First attempt at making mead - JAOM

[skadalajara]

The temperature drop will cause a negative pressure differential. If you're using a glass jug that juice might gave come in, a cap is probably good. The pressure drop will pull some CO2 out of suspension.
When I've cold crashed, I've used a cap without issue.

 

[Maylar]

A cap should be OK.

 

[NyQuil]

SG was holding at 1.020:

So I capped the carboy and threw it in the fridge. It'll stay in there and I'll bottle Monday afternoon.

Obligatory taster glass:

 

[TandemTails]

You've been taking a heck of a lot of samples to measure the gravity. Are you pouring it back into the carboy afterwards? Otherwise it seems like you'd only have enough left for one bottle at the end, haha.

 

[NyQuil]

Yeah I sterilize everything so it goes back inside the carboy after taking the gravity. When I drink a sample its only a little bit.

 

[NyQuil]

It has cleared enough to bottle.

Stay tuned to either tonight or tomorrow for the finished product.

 

[NyQuil]

Bottling Day!

I got 3.5 bottles of delightful mead. The three that are labeled will go into the basement and stand head up for three days before laying on their sides for the next six months.

The half bottle shall get the same treatment but will be drank a little more raw when Fall hits.

 

[Maylar]

Awesome! So by your time line, you're start to finish in about 75 days right? Did you rack to secondary at all, or bottle from the primary?

They say that the lees are fluffy and easily disturbed, you gotta be careful when handling. I've been curious about what the yield would be once it's racked off the sediment and fruit. Thanks for that. Also will be curious to see if any more sediment will fall in those bottles, or if you managed to stay clear of it when bottling.

I'm about a month behind you with my first mead. It's pretty much following yours as far as clearing and time line. I'm hoping to have it ready by Thanksgiving.

Nice labels BTW. What did you use for them?

And thanks for the updates, it gives us an idea of what to expect.

 

[NyQuil]

I'll answer this all later, but I used Power Point to make the labels and then sticky printer paper.

 

[NyQuil]

Awesome! So by your time line, you're start to finish in about 75 days right? Did you rack to secondary at all, or bottle from the primary?

Yep today would be day 76. I racked it after 63 days in to a new carboy. The one thing I could have done was added some spring water but I did not. A week after racking the SG was the same as the day I racked which to me meant fermentation was over. Bray (loveofrose) also told me that a SG of 1.020 is in the finish range for JOAM. I put it in the fridge for a few days just to be sure. I took it out of the fridge and let it clarify and then I did not move the carboy until I bottled.

They say that the lees are fluffy and easily disturbed, you gotta be careful when handling. I've been curious about what the yield would be once it's racked off the sediment and fruit. Thanks for that. Also will be curious to see if any more sediment will fall in those bottles, or if you managed to stay clear of it when bottling.

This is why I put the carboy in the spot where I was going to bottle when I took it out of the fridge. The lees from the bread yeast are very fluffy, the D47 in my Raspberry Melomel are much better at staying on the bottom. As far as volume I got approximately 1900 ml which is around a half of a gallon. Bear in mind since I was using a 1 gallon carboy I wasn't able to add a full gallon when I started. Also, like I said, I didn't fill the carboy with water after racking. I guess we will see what happens if any sedement falls in the bottles but they are look crystal clear.

I'm about a month behind you with my first mead. It's pretty much following yours as far as clearing and time line. I'm hoping to have it ready by Thanksgiving.

Just remember that your initial JAOM will have some bite to it before it ages. However the spices are on point for what you want for Thanksgiving.

Nice labels BTW. What did you use for them?

As I said I used MS Power Point. Switch the orientation in to "Portrait" mode and follow the instructions here:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItIDu4R1z0c[/ame]

I have a different version of Office than the author so I had to do some search but was able to find all the features.

And thanks for the updates, it gives us an idea of what to expect.

Glad to help!