My super lazy mead fast mead

[fat-buddha]

So my first batch of mead (JOAM, start 11/30/15) is aging out nicely in the fermentor, but that leaves me nothing to drink right now. I've got some beer on the go, but I like the flavour of mead as an after dinner drink.

I was going to make some of Bray's One Month Mead, but even that seemed like a little too much work.

As a result, this is what I did:
Clean and Santize the 1.4G Big mouth bubbler.
Add ~2L of hot tap water.
Threw in one large handful of raisins, roughly chopped
Add
- 1KG Dutchmens Gold Summer Blossom Honey
- 500g Duthcmen's Gold Wildflower honey
- 500g Dutchmen's Gold Buckwheat honey
Whisk like mad until all the honey is mixed in.
Top up the bubbler to the 5L mark.
Whisk to ensure that water is mixed in.
Pitch 1/2 pack of BRY-97 yeast (came straight from the freezer as I mis-planned)
Airlock and wait.

OG = ~1.1 - I forgot to write it down, may have been up to 1.11

After approximately 4 weeks, it got bottled today as I was bottling some beer. FG = 1.068. It is cloudy, so I'm a little worried that I may have just bottled bombs so I'll open one in a week and see how it is. There had been no noticeable activity it the airlock for ages.

Tasting the hyrdo sample has promise. No off tastes. It's sweet but not cloyingly so, with a nice honey taste to it and nicely balanced by the alcohol that it does have. My dad who was helping me bottle commented that it made him think of a sweet dessert wine.

All in all a happy experience so I thought I would share.

 

[fuelish]

FG = 1.068 ??????? Yeah, I'd be concerned with possible bottle bombs, that's a high FG.....and sounds like it would be overly sweet, but, it's your mead, not mine Yeah definitely open one in the near future....have never had the "pleasure," but can imagine exploding bottles would be no fun...

 

[Vex3521]

Hope you don't get bombs that's a little high!! Was it flat when you bottled? It might be more sparkling (or gushing lol) when you open so I'd be near a sink!! I had one that was literally right between 1.010 and 1.020 for weeks, flat and clear that bottled and decided to carb on me and was doing that but no bombs (knock on wood)

I have one at 1.060 right now that I can agree would be absolutely in the "dessert wine" range but too sweet for my liking so I'm hoping to get it to drop! Sounds like a good run though I'd have waited for it to clear out vs cloudy before bottling.

With the blend of honeys did you notice one note more prominent than the others during process? I would think the buckwheat would give some complexity. Fingers crossed no bombs and it improves even more as it ages =) good job!

 

[fat-buddha]

So for perspective, I'm a relatively newbie to mead, even to the drinking of it, so my palate is still developing. I've had two commercial example, both drunk cold. One I loved. The other I wouldn't buy again as it was too light.

The flavour profile was much to my liking, but this was the sample at room temp, and I want see what it is like when served a bit cooler.. The honey flavour did have a complexity that I very much like. Being only the first batch of homemade mead that I've drunk I've got no idea if that flavour profile is due to the buckwheat, but it is one that I want to try and attain again. Just with less sugar.

My bottling day had gone something like this:
Finish bottling the batch of beer.
Clean the siphon
Fill the first bottle of mead to prime the siphon
Fill the sample cylinder
Fill the rest of the bottles
Go read the sample.

If I'd been smart, I'd have pulled and tested the sample and then put it back to rest. Unfortunately the hurry got me so the 1.068 is what I've got packaged up. The bottles are sitting in a milk crate, over a floor drain under plastic in the 68F basement.

As I said, the flavour was nice. I'm going to try the same blend of honeys again, I may just need to let it sit for a lot longer...

 

[Arpolis]

Yea once the gravity drops below 1.020 and stops moving I think at minimum with no finnings my meads take 4-6 weeks to clear pretty good. And then I rack and give it a minimum 30 more days and still get sediment at the bottom. Takes a long while for a mead to clear. Not to mention one that sweet. Best of luck with your mead and hope for no bombs as well. Glad you like it so far.

 

[fat-buddha]

So I chilled and opened a bottle this evening. And as expected the bottle went fizz when opened. So I guess I've got to chill then down and get onto to drinking.

It is a sweet mead but the flavour profile is exactly what I'm looking for. Time to do another batch and let it finish out properly.

 

[fat-buddha]

I was in the basement today and checked on the bottles.

All the dimples that the bottle capper put into the caps are now pimples. Given that its 3 Celsius outside my backdoor right now, all the bottle went outside for a crashing before they become bombs. Now just how to decide what to due with the tasty liquid that can't stay in the bottles.

 

[clone63]

Poor them all back into a carboy/bucket. Poor along the side like your trying to not get head on a beer. Wait for fermentation to actually finish. At 1.068... that's like 3 times sweeter than coke, with 5.5% forget dessert wine, it's frosting. BUT I mean if that's what you like. I find much over 1.02 gets too sweet for me.

I'm guessing that BRY 97 has a tolerance of around 10% abv, you're about 15% abv potential with 2kg honey in 5L so I'd be surprised if it went dry but since Danstar doesn't give specifics, it is a possibility. Once SG is consistent for at least 2 weeks, should be 1.03 to 1.0, then consider bottling. I'd even let it sit longer, or rack to reduce the yeast in suspension. You may want to consider yeast nutrients and/or an acidity buffer since beer yeasts tend to be more nutrient hungry than wine yeasts. Might explain why fermentation seemed to have stopped, if the yeast is struggling to do its job.
Good luck.

 

[nitack]

I was in the basement today and checked on the bottles.

All the dimples that the bottle capper put into the caps are now pimples. Given that its 3 Celsius outside my backdoor right now, all the bottle went outside for a crashing before they become bombs. Now just how to decide what to due with the tasty liquid that can't stay in the bottles.

As long as the bottles are not gushing you should open them, let off the gas, and then reseal. The gassing off of CO2 should push out any oxygen that you don't want, and releasing the pressure will keep them bombing. You