First Time Questions, and: Can I Ferment Cold?

[AlexKay]

After 342 batches of beer, it's time to branch out to other fermentables. I have questions! I also have wildflower honey, maple syrup, an assortment of beer yeast, Fermaid O, some fruit juice concentrates, some wood chips, and gesho entchet, and I'm ready to start something today. Or I can order more ingredients, if needed. But anyway, questions:

1. Under the terms of the armistice with my wife, all fermentation must happen in the garage. Right now that means ~55 F. Can I use a lager yeast and get good results? Or should I use something like K1-V116?
2. Alternately, I can use one of the fermentation chambers usually given over to beer and get the temperature anywhere between 50 F and 80 F, but I'm not willing to tie one of those up for more than about two weeks, because there is beer to be made.
3. I'd love to have drinkable product sooner, rather than later. What makes the "one month" mead drinkable after one month ... is it the specific Belgian yeast used? Could I swap in a different beer (lager) yeast and still get good results, similarly fast?
4. Is a session (5-6%) mead an easier lift?
5. Can I follow the steps for mead to make an acerglyn, or are there necessary (or prudent) modifications?
6. Does anyone have a good t'ej recipe, or at least some yeast advice?

Thanks!

 

[CKuhns]

Wow, a lot here to consider.

1. Yes you can ferment honey at 55 Deg F. It takes a bit longer. D47 and Cote Des Blanc wine yeasts work. 55 is slightly below their recommended temperature range but will chug through it eventually. I have limited experience with lager yeasts other than Omega Hot Head fermented at 88 Deg F and US05 at 80 Deg F. For lower ABV Meads. (Session or hydromels depending on who you talk to.)

2 As mentioned above Omega Hot Head Ale yeast ferments lower gravity Must 1.060 to 1.090 at 80 plus Deg F in about 2 weeks. Then another 4 weeks to "finish" off the heat. With good nutrient addition. Look up TOSNA 3.0 and add all up front at yeast pitch. As well US05 works really well at 80 Deg F if your shooting for 5 to 6% should do the trick in 14 days at 80 Deg F. (I use that for ciders and have been very happy with the results.)

3. With a lower ABV target 6 to 9% Good nutrients and temp controller. You definately can get a "drinkable" Mead at 30 days. However another month or so to "finish" and a few months to age makes a huge difference. (Mead isn't beer and IMO should not be hurried.)

4. A session Mead is definately an easier lift. Primarily due to time required. Like beer you will still have to perfect your recipe, practices and protocols. Generally Mead takes a bit more time.

5 and 6 - Sorry can't answer. No experience with them.

Good luck on your journey. Some of the practices you have perfected with beer will have to be ignored. Others will need to be learned but a lot of what you already know can be applied. Best advice I have for you is Mead isn't beer. Session Meads are good but full bodied high ABV Melomels and Bouchets can be amazing. Think about the difference between a German lager, an Irish red and a heavy bourbon barrel beer. They all are great just different. Mead is endlessly variable and does take time.

 

[MightyMosin]

https://www.batchmead.com/blogs/batch/ethiopian-honey-wine-tej

 

[Dan O]

Here's a couple of T'ej recipes. I have made both & enjoyed both very much. Ultimate T'ej is my favorite....both have been very well liked by my friends as well.

https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Perfect-tej/

https://www.youtobrew.com/mead-recipes/ultimate-tej

 

[AlexKay]

Can anyone explain why the recipes say (in all caps) not to use distilled water?

 

[MightyMosin]

Can anyone explain why the recipes say (in all caps) not to use distilled water?

I would hazard the guess it is because it is lacking minerals. Most beer brewers adjust their water for the profile of what they are making. Yeast need a variety of minerals that they will not get from the honey and need to get from the water and the nutrients,

 

[CKuhns]

Myy understanding is that distilled water does not carry the micronutrients yeast tend to like. I personnaly think it tastes rather flat and lifeless compared to good quality spring water.

 

[cmac62]

https://www.batchmead.com/blogs/batch/ethiopian-honey-wine-tej

This article says Jesho is used instead of yeast? I don't think that is right. there may be wild yeast on the gesho, but at the end it says add yeast and jesho. I thought the jesho is used to bitter the Tej like hops is used for beer. I may have to get some jesho and see what it does in a gruit.

