How much volume is added from honey?

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TheChieftain

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Hello!

First of all I just want to say that I suck at math. I'd be more than happy if someone would correct any potential faults in my calculations/reasoning. Also, sorry for my bad england. As I said, math isn't my thing and english isn't my first language . So, a little TL;DR for y'all:
1. Are my calculations correct?
2. How much volume does honey add per weight unit when in solution?
3. Provided that I want 12 liters of 20% abv mead, how much honey should I add when sweetening when taking the added volume of the honey into consideration?
4. If I'm wrong through and through, how should I calculated my honey additions to get the values I am aiming for?

So, I am making a dessert sweet/liqueur like mead. I am aiming for an OG of about 1.10 and an initial FG about 0.998. Nothing special here.
After the first stage of fermentation I intend to add some WLP099 and step feed the mead until I reach an abv of about 20%. Afterwards my goal is to disable the yeast and backsweeten it to about 1.060.
So. My question is. How much volume is added per kilo/lbs of honey? Let's say I have the following stats.

Batch Size: 12 liter (3,17 gal)
ABV: 20%
Pre sweetened FG: 0.998
Post sweetened FG: 1.060
ΔSG: 62° Ö
Extract of honey: 35 PPG
Amount of honey to add per gallon of mead = ΔSG/Extract PPG = 62/35=1.77 lbs
Total weight of honey to add = Volume*(ΔSG/Extract PPG)= 3.17*1.77=5,6 lbs
5,6 lbs = 2.54 kg

I'm thinking that honey itself has a volume and that it will raise the total batch volume which in turn will lower my abv and final gravity. I suspect that the volume of honey decrese (like succrose does) when in solution with water but I don't really know by how much. But let's say that the added volume is constant in solid/dissolved form.

Volume of honey = 698ml per 1000g of honey (10.7 oz per 1 lb)
Hypothetical volume increase = 2.54*698ml=1.773 liter (or 0.47 gal)
Factor change= 13.7/12 = 1.14
New alcohol level = original ABV/factor change = 0.20/1.14 = 0.176 = 17.6 % ABV

12 liters (3.17 gal) of mead with 20% abv will all of a sudden become 13.7 liters (3.64 gal) of mead with 17.6% abv. I'm thinking that the final gravity calculated also assumes a fixed volume, which isn't the case and thus the volume SG will become lower than expected. Is there anyone where who has experience with back sweetening mead or math in gereral and can help me? How am I supposed to reach a total of 3,17 gallon mead with 20% abv and 1.060 FG? I'd really appreciate some kind of formula since I'm already reconsidering some of value targets. It feels like the batch builders should take all these things into account but I've never read anything about it and thus my question(s).
 
1.060 won't get you 20%abv. It'll get you about 8 or 9.

20% ABV is very tricky to reach without doing some exotic steps like freezing and removing the ice. Or distillation.

Your SG will need to be around 1.150, you'd have to step add the honey, and make sure you have either EC-1118 or K1V-1116 on hand, and even then it's not a sure bet.
 
@videojunkie1208 Well, OG isn't 1.060, my goal is to have a post backsweetened FG of 1.060. I am going to ferment it as a normal mead with OG 1.10/1.11 and step feed it until i reach desired abv. If all the honey was to be added at the same time OG would be about 1.150.

@Maylar . Thanks for the info about the volume. It will make my calculations my easiser. Yes, i understand that reaching those high abv values are hard but I'm a rather experienced brewer and have good practices when it comes to yeast so it'll be an interersting project.
 
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