Intro and first time mead maker

[Sobby]

Hi everyone, my name is Shawn and Im on day 4 of my first mead. My dad has been brewing beer for a while now and ice finally gotten into it myself.

Here's the recipe for my mead. (Cyser)

10 lbs honey
3 gallons apple juice
1\2 cup raisins
Lavlin D-47

OG: 1.130

Ferment for ~14 day
Yeast nutrient and energizer for the first three days

Rerack onto
12 lbs bluberries
1 pint peaches

Age for 60 days

Once I've got the ABV I'm looking I plan on adding potassium metabisulfate and sorbate to stop the ferment. Then I will bottle.

No idea how this will turn out but yesterday it started bubbling pretty good after a slow start.

I've heard mixed stories on stiring or not stirring. I was worried after the first day so I reracked from my carboy to a plastic ferment bucket and aerated it a bit. Day three was the last day I planned on stirring.

I'm open to ideas and tips. Curious as to when i should, or if I should de-gas at any point.

Thanks everyone, seems like a pretty knowledgeable group here.

 

[Yemany]

Hi Shawn,
I degas my mead in the first 3 days of fermitation twice a day. It helps the yeast ferment better.

Before you rack the mead on the fruit make sure it is fermented out completely. After you add the mead on the fruit add the potassium metabisulfate it will kill all the nasty things and wild yeast that may be on the fruit. Before botteling the sorbate.

Hope this helps

 

[Sobby]

Does the metabisulfate kill the good yeast too? Im kind of hoping for a secondary ferment when i ad the fruit.

 

[Sobby]

Also, i have some pectic enzyme. I was planning on thawing and heating all the fruit and blending into a puree. I've heard conflicting stories on when and where to add the enzyme. I figured that I should add the enzyme to the fruit after it has cooled and let it sit for an hour before i add the mead to it.

Or do i put the enzyme into the mead and let it sit for an hour before adding the fruit.

Or is the order of operations here insignificant?

 

[jbee]

I have been making mead for about 10 years and I get my best mead by using only my own honey(beekeeper)and filtered water and wine yeast. I rack every three months for a year. Bottle it and cork it and comes out with a nice fizz and great taste.

 

[Sobby]

I have been making mead for about 10 years and I get my best mead by using only my own honey(beekeeper)and filtered water and wine yeast. I rack every three months for a year. Bottle it and cork it and comes out with a nice fizz and great taste.

I live in Colorado and there is a good beekeeper about 2 hours North of me that I'd like to get my honey from if I'm in the area, I'd love to have my own bees once I get the space to do it. Sadly i dont think the neighbors at my apartments would be too keen on a bee box on my porch haha.

I was a bit concerned of residual yeast overspressurizing wine bottles after bottleing. Mead is new to me though, I've assisted in the brewing of stouts, lagers, and ales in the past though. There are some similarities, but a ton of differences in the process of mead vs. Beer making.

 

[jbee]

I live in Colorado and there is a good beekeeper about 2 hours North of me that I'd like to get my honey from if I'm in the area, I'd love to have my own bees once I get the space to do it. Sadly I don't think the neighbours at my apartments would be too keen on a bee box on my porch haha.

I was a bit concerned about residual yeast overpressurizing wine bottles after bottling. Mead is new to me though, I've assisted in the brewing of stouts, lagers, and ales in the past though. There are some similarities, but a ton of differences in the process of mead vs. Beer making.

I bottle my mead in wine bottles and have never had one go off.
It could happen if you added anything to keep it working(such as fruit) or sugar or more honey when bottling. I never cap it unless in Grolsch bottles.

 

[Sobby]

I bottle my mead in wine bottles and have never had one go off.
It could happen if you added anything to keep it working(such as fruit) or sugar or more honey when bottling. I never cap it unless in Grolsch bottles.

Ok cool. After 60 days in secondary I was planning on backsweetening to taste, letting it sit for a few weeks and then bottling. I was planning on corking when I bottle. I figure the cork would pop before the glass does. All of the grolsch bottle are currently occupied with an ale right now lol.

Thanks for your help. I've got a lot of concerns...this being my first solo brew after all.

 

[Yemany]

Hi Sobby,

When I use pecto enzyme I add it to the fruit 2 days in advance. After 2 days I puree the fruit and I add a base mead on top. Usually I filter it after a week. Because you use a puree all the juice from the fruit is already in the mead. Leaving it on the pulp for to long can cause off flavors.

 

[Yemany]

No metabisulfate will not affect the primary. It will also protect against oxidation. After te mead is fermented out it will not produce more alcohol when the fruit is added. If it's not fermented out and fruit is added the fruit sugars will Kickstart the fermentation again. Also you lose fruit aroma and fruit taste if the mead is still fermenting when adding fruit.