 

[Dan O]

This article says Jesho is used instead of yeast? I don't think that is right. there may be wild yeast on the gesho, but at the end it says add yeast and jesho. I thought the jesho is used to bitter the Tej like hops is used for beer. I may have to get some jesho and see what it does in a gruit.

Traditional T'ej uses no yeast, just gesho. I believe that is a modernized recipe, as well as the 2 that I posted.

 

[bernardsmith]

Traditional T'ej uses no yeast, just gesho. I believe that is a modernized recipe, as well as the 2 that I posted.

I think it is a little more complicated than that. Traditionally, anyone who made t'ej held back the lees and added that to the next batch, so any colony of yeast that was in the previous batch was now in the current one. Both the twigs (enchet) and the leaves (kitel) appear to be covered in both lactic bacteria and yeast and when they are added to the must, traditionally, that was a second source of yeast and souring (There are numerous peer reviewed journal articles that discuss the yeast and bacteria found on gesho) . In addition, raw honey would be available and raw honey has lots of yeast, so there never was any reason (and no good source) for anyone to add pure yeast cultures. And finally, wooden tubs and vessels were used for making t'ej and the wood would harbor lots of yeast, so families that often made t'ej rarely had any concerns about the viability and suitability of the yeast they used to ferment the honey. Here, in the US, the honey may not be raw; the gesho may have been irradiated to kill the bacteria and fungi, and we are far more likely to pitch lab cultured yeast to ensure our mead and wines have predictable flavors and amounts of alcohol.

 

[madscientist451]

1. Under the terms of the armistice with my wife, all fermentation must happen in the garage. Right now that means ~55 F. Can I use a lager yeast and get good results? Or should I use something like K1-V116?

Simply wait 'till the weather warms up a little, maybe the middle/end of April?
Alternatively, a fermenter of mead is only fermenting if you say that it is; you could be "bulk conditioning" the mead, getting it ready to bottle. Any bubbles seen in the airlock are simply off gassing of the mead. So under terms of the armistice you would be within the agreed upon boundaries. Also, start out with a smaller, 1 gallon batch. Small batches are a great way to determine what method works best for you and you should be able to keep the small amount out of sight and less likely to generate any complaints.
You can make a larger amount in the garage after it warms up and you'll know if you want to keep making mead.

I'd love to have drinkable product sooner, rather than later. What makes the "one month" mead drinkable after one month ... i

Make a lower ABV mead and use the TONSA method found on the Mead Made Right website.

Is a session (5-6%) mead an easier lift?

Yes! It will be ready faster, and the lower ABV meads are a great way to get started.

 

[bwible]

Your garage temp will vary over day and night. If you want to ferment in the garage with no chamber or other control then you have to see what the high temp is during the day and what the low temp is during the night and thats the range you have to work in. I considered doing this a few years ago. I bought a recording thermometer that keeps track of the high and low temp. They’re not much, $10 or something.

The chamber is a better idea because you would have more control and a more consistent temp. If you want to make a lager, you’re looking at 6-8 weeks minimum before you can bottle or keg something. If the chamber is big enough to hold more than one carboy or fermenter you could do 2 at once to mitigate that.

Or if you want to do ales, 68 degrees is in the range you said your box is capable of and those can be turned out quicker.

Regular meads need to age for at least several months. Will the agreement let you bring a carboy in to bulk age after the fermentation is technically complete? Surely there’s some small corner in the basement that could be yours? Depends on what the meaning of “is” is?

 

[bwible]

I made a maple wine in 2018. Every year my wifes pop used to give us a gallon of real maple syrup for Christmas. He passed late last year. We never used that much syrup and had at least one full one laying. So being the fermenting fool that I am, I decided to ferment one.

I couldn’t even get a gravity reading to know what I was working with until I diluted something like 1 part syrup in 6 parts water, If I did the math right, maple syrup is ridiculous gravity, something like 1.400. And thats consistent with what you read - how many gallons of sap they boil to get a quart of syrup.

I ended up putting a gallon of syrup with 2 gallons of water and making a 3 gallon batch out of it. I added nutrients just like you would for mead. It fermented out completely to zero and after fermentation was really bland and had no flavor. I added maple flavor from Apex flavorings at bottling. Its really good 5 years later, like drinking a glass of french toast. An alternative to flavoring would be to sorbate and back sweeten with more maple syrup like you do with mead. I guess I didn’t feel like doing that at the time,

Its supposedly the national beverage of Canada. Though I never had one from Canada to compare mine to. I think I have 17 bottles left out of 30, something like that. Not an every day drinker,

 

[AlexKay]

Your garage temp will vary over day and night. If you want to ferment in the garage with no chamber or other control then you have to see what the high temp is during the day and what the low temp is during the night and thats the range you have to work in. I considered doing this a few years ago. I bought a recording thermometer that keeps track of the high and low temp. They’re not much, $10 or something.

My garage temperatures don't fluctuate much; or, at least, beer in my garage stays within a degree or two regardless of the time of day. I've got a Tilt in an IPL now and it's been between 53 and 55 for over a week (and I think the high temps were fermentation exothermicity anyhow.) And I usually use 34/70 which is pretty temperature-insensitive (though it probably doesn't appreciate fast changes.)

I make a lot of lagers in my garage during the winter. Right now my chambers are full up with four fermenters, so I've got five beers and two ciders on the floor, doing their thing.

I haven't been able to fit my car in the garage since the pandemic. My wife's car moved out when I built keezer #2 and stayed out for over a year; I finally made enough room to move it back in, a few months ago. So yeah, garage has 6 chest freezers, 20+ Vittles Vaults full of grain, a dozen kegs, and seven active fermentations in it right now. Nary a peep from the wife. I don't bring things into the house because I know how lucky I am.

 

[bwible]

My garage temperatures don't fluctuate much; or, at least, beer in my garage stays within a degree or two regardless of the time of day. I've got a Tilt in an IPL now and it's been between 53 and 55 for over a week (and I think the high temps were fermentation exothermicity anyhow.) And I usually use 34/70 which is pretty temperature-insensitive (though it probably doesn't appreciate fast changes.)

I make a lot of lagers in my garage during the winter. Right now my chambers are full up with four fermenters, so I've got five beers and two ciders on the floor, doing their thing.

I haven't been able to fit my car in the garage since the pandemic. My wife's car moved out when I built keezer #2 and stayed out for over a year; I finally made enough room to move it back in, a few months ago. So yeah, garage has 6 chest freezers, 20+ Vittles Vaults full of grain, a dozen kegs, and seven active fermentations in it right now. Nary a peep from the wife. I don't bring things into the house because I know how lucky I am.

6 chest freezers? Holy mackrel! I have one 2 tap kegerator I use for dispensing kegs and a while ago I bought a tapless kegerator to use for a fermentation chamber just for lagers. All of my stuff is in the basement. Yeah I’d say you are a lucky guy.

 

[MightyMosin]

While my garage fluctuates some, it takes a while for that to transfer through the mead.

I find that my mead temperature tracks pretty well with the concrete slab that it sits on.

 

[Maylar]

You guys realize that there are heating jackets and temp controllers out there, right?

 

[MightyMosin]

You guys realize that there are heating jackets and temp controllers out there, right?

I have a large insulated bag I can place large fermenters in. I use it and ice bottles when it gets warmer.

Winter temp for me is never too harsh and works well for D47.

At some point I will buy a jacketed conical and temp control. Just don't want to spend the cash quite yet. Maybe soon...

 

[AlexKay]

You guys realize that there are heating jackets and temp controllers out there, right?

Of course ... but I hadn't thought about this as what it is: the opportunity to spend more money on brewing equipment!

I'm on Amazon now browsing Mylar grow tents. I don't have room for another chest freezer, but a little bitty tent...

Edit: Madness! The smallest grow tent that looks good is this one, at 24x24x36 ... actually a few inches larger in each dimension than a 5 ft3 freezer from Best Buy. I'd spend more on the freezer, but get better insulation, and cooling as well as heating. So now I'm thinking hard about freezer #7, and actually, as long as I'm putting in another freezer for fermentation, I could use another keezer as well...

 

[Maylar]

Of course ... but I hadn't thought about this as what it is: the opportunity to spend more money on brewing equipment!

I have the Cool Zone stuff - Insulating jacket, heater, cooling circulator, Inkbird controller. But... my fermenting hobby has an unlimited budget