Help with a mead please

[leommarisio]

Hi everyone, this is my 1st post in this forum and I want to tell all of yoi that I'm not an English speaker so I'm sorry por my mistakes.
Well, I'm brewing a mead with peaches and it reminds me to fresco cooler which is a cheap "wine" here in my country. So I want to water down this mead with some tea or infusion. The trouble comes with the avb thing...How can I know the avb from a diluted drink?

Greatings for Chile🇨🇱

 

[JJack887]

Welcome to the forum! As for the alcohol, you can:

1. Not worry about it, or...

2. There is a dilution calculator right here http://www.brewersfriend.com/dilution-and-boiloff-gravity-calculator/

Good luck with the mead!

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi, leommarisio, and welcome. Your English is excellent. How to know the ABV of a mead after you dilute the mead with water (or tea)? Simple. If you know the amount of honey you started with and the starting volume of the mead (in imperial measurements - say 3 lbs of honey to make 1 US gallon of mead) and if you know the real or the approximate specific gravity of the honey - say, about 1.035 for each pound (about 1.040 for each 1/2 kilo for 4 liters) or 13.5 % ABV and you then double the volume (making, in this example 8 liters) then you have halved the ABV - so about 7%. If you increased the volume by say 2 L (in this example) then the ABV would have been reduce to about 10% . Very approximately, 125 g honey in 1 L = a gravity of about 1.040 - double the amount of honey and you double the ABV , double the volume of the liquid and you half the ABV.
Hope this helps.

 

[leommarisio]

Thank you for your answers. Maybe I wasnt clear. This mead is already fermenting. Its OG was 1.120 so if it finishes at 1.000 means that it has like 15% avb. Now I add the tea... What is the new abv%?

 

[bmwr75]

If you have 1 gallon of 15% ABV mead and mix it with one gallon of tea, the ABV of the mixture will be 7.5%.

What volume of tea do you plan to add? What is the volume of your mead batch? I am assuming you mead liquid tea, not just tea leaves.

 

[leommarisio]

I'm brewing a 3 liters batch of mead w/peaches and I'm thinking to add like 1 liter of hibiscus and passion fruit infusion (tazo passion infusion) so it gets red colour and some "tartness" from the flowers. Maybe 11-12%abv Will be great.

You are really on point to help everybrewer....thank you guys!🇨🇱

 

[bernardsmith]

Your plan is to dilute the mead by 1/4 so the ABV will be reduced by the same % - It will drop from close to 16% to about 12%.

 

[leommarisio]

So, if in 3L there is 15%, in 4L should be like 10%? (If I do not add more sugar or honey or fruit)

 

[leommarisio]

What if I "water down" with Apple juice? It turns with 20% abv? By the way, I used safcider, a cider yeast (saccharomyse bayanus) and I think it can work at high alcohol levels.

 

[HB_in_Subic]

If you add Apple Juice, you are reintroducing sugars into the mix. The yeast you picked can go above 16% ABV, so it will continue to produce alcohol until there are no more sugars or it has reached it's alcohol limit. Note: just because a limit is given, doesn't mean that the yeast can't go higher. I have had some meads reach almost 16% using a yeast that limits around 14%.

 

[leommarisio]

So, it's time. I just get a "1 gallon" (here in Chile 1 gallon means 5liters) jar with a tap on the bottom and itll be my secundary "carboy". I'm thinking in Apple juice (cause I'm making a cider besides)... I let you know how it goes. Thanks for all the help!! Cheers

 

[leommarisio]

So, I just watered down with some passion fruit yerba mate and some pineapple peel infusion. I used metabisulfito de potasio (I have no idea how that goes in english) but like 3 days later it has started bubbling again... What did I do wrong? Please

 

[Maylar]

metabisulfito de potasio = potassium metabisulfite. This will not stop fermentation. The sugar in your infusions are being fermented by the yeast. If you were trying to prevent further fermentation you should have used potassium sorbate (sorbato de potasio) also.

 

[leommarisio]

Gracias

 

[leommarisio]

So, what should I do? Bottle it and cold crash it? Let it be? Cold crash the whole carboy and then bottle?

 

[Maylar]

What do you want your mead to be like when it is finished?

 

[leommarisio]

What do you want your mead to be like when it is finished?

Like a semi sweet but high avb fruit flavored sparkling mead. Which is right now. But Im affraid of bottle bombs

 

[leommarisio]

What do you want your mead to be like when it is finished?

Like a semi sweet but high avb fruit flavored sparkling mead. Which is right now. But Im affraid of bottle bombs if I bottle it and cold crash it

 

[leommarisio]

What do you want your mead to be like when it is finished?

Like a semi sweet but high abv fruit flavored sparkling mead. Which is right now. But Im affraid of bottle bombs if I bottle it and cold crash it

 

[Maylar]

If you bottle it now while it's still fermenting you can get bottle bombs even if you keep it cold.

Semi sweet and sparkling are very difficult to have at the same time unless you have a keg. You can let the mead completely finish fermenting then stabilize it with potassium sorbate and sweeten it to your desired taste. But if you do that you won't be able to carbonate it (sparkling).