 

[Sobby]

Hi Sobby,

When I use pecto enzyme I add it to the fruit 2 days in advance. After 2 days I puree the fruit and I add a base mead on top. Usually I filter it after a week. Because you use a puree all the juice from the fruit is already in the mead. Leaving it on the pulp for to long can cause off flavors.

So if I understand correctly, add the enzyme to the thawed out fruit (mine is currently frozen) with a bit of water to cover and let sit for 2 days. At room temp or in the fridge?

I don't want to loose much of the fruit flavor, which is why I'm waiting until my yeast ferments to its tolerance level of 15% (or close to it) first in the primary which is just apple juice and honey. That way any continuance of fermentation will only happen due to the dilution of adding more volume to the mix. Hopefully resulting in less of the fruit being fermented away. My base mead has a potential for 17% ABV I'm using D-47 which has a tolerance of 15%. I have a feeling it may be a pretty sweet mead when all is said and done especially after halting the fermentation when it reaches the sweetness I prefer. I agree with racking after a few weeks on the puree.

I know I keep saying mead although technically it's a cyser lol

 

[Yemany]

Room temputure is fine. If you heat the fruit to 40 celcius/ 104 fahrenheit with the pecto added for 30 min even better. Leave it for to days in a clean carboy then puree it in a blender and done .

You won't reach more than 15% with 47-d what is quit strong for a mead. You will taste the alcohol and it needs a long time to age because of this. My meads are usually between 5 and 11% my meads are good to go within 3 months and the low avb's within 6 weeks because I arbonate them

 

[Yemany]

I ment carbonate

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Sobby - and welcome. A couple of quick thoughts in response to one or two of your posts. Bottle bombs are never a problem if you have fermented the mead (or wine ) dry so that there is no more sugar left, and then you add enough additional sugar to carbonate. Adding about 20 grams of sugar to a gallon of mead will produce no more pressure than you will find in a standard beer bottle. Add more than 20 grams and you can create a gusher and significantly more and the pressure can be great enough to burst the bottle. But YOU are in control...

The other thing is wine and mead is all about balance. Ignore the potential tolerance that a yeast has for alcohol (or sugar). Here's my metaphor. Your car can probably hit 95 or 100 mph but I don't know that you want to drive at that speed in Manhattan or on a stretch of road with hair pin curves. (Forget the law- I am talking about safety). In the same way just because a yeast can deal with 17% ABV does not mean that given your processes, your equipment, your honey, etc etc that hitting 17% is something you want to do. Balance is all about flavor, alcohol content, acidity, tannins and mouthfeel. The yeast will take care of fermentation. YOU need to take care of balance.

Last point: perhaps really , really seasoned mead makers try to halt the fermentation when their meads reach the level of sweetness they prefer (to use your words). In reality that is a lot like trying to catch a bullet between your teeth. Sure, illusionists do it all the time in shows.. but they are illusionists. You try it, and the results will not be nearly as elegant... if yer knows what I mean. Getting yeast to quit in mid flight is a lot like getting a train to stop in 20 feet. Best is to let the yeast finish what they are doing, stabilize the mead and then sweeten to the level you prefer. Again - YOU are in control, so take control.

OK one more point: You may know this, and if so I apologize but for all intents and purposes you need to choose - carbonation or sweetness. If you choose sweet then you really cannot carbonate and if you choose carbonation then you really cannot make a sweet mead. You can, but you need to force prime with CO2 so you need a kegging system (there are those who say you can if you pasteurize your mead but applying heat to a carbonated drink sealed in a glass bottle is called madness where I come from... )

 

[Sobby]

Room temputure is fine. If you heat the fruit to 40 celcius/ 104 fahrenheit with the pecto added for 30 min even better. Leave it for to days in a clean carboy then puree it in a blender and done .

You won't reach more than 15% with 47-d what is quit strong for a mead. You will taste the alcohol and it needs a long time to age because of this. My meads are usually between 5 and 11% my meads are good to go within 3 months and the low avb's within 6 weeks because I arbonate them

Gotcha, thanks Yemany.

 

[Sobby]

Hi Sobby - and welcome. A couple of quick thoughts in response to one or two of your posts. Bottle bombs are never a problem if you have fermented the mead (or wine ) dry so that there is no more sugar left, and then you add enough additional sugar to carbonate. Adding about 20 grams of sugar to a gallon of mead will produce no more pressure than you will find in a standard beer bottle. Add more than 20 grams and you can create a gusher and significantly more and the pressure can be great enough to burst the bottle. But YOU are in control...

The other thing is wine and mead is all about balance. Ignore the potential tolerance that a yeast has for alcohol (or sugar). Here's my metaphor. Your car can probably hit 95 or 100 mph but I don't know that you want to drive at that speed in Manhattan or on a stretch of road with hair pin curves. (Forget the law- I am talking about safety). In the same way just because a yeast can deal with 17% ABV does not mean that given your processes, your equipment, your honey, etc etc that hitting 17% is something you want to do. Balance is all about flavor, alcohol content, acidity, tannins and mouthfeel. The yeast will take care of fermentation. YOU need to take care of balance.

Last point: perhaps really , really seasoned mead makers try to halt the fermentation when their meads reach the level of sweetness they prefer (to use your words). In reality that is a lot like trying to catch a bullet between your teeth. Sure, illusionists do it all the time in shows.. but they are illusionists. You try it, and the results will not be nearly as elegant... if yer knows what I mean. Getting yeast to quit in mid flight is a lot like getting a train to stop in 20 feet. Best is to let the yeast finish what they are doing, stabilize the mead and then sweeten to the level you prefer. Again - YOU are in control, so take control.

OK one more point: You may know this, and if so I apologize but for all intents and purposes you need to choose - carbonation or sweetness. If you choose sweet then you really cannot carbonate and if you choose carbonation then you really cannot make a sweet mead. You can, but you need to force prime with CO2 so you need a kegging system (there are those who say you can if you pasteurize your mead but applying heat to a carbonated drink sealed in a glass bottle is called madness where I come from... )

Understood...I think I've read that analogy from you on a separate post somewhere lol. I wasn't shooting for 15% specifically I was just being aware that the potential was around 15% seeing as there was adequate sugar for the yeast to go that far. I'm using it more as a measuring device to see how much of my fruit would become fermented so that I'd be able to retain as much fruit flavor and aroma as possible.

If my understanding is correct. Adding fruit to soon would give the yeast an option as far as what sugar to eat either honey, AJ, or fruit. By letting the yeast eat all available sugars during the primary (honey and AJ) and then adding the fruit during the secondary stage I'd be able to retain more of the fruit flavors because the ABV would cause the yeast to go dormant before consuming the fruit sugars.

I completely agree...sealed glass containers + heat = emergency room

I may have pictures of bottle caps lodged into the ceiling somewhere from some over primed beer many moons ago lol. Maybe that's why I'm a little over concerned about this lol.

 

[bernardsmith]

As I never try to get near the tolerance of the yeast for alcohol - (I like metaphors: that is like climbing a mountain attached to a rope that is woven to maximally bear my weight.... Me? I would choose a rope that will stand 3 or 4 times my weight without problems) - But if you like to live on the edge that's OK... I like a lot of redundancy built into any mission-critical element. But that's just me...

I think you may be under-thinking the role of alcohol on extracting flavors from fruit: you can add fruit to the primary and what you get essentially is the effect of the yeast on the sugars and the sugar-water on extracting flavors. Add the fruit to the secondary and you have the added effect of the alcohol extracting flavors. In the primary the yeast and CO2 are going to blow off some of the flavors... in the secondary, the added effect of the alcohol extracting flavor adds far more depth to the the character of those flavors: If I want to make tinctures or essences (say, lemon or vanilla or coffee or chocolate) I don't use water to extract the flavors, I use vodka. Here you are using the mead to extract flavors.

 

[Yemany]

I make semmy sweet carbonated meads without forced co2 I use unfermentible sugars and a bit of honey. Works fine, my mango mead is a killer and have my first tap release with it . For the tap release we force carbonate it of course.

 

[Sobby]

As I never try to get near the tolerance of the yeast for alcohol - (I like metaphors: that is like climbing a mountain attached to a rope that is woven to maximally bear my weight.... Me? I would choose a rope that will stand 3 or 4 times my weight without problems) - But if you like to live on the edge that's OK... I like a lot of redundancy built into any mission-critical element. But that's just me...

I think you may be under-thinking the role of alcohol on extracting flavors from fruit: you can add fruit to the primary and what you get essentially is the effect of the yeast on the sugars and the sugar-water on extracting flavors. Add the fruit to the secondary and you have the added effect of the alcohol extracting flavors. In the primary the yeast and CO2 are going to blow off some of the flavors... in the secondary, the added effect of the alcohol extracting flavor adds far more depth to the the character of those flavors: If I want to make tinctures or essences (say, lemon or vanilla or coffee or chocolate) I don't use water to extract the flavors, I use vodka. Here you are using the mead to extract flavors.

Awesome thanks man. I love this stiff and look forward to seeing how this first batch comes out and experimentingfrom there

 

[Sobby]

I make semmy sweet carbonated meads without forced co2 I use unfermentible sugars and a bit of honey. Works fine, my mango mead is a killer and have my first tap release with it . For the tap release we force carbonate it of course.

I like relativity sweet wines and meads as well. My dad has the great to keg and carbonate...I do not. Not yet anyway lol