High OG for Mead?

[SouthernGorilla]

There doesn't seem to be any consensus about when to rack. Nor does anybody seem to have any empirical support to back their opinions on the subject. My own opinion on the subject is that racking isn't critical. The fruit won't rot in all that alcohol. And it seems that the current thinking is that yeast autolysis isn't really a problem in small fermenters because the yeast aren't under the same pressure as in a huge commercial fermenter.

I think my new plan is to not bother with a secondary unless I'm adding something to the mead. Otherwise I'm just going to let it clarify in the primary and then put it straight into bottles.

 

[biochemedic]

I think my new plan is to not bother with a secondary unless I'm adding something to the mead. Otherwise I'm just going to let it clarify in the primary and then put it straight into bottles.

This is what I do much of the time...don't feel it's every been an issue...

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

That's easy enough. I'll wait for it to drop clear as-is. Once it clears, I might rack it once to minimize getting lees in the bottles, Campden it, and then transfer it to the bottles a day or two later.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

46 days in, whittled off 2 more points to 1.006. I'm now thinking that maybe I want to crash it now and sorbate it because it still has a nice hint of sweetness.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Day 69, racked onto Campden tablet dissolved in about a cup of boiled water. Gravity has flatlined at 1.006. The warm sample from the bucket dregs was pretty good - alcohol hotness is much diminished and the honey flavor and sweetness is very noticeable. Chilled this would be pretty darned good.

It's pretty clear, but I'll let it go for a while in the gallon carboy before I bottle. I think it has a bit more clearing to do yet.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Day 74 - half a campden tablet and sorbate dissolved in 1/4 cup of warmed mead, bottled. My first mead and first wine bottle corking session. Yield was 4 full bottles for aging, one half bottle and an ounce or two in a glass from the bottling bucket in the fridge.

Thanks to all!

 

[huesmann]

Not sure if it's the light or the background, but they still look a little cloudy. Any idea what ABV you ended up with?

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

About 15% ABV if the OG estimate is correct, which I think it is. The bottles are from the LHBS and don't have the smoothest surfaces and there is a light frosted effect. I checked the mead with a flashlight in the carboy before I bottled and it looked clean and there were no lees on the bottom. I had a couple big stray floaties (probably from the raisins) that made it past the racking, so I put one of those metal coffee filters in the bottom of my bottling bucket and ran the mead through that as I racked.

One thing I am a little concerned about is the taste. The sample I pulled at the first racking last week was wonderful (albeit definitely young). The sample that I had at bottling wasn't anywhere near as good, but I can't put my finger on what changed. I added one campden tablet at the racking last week and 1/2 tablet yesterday at bottling, along with a 1/4 teaspoon of potassium sorbate. I've since read that higher ABV wines do not require so much K-sorbate, but that amount should still be fine for 1-gallon. I don't think these additions are the cause of the change as I didn't detect any sulfur or other chemical tastes. The mead just tasted more hoochy than it did last week, almost like it reversed age somehow.

 

[hunter006]

Just reading this post with intrest as I have just started my Mead off using:

2kg Honey
3 tsp Yeat Nutrient + energizer
1 pkt Youngs High alcohol dessert yeast
Spring water
= 1Gal

Now my SG=1.130 !! Ish went off the scale slightly so yhis is an estimate.
Whats the best way to stop this at my FG or shall I just ferment out. Don't realy want any chem tastes altho never had that problem in the past. To hand i have campden tabs and wine stabilizer I can always backsweeten with more honey .
Any suggestion.
1st mead so want to go the right way with this one.
Will be chucking in
1 vanil pod
1 cin stick in secondary for a further month or 2 before bottling
Tia

 

[ratboy5000]

Don't feel bad. I have bees and made my first batch of mead. My first gravity reading was 1.130 this was the same 1 gal recipe. I used orange peels black tea and raisins in a super strong tea I added for nutrition. I will take another reading in 29 days. Mayne we are getting pure honey. Mine is straight from my hives. Everyone I've asked said I took a bad reading. I took it 3 times from 3 different samples. I added a 18% tolerance yeast hopefully it drys out. If not I will restart the process again. I'm even keeping a diary. Maybe we have a higher standard honey.. please let me know your later readings so we can compare.

 

[JimRausch]

Welcome ratboy5000! You probably didn't notice but the last post on this thread was 6/30/2013. You may get lucky, but I wouldn't expect an update from the original posters. But it was an interesting read.
1.130 is highish, but not abnormally so. The yeast will need help though to eat through all that sugar. The orange peels, raisins, and tea that you added will add some flavor, but not much of anything in the way of nutrients, which you probably know honey is deficient in. Most importantly is nitrogen which they can use to make protein to build their numbers up. B vitamins and zinc are important too. If you have access to a local homebrew shop, go and pickup some yeast nutrient. There are several brands with a few differences, but any of them will work OK. If you have no LHBS, then 1 teaspoon of bread yeast, boiled to kill it, is a pretty decent nutrient. There are detailed feeding schedules posted elsewhere in the forum, but I generally add 1 tsp of nutrient per gallon at the start, 1/2 tsp. 2 days later, and another 1/2 tsp. a day or two after that. Another important technique is to degas a couple times daily for about 1 week. This removes excess CO2 which drives down the pH and stops the yeast from reaching their full potential. I generally just stir with a sanitized spoon twice daily until I don't get any more foam.
Good luck!