Also, first post!
I started my first ever batch of any ferment-able drink on August 17th. It was bottled on September 23rd, a little over 5 weeks from start to finish. I plan on letting it age a couple of months before opening a single one for consumption, and track how the aging changes the taste as the months go by.
Here is my recipe/method:
I used 15 pounds of local sourced mixed flower honey (Fall harvest from last year and pretty dark), 4 gallons of water, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, and Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast. I step-fed the honey and staggered nutrient additions as follows:
I degassed/aerated every day when I added the honey or nutrient and energizer and a day after that. By day 9, the gravity had gone from 1.108 to 1.002. I racked the mead into a carboy, where it quickly finished out to .996. A week later, I racked the mead off the lees (about an inch had formed) and added k-meta and k-sorbate. Last week, I racked the mead again (it was starting to get decently clear) and threw the carboy in the fridge. I cold-crashed the mead for 6 days, racked it into a primary bucket, and bottled it. I got 19 bottles total, all crystal clear.
- Day 1 - 4lbs of Honey, 4 gallons of water, 1/5 of total nutrients/energizer, yeast
- Day 2 - 1/5 of total Nutrients/energizer
- Day 3 - 4 lbs of Honey
- Day 4 - 1/5 of total Nutrients/energizer
- Day 5 - 4 lbs of Honey
- Day 6 - 1/5 of total Nutrients/energizer
- Day 7 - Last bit of honey (3 lbs)
- Day 8 - Last bit of nutrients/energizer
I degassed/aerated every day when I added the honey or nutrient and energizer and a day after that. By day 9, the gravity had gone from 1.108 to 1.002. I racked the mead into a carboy, where it quickly finished out to .996. A week later, I racked the mead off the lees (about an inch had formed) and added k-meta and k-sorbate. Last week, I racked the mead again (it was starting to get decently clear) and threw the carboy in the fridge. I cold-crashed the mead for 6 days, racked it into a primary bucket, and bottled it. I got 19 bottles total, all crystal clear.
One question, though. I know my ullage is off. I bottled the mead when it was still pretty cold, so I expected it to expand up the neck a bit (maybe as much as a half inch). It only expanded about 1 or 2 millimeters. Should I pull the corks and top the first 18 bottles off? If I do that, should I just throw rest into beer bottles or could I top off the donor bottle with wine preserver spray? I plan on letting at least a couple of bottles age 1 year+.
I've really enjoyed starting to brew my own beverages. I currently have a 6 gallon batch of cyser (3 weeks old at this point), a 6 gallon batch of hard cider, and three 1 gallon batches of Welches concentrate wines going. I'm also brewing an extract kit (my first beer!) this weekend. Thanks for reading all of this!