I combined 18lbs clover honey with 3 gallons of water and mixed completely

I then added another 1.5 gallons of water for a total of 4.5 gallons water

I then added 2 teaspoons of energizer/nutrient blend, aerated for several minutes with paddle.

Ithen pitched 1 pck D47 wine yeast (dry-no starter) and mixed/aerated for several more minutes.

I put the batch under airlock in ferment bucket.

The next day (5-13) I took a gravity reading as I had forgotten to do it the first day. Gravity was at 1.106 at that time. PABV was 14%.

On the 14th, I added 2 more teaspoons of energizer/nutrient blend, mixed well and lightly aerated for a couple minutes. Ferment was well underway at that time.

On the 16th, I lightly aerated the batch to release gasses.

From there, I checked the gravity on the 18th and got a reading of 1.060, PABV of 8%.

On the 19th, I added 1 teaspoon of energizer/nutrient blend and stirred it in well. This addition makes for a total of 5 teaspoons of the energizer/nutrient blend. The suggested amount to add is approximately up to but not to exceed 1.5 tsp per gallon.

On the 24th gravity had dropped to 1.028 with PABV at 4%.

On 6-2, gravity was down to 1.010 with PABV just above 1%.

On 6-4, gravity was at 1.006--taste actually pretty good. clean and crisp--aside from some heat.

On 6-6, gravity was at 1.004, PABV less than 1%.

On 6-7, gravity unchanged--At this point, I know I probably should have waited, I added sparkalloid to clear the batch.

I have not racked as of yet... My thought was having ferment down to the last bit of activity and the batch being at the gravity I wanted, fining the batch to drop the lees would be ok to do at this point to 1) help slow or stop further ferment 2) clear the batch before transfering to glass for bulk aging 3)keep racking to a minimum to avoid problems that could be associated with that.

I would really like to hear everyones thoughts on how I went about this. Thanks in advance.

 

[Yooper]

I rack when the gravity gets between 1.010 and 1.030ish, and top up. After that, I don't do much to it except rack whenever there are lees 1/4" thick or so, and I keep it topped up to within a couple inches of the bung.

If you haven't racked yet, you may want to do that.

 

[MedsenFey]

It sounds like you should wind up with a nice mead. I usually let them clear on their own before considering fining, but I don't think what you've done will cause any problems. The really challenging part of making a mead starts now (letting it age for the 12-24 months that it needs to truly shine)

 

[thorson138]

Thanks for the replies. I know it needs to age for a decent amount of time... I just like to accomplish everything else in the shortest time possible. I figured if I can get the batch fermented and cleared in the primary before racking into glass for aging it would reduce some of the risk involved in racking the batch back and forth however many times may be necessary to clear it up.

This approach allows me to only rack once, then bottle after aging. It also frees up my primary for another batch much quicker.

 

[thorson138]

Went ahead and racked into glass a couple days ago. Mead is clearing nicely. I'll let it sit for about a month then I'll rack off the lees, then probably right back to the glass for bulk aging.

So much for just racking once I guess

 

[thorson138]

Hey all!

On 7-2, I checked the gravity of this batch just out of curiosity since I could see a regular flow of a few tiny bubbles rising up through the mead. Not enough to cause any substantial airlock activity, just enough to be able to see them. The gravity had dropped down to 1.002--if I'm reading correctly (1 mark above 1.000 even).

Mead was super clear from the sparkalloid I had added with almost no lees at the bottom. Anyway, Here is what I decided to do...

I added in a bag (4lbs) of frozen fruit I got from ye old grocery store consisting of peaches, mangos, strawberries, and pineapple. I let the fruit thaw almost completely before adding it and I just added the fruit into the glass carboy (no brew bag).

What I am hoping to achieve is a somewhat subtle fruit character. I don't want a huge fruit flavor, just wanted to add some color and a little fruit taste that would come across in less than potent way.

I did not add any sorbate to stop further ferment because I figured the yeast was all but done anyway. This batch was already a bit beyond the attenuation expected for D47 before I added the fruit and it hasn't shown ant increase in activity from the time I added the fruit til now, so I'm assuming it probably will not.

Over the last 2 days the color has turned a nice color between purple and red. Almost all of the fruit is floating to the top at this point although a few mangos and pineapples are still at the bottom.

Do you folks believe what I have done will attain what I'm after? In Ken Schramm's book his fruit additions for a mild fruit character suggests using 5-7 lbs (depending on the fruit) for a 5 gallon batch of medium mead and a little less for dry meads. Of course, in his table showing how much of each fruit, he is refering to one fruit or another as opposed to a fruit mixture.

I plan on leaving the fruit in the carboy for a couple weeks and hope to achieve a slight fruit character that people can pick up on and be able to identify if they pay close attention. Let me know what you all think.

Thanks for any replies.