Mead OG

[Iceman6409]

Just made a simple sweet mead. 17lbs honey and the rest is water to get to about 5.8 gallons. Took an OH and it showed 1.066. Kinda low?

 

[bernardsmith]

Sounds low given the volume of honey and the total volume of must. One pound of honey dissolved to make 1 gallon will have an SG of 1.035 and so 17 lbs will have an SG of 17 * 1.035 = 1.595. Dilute that by 5.8 gallons and the SG should be .595/5.8 = 1.102 approx Bottom line - either the sample you measured suggests that the honey is not evenly distributed through the water or it started to ferment before you measured the gravity ( a starting gravity of 1.100 points to a potential ABV of about 13% )

 

[rlmiller10]

Mead is notoriously difficult to get a good OG reading as the honey does not mix well. The calculated gravity bernardsmith gave will be much closer.

 

[Maylar]

Stir it up. You should be in the 1.100 range.

 

[voltron]

Just made a simple sweet mead. 17lbs honey and the rest is water to get to about 5.8 gallons. Took an OH and it showed 1.066. Kinda low?

I think Benardsmith is correct, that the honey did not dissolve evenly. When I first read this the first thing that popped to my is the honey dropped to the bottom. Odds are you will be ok. If you are only a day or two into it since pitching the yeast you can get a stirring rod sanitize it and give it a stir. Oxygen in the first week is not bad.

At this point taking a new og wont be too accurate bc it usualky before fermentation and when fermentation is over, so go with the number that Benardsmith gave you as it is a good guesstimate of where you shoild be add.

 

[Iceman6409]

It did look to me like it sank to the bottom. I did shake and roll the carboy on it's side twice and I stuck a sanitized racking cane to the bottom and gave it a good stir as well. Should I continue doing that?

 

[bernardsmith]

I don't think that it matters. The yeast will get to the sugars one way or another. What I do, however, is to mix my honey with water in a blender. This both completely disperses the honey and aerates the must. It also creates so much froth that it is incredibly difficult to measure the actual gravity before I pitch the yeast but I am not in the business of making commercial wines /meads and so if my starting gravity is a few points off ..so be it. It's the flavor, the mouthfeel, the aroma.. it's the pleasure of the glass that I am looking for.

 

[voltron]

It did look to me like it sank to the bottom. I did shake and roll the carboy on it's side twice and I stuck a sanitized racking cane to the bottom and gave it a good stir as well. Should I continue doing that?

Once should do it. Nowjust let it ferment.

 

[Iceman6409]

Ok so bonehead move of a lifetime. I just figured out why my OG was so low. I did not put all the honey in. Just now I found 5lbs honey that was buried underneath some towels. I originally made the batch on Wednesday September 27. It is now October 1. Can i simply put the 5lbs honey in the primary fermenter?

 

[voltron]

Ok so bonehead move of a lifetime. I just figured out why my OG was so low. I did not put all the honey in. Just now I found 5lbs honey that was buried underneath some towels. I originally made the batch on Wednesday September 27. It is now October 1. Can i simply put the 5lbs honey in the primary fermenter?

quick answer is yes, ur still with in the week mark so oxygen wont have much of an affect

 

[bernardsmith]

Step feeding mead is never a problem.. and what you are in fact doing is step feeding.