JetoCalihan
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- Jun 2, 2013
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So I decided recently, being a big do it yourselfer, that I would try my hand at brewing so that I'd have an access of alcohol to celebrate my and my cousin's 21st birthdays. And being so big a history buff, I figured I'd start my brewing experience with the same brews humanity started with. So after quite a bit of research I gathered up all my supplies and brewed up my must, took a hydrometer reading, yada yada and it all went rather smoothly, but I'm worried about a few things and couldn't find any info on one or two others
Aproximately 5 Galons
184 oz. (11.5#) of clover honey
I think the OG is 1.130. Not entirely sure I read the meter exactly right there, but it also very clearly says 17% potential at the same spot on the meter, so there's that.
Using Wyeast Laboratories Sweet Mead Yeast 4184
Must made 6/2/2013, Fermenting at about 70F
Questions:
1. The day after I made it there was just a bit of a head forming on it, but then the day after that the head had all but disappeared and has not returned. The yeast seem to still be hard at work though, as their are still plenty of tiny bubbles streaming up from the bottom. I'm worried that something might be wrong since a head started to form, but is gone now. Should I be and if so what should I do to correct this?
2. Everything I've found says you'll know primary fermentation is done when it stops bubbling, but does that mean when the airlock stops bubbling or the little bubbles I've seen in the mead itself. I know they're linked but either one could "end" (at least to the eye) first and I want to be absolutely sure about the timing.
3. I hope to gelatin the mead in order to clear it, but everything I've found has been somewhat vague about exactly when. They all talk about racking into secondary fermentation and/or subsequent rackings, and my thinking is that I should do it before the actual racking to leave all the sediment behind but as I said they were vague on that. So should I use the finings before it's in the second carboy or after?
4. I'm a huge fan of blackberries as well as vanilla. I think both of them would make great additions to mead (and from the recipe section of this website I'm obviously not alone) and would like to separate some of the brew into smaller containers to experiment with these. Is there anything I should be careful of doing this/will this mess anything up?
I want to thank you in advance for any help or suggestions you may have for me.
Aproximately 5 Galons
184 oz. (11.5#) of clover honey
I think the OG is 1.130. Not entirely sure I read the meter exactly right there, but it also very clearly says 17% potential at the same spot on the meter, so there's that.
Using Wyeast Laboratories Sweet Mead Yeast 4184
Must made 6/2/2013, Fermenting at about 70F
Questions:
1. The day after I made it there was just a bit of a head forming on it, but then the day after that the head had all but disappeared and has not returned. The yeast seem to still be hard at work though, as their are still plenty of tiny bubbles streaming up from the bottom. I'm worried that something might be wrong since a head started to form, but is gone now. Should I be and if so what should I do to correct this?
2. Everything I've found says you'll know primary fermentation is done when it stops bubbling, but does that mean when the airlock stops bubbling or the little bubbles I've seen in the mead itself. I know they're linked but either one could "end" (at least to the eye) first and I want to be absolutely sure about the timing.
3. I hope to gelatin the mead in order to clear it, but everything I've found has been somewhat vague about exactly when. They all talk about racking into secondary fermentation and/or subsequent rackings, and my thinking is that I should do it before the actual racking to leave all the sediment behind but as I said they were vague on that. So should I use the finings before it's in the second carboy or after?
4. I'm a huge fan of blackberries as well as vanilla. I think both of them would make great additions to mead (and from the recipe section of this website I'm obviously not alone) and would like to separate some of the brew into smaller containers to experiment with these. Is there anything I should be careful of doing this/will this mess anything up?
I want to thank you in advance for any help or suggestions you may have for me.
