First time brewing, how bad can it be?

[DukeL]

Hello there!
So I've been wanting to make mead for the better part of a year now, and finding this lovely forum finally pushed me to do it!

Problem is, I am impatient and didn't buy all the ingedients myself (some were christmas gifts)

Ingredients:
3x450g honey (some generic kind, I'm sorry)
1x 1250g flower mix honey (dark and thick)
About 1.5kg of white table sugar because I was afraid it wouldn't be sweet enough
2 oranges (peeled and cut)
One pinch of cloves
About two cinnamon sticks (1 stick, some ground, late delivery :O)
A bag of raisins (not sure how many exactly, but prooobably too many)
26L heated tap water
1 pack of 24 hour turbo yeast with nutrients <--- part I'm most worried about

Started yesterday, about 19 hours ago now.

Sanitized all equipment.

So, being inexperienced and impatient, I did try to use a hydrometer (we had several, some were broken ) Buuuuut, it didn't dip into the must at all? I didn't spin the hydrometer, as I probably should have after reading up on it, but could it be my ~3kg of sugar was too much for 27L water?

The yeast is still working, but the CO2 release is only happening every 20-50 seconds now.

Wondering if the mead will taste ****ty because of the 24h yeast, if I had enough sugar, and if I should rack it when the blurps are a minute or so apart?

The ingredients at least smelled WONDERFUL so I do have hope!

Edit:
It's been about 27 hours since start now, bubbling roughly once a minute. Temp have increased from 20-23c t 23-26c because the sun decided to say HELLO!
No more sour smell from the mush (or should I say mead now?)
Wondering if I should move it to a secondary, maybe try a new hydrometer reading?

 

[mredge73]

If you are impatient you chose to brew the wrong thing. Mead isn't drinkable until it ages a few years.
Any mistakes you made during the short 1 hour brewing process will be amplified in the final product 2 years from now.

I don't understand the comment about the hydrometer not being able to dip in the must? The sugar content is actually too low for a proper mead.
With only 2600g of honey and 1500g of sugar in a 27L batch your OG is calculates to under 1.05; this isn't unusual for a beer but way too low for a mead.
You are looking at a ABV of under 7%, so you should be able to drink it much earlier than most meads.

Turbo yeast is a distillers yeast used to make moonshine among other things.
It will likely taste lousy because of the yeast as it doesn't have a good taste profile; it is designed to ferment fast for the production of alcohol and is left behind during the distillation process.

You need to use your hydrometer to determine when to rack. If you get the same reading 2-3 days in a row or if it is under 1.0 it is ready to rack for long term storage.
Taste and bottle after 6 months or so in the secondary. If it taste good go ahead and drink it, if not bottle it and taste again next year. If it still isn't good after 2 years it won't likely improve.

 

[DukeL]

If you are impatient you chose to brew the wrong thing. Mead isn't drinkable until it ages a few years.
Any mistakes you made during the short 1 hour brewing process will be amplified in the final product 2 years from now.

I don't understand the comment about the hydrometer not being able to dip in the must? The sugar content is actually too low for a proper mead.
With only 2600g of honey and 1500g of sugar in a 27L batch your OG is calculates to under 1.05; this isn't unusual for a beer but way too low for a mead.
You are looking at a ABV of under 7%, so you should be able to drink it much earlier than most meads.

Turbo yeast is a distillers yeast used to make moonshine among other things.
It will likely taste lousy because of the yeast as it doesn't have a good taste profile; it is designed to ferment fast for the production of alcohol and is left behind during the distillation process.

You need to use your hydrometer to determine when to rack. If you get the same reading 2-3 days in a row or if it is under 1.0 it is ready to rack for long term storage.
Taste and bottle after 6 months or so in the secondary. If it taste good go ahead and drink it, if not bottle it and taste again next year. If it still isn't good after 2 years it won't likely improve.

Thanks a lot for the response MrEdge, in that case I definitely messed up this one. More research and more patience for sure next time.
Yeah, the hydrometer would not dip down, it literally floated so high it seemed like the sugar content maxed out the scale (Which doesn't make sense at all. and it was before I pitched the yeast) so I guess there were bubbles or something underneath.

Not sure if that last part was for this batch or for when I try again with a proper recipe?

I guess I'll try to use the hydrometer again, it probably is very close to 1.
Taste test and move to secondary or just throw it away and buy more ingredients, try a proper recipe to the letter.

 

[DukeL]

Wrote a "lengthy" reply with followup question and explanation, but doesn't seem like it appears here, maybe because I'm a fresh account.

Either way, I see now that what I have is a alkometer and not hydrometer *silly me*, I'll get a proper hydrometer before my next try

Edit:
So, I opened it up, filled up the alkometer cylinder and spun the alkometer in it, closest I could tell was 4%, but taking the tiniest sip of it; it tasted like citrusy vodka, and had a bit of a burn to it, which is weird considering it is probably correct on the 4%.

More or less inclined to dump it in the sink, but I guess I can let it sit for another day or two and the yeast will probably die off, rack it and see if it gets even a tiny bit better. Surely drinkable in a pinch.

Does anyone know of an online vendor that ships to Norway? Due to our import laws it'll be best if the price for the items + shipping is less than 35$ :') if not I'll have to pay my firstborn.

Edit 2:
This is probably useless, but if I rack it, can I add more honey and maybe pitch new yeast to try and salvage this?

 

[mredge73]

I don't know, hydrometers are under $5 here.
I am not sure what a Alkometer is, does it have multiple scales on it? Maybe it has SG or Brix on it that you can use.

Stressed yeast produce fusels that burn; usually due to high temperature, alcohol, or lack of nutrients.
You shouldn't get this at 4% but it is expected at 8-12%. The ageing process will allow this to mellow out over time.

Also, you only fermented for a day. Let it sit for 2-3 weeks before looking at it again. Don't rush wine or mead.

 

[growlrr]

And dont dump it! Even in the worst circumstances (short of a huge infection or other weird crap going in it or have it taste like ass) it could make the base for an awesome marinade (chicken + honey + alcohol to marinate = good BBQ)!

 

[DukeL]

Thanks a lot for the replies guys
Being new to this and using the 24h yeast seems to have been my downfall (and the lack of honey).
The alkometer(s, had 4 of them, 2 broken) only have one scale, and googling it it seems to literally just measure alcohol content of liquids. It might be a Norwegian or Scandinavian thing.

I will let it sit for a while as you suggested.
But considering the yeast was meant for 24 hours within the temperature range it's been in, and that the blurping only happens every minute/couple minutes, doesn't it seem like it won't be long until it stops? *It seems like it picked up a bit after I opened the lid, maybe some oxygen helped.

How about the idea of adding more honey, and potentially yeast after racking? Looking around on the interwebz it seems this is not an unusual thing to do? (staggered sugar for the yeast)

I'll be patient, I'll be patient, I'll be patient

Also, it was a pretty darn big amount of raisins, not sure how much of it is sugar, but it'll probably have an effect.

Picture of Alko(holometer)

Picture of fermenter

Thanks a lot again

 

[JayEff]

Little explanation about the alkoholometer: A mixture of water and alcohol gets lighter than water, because ethanol is lighter than water. The alkoholometer is therefore weighted in such a way that it sinks in liquids that are lighter than water. The more alkohol, the more it sinks in the liquid, being all the way out (that is, on the bottom end of the scale) in pure water.

Sugar and water however, is heavier than water, so the more sugar in the mix, the higher the weight of the liquid. A hydrometer as brewers use them to measure sugar content will be fully submerged in pure water (the opposite of the alcoholometer), rising the more sugar is in it.

So it makes perfect sense that your alcoholometer didn't sink at all, because the liquid was much heavier than pure water, and it's designed to measure liquids that are lighter than water.

Note that your 4% alcohol could be very off, if there's some sugar left in the liquid. If some sugar is left, it'll read much less alcohol than there actually is in the liquid. I have no clue how fast this turbo yeast really attenuates, but judging from mredge's calculation on your original gravity of 1.05, it sounds like you should expect around 5-6% alcohol so there's probably still a ways to go for the yeast. Plus, as was mentioned, proper yeast will start working on the off flavors and fusel alcohols that cause the burning sensation once the bulk of the sugar has been consumed, so you might see a better taste if you let it sit for a while. Might.

 

[mredge73]

The raisins won't contribute any sugar unless you broke the skins. The yeast will have a hard time getting to the sugar inside.
They are part of the recipe to make nutrient additions easier. Most meads need a strict nutrient regiment, but you can use raisins instead as the skins contain these needed nutrients.

The meter you have is for measuring distilled spirits. The Tralle gauge usually ranges from 0-100% so it will be hard to use on your mead as it will finish around 6-7%

Just because it says that it should be done in 24 hours doesn't mean it is done. Give it 2-3 weeks to finish, hopefully the yeast will clean up some of their mess.

Don't add any more yeast or oxygen at this point; this will only cause more damage. When yeast metabolize oxygen they do not produce alcohol; they just produce more yeast.
I believe turbo yeast is "killer" yeast anyway, adding more yeast will not do any good.

Adding more honey wouldn't hurt, I use roughly 5KG per 19L. If you decide to add more be very careful not to splash, you don't want to add more oxygen.
Do so today or tomorrow while the yeast is still very active. If won't make it taste any better but it will bump up the ABV. Fermentation will take off almost as soon as you add it.
If it was me I would add 2.5kg of honey; this will give you an estimated final ABV of 10% instead of 6.5%. Don't add any more sugar, this will thin the body and make it taste cheap.

 

[DukeL]

Update
So I went out and bought 2x1.25kg and 2x0.4kg jars of honey.
I might have "done another stupid" tho, because I didn't dilute it in water, I just heated it in a waterbath and dumped it (gently) in, so now I have a 2L layer of honey in the bottom of the fermenter The yeast started working almost immediately, just like you said

 

[Drewed]

The yeast will go and find it. Don't worry about that. I did a similar with a cyser I am making and it worked out for the better. It seemed to almost "step feed."

 

[DukeL]

Good to know @Drewed
This yeast is a beast... Now, some honey probably dissolved, but there were definitely 2L of honey at the bottom, now it has been reduced to 1L, and I can only explain the speed at which the yeast works at as "rhino-fart-worthy", almost constant bubbling (max 4 seconds between), big blurps at a time.

 

[nitack]

Mead is a long game. You'll start brewing it and try to drink it before it is ready. It might be OK, but it becomes amazing over time. After many years, and many batches you will one day realize that you have A LOT of mead on the shelf. I had that realization today, I don't have to drink 6 month old stuff that is too young, I have two year old bottles that are divine. If your starting out, low ABV and not too dry are your friends, you'll have decent mead without too much aging required.

 

[DukeL]

Thx Nitack

Just to confirm, every single little bit of honey is officially either dissolved or eaten now. Yeast is amazing >.<