Is this yeast or honey?

[VoxPopuli]

I started a Mead brew on the 2/1/18, and I used:
a gallon of clean water
1.3kg of honey (a little under 3 pounds)
Half of a large orange
25 raisins

I have two questions really, I didn't have a hydrometer on brew day, so I'm working on a OG estimate, am I right in thinking it would have been slightly over 1.100? I'm waiting until a week before taking another reading, hoping for a FG of about 1.04 if that's possible, I think I used generic wine making yeast.

And the image attached, is that honey that has settled, or the beginning of a yeast cake or both? I read that yeast can still eat through honey on the bottom though, or should I stir it?

Still very new to Mead, I'm trying to convince myself to relax!

TYIA!

 

[Ryue]

Can't help you with the OG estimate, but yes, that is simply the lees settling to the bottom. No need to stir it, you will want them all settled when you go to rack so that you don't have a lot of particles in your mead.
Attached is a picture of my last batch

 

[VoxPopuli]

Ah okay, that's great, my main concern was the size of the buildup after just 5 days, I guess I just expected things to take longer?

 

[Ryue]

Yeah, I was pretty surprised too, that picture is a week after I pitched the yeast in a SG of 1.146. Finished at 19.5%ABV in 9.5 weeks

 

[VoxPopuli]

Oh okay, that's reassuring, how did the Mead turn out? I'm hoping for a sweet Mead, and what was your FG?

 

[Ryue]

I believe (I didnt write it down) my FG was 0.995. It turned out surprisingly good, and still on the sweet side. I use 8 cups of local red clover honey (about 6lbs) to a gallon and pitched a Champaign yeast.

 

[VoxPopuli]

Oh okay, so my aim at 1.04 could be very sweet? I was hoping for it to be ready to drink within 4-6 weeks too as I have a gathering I was brewing it for.

 

[Ryue]

Not necessarily, I don't think. I'm no expert and have only done two different batches, but I would imagine that you could have a lower SG and higher FG than mine and it might not be as sweet if the yeast ate the available sugars..? I could be wrong, more experienced guys should be able to say.

Edit: honestly I think (without knowing what kind of yeast you used) that under 3lbs of honey will end up bone dry. But you can always backsweeten afterwords.

 

[VoxPopuli]

Do you think most of the sugars would have been converted within a month? How long did you leave it before drinking?

 

[Ryue]

Hard to say, depends on the ingredients and kind of yeast, temperature of the must, whether or not you use nutrients, etc. There are a lot of variables, so yours could be different from mine, but I drank mine as soon as I bottled.

If your goal is for a mead to be ready in a month, you could always try making BOMM (Bray's One Month Mead) I haven't tried it but it seems very popular on HBT and should be a good place to start.

 

[VoxPopuli]

Yeah, I have been keeping it at 60f, and using raisins as nutrition, the bubbler has been steady at about one bubble every 5 seconds, so it's working, it's my first Mead, so I'm just nervous that I have done something wrong! I guess only time will tell and I should 'rdwhahb'

 

[Ryue]

Yeah, don't worry too much. My first batch I did just anout everything they say not to do and it still turned out pretty good, made a second batch tweeking a few things and it turned out great.
I didn't use any nutrients, just a handful of raisins, I put a whole lemon in (something that they say will make the ph way to high) and I had it in the garage below 55° until the temp dropped to near freezing, fermentation stopped and THEN I brought it inside. The best way to learn is by trial and error, IMO.

 

[sbsmann]

Mead? Pit of Misery for you. Dilly Dilly.

 

[VoxPopuli]

I bet, still very excited to get into It, not too sure my bank account is as enthusiastic, I can see it becoming expensive! What do you brew?

 

[Ryue]

It can be expensive to start out depending on the equipment you choose to use, but I started out with maybe $100 in equipment. Now I am getting prepared tp start making larger batches, got a 15.5 gallon brew pot and propane burner on its was so I can make 5 - 10 gallin batches in the near future.

 

[bernardsmith]

I want to challenge Ryue's point that you don't want to agitate those lees. Certainly, when it comes time to rack you want the lees to be well packed but during active fermentation you want to stir your mead to remove the CO2 which as it builds up in the liquid can put a lot of pressure on the yeast cells (and can lower the pH to levels that add a different kind of stress). You also want to keep all the yeast in suspension so that they are encouraged to continue fermenting rather than drop out of suspension and fall to the bottom of the fermenter. Allowing the lees to be repeatedly mixed throughout the mead can improve the flavor of your mead. If you doubt this, experiment with two identical batches stirring and agitating one and leaving the second untouched.

 

[VoxPopuli]

Hello bernardsmith, I am new to this forum and not sure how to quote or reply to a specific message so I hope you see this.

You said "but during active fermentation you want to stir your mead to remove the CO2 which as it builds up in the liquid can put a lot of pressure on the yeast cells"

My Mead is now one week old, would it still be beneficial to stir, as most of the fermentation is done in the first couple of days, or would stirring now only oxidise the Mead more than I want?

TYIA!

 

[bernardsmith]

Hello bernardsmith, I am new to this forum and not sure how to quote or reply to a specific message so I hope you see this.

You said "but during active fermentation you want to stir your mead to remove the CO2 which as it builds up in the liquid can put a lot of pressure on the yeast cells"

My Mead is now one week old, would it still be beneficial to stir, as most of the fermentation is done in the first couple of days, or would stirring now only oxidise the Mead more than I want?

TYIA!

If you hit "quote" and "reply" below a post a box will open with the words quoted and give you space to comment below.

If the gravity is at 1.000 or lower and you have racked your mead from the primary I would say that you don't want to do any more stirring - a) because the yeast is no longer producing any CO2 (there is (virtually) no sugar left for the yeast to ferment) and b) the risk of incorporating oxygen now outweighs any advantage (the yeast are not going to uptake any oxygen you introduce by stirring but the mead will).

If the mead is still in the primary (because the gravity is above, say 1.005 -1.010 then I would continue to degas. There is a lot of CO2 that gets absorbed by the liquid - and if you think about it HALF the weight of the sugar is converted into CO2 by the yeast. In your batch that is 1.5 lbs approx of CO2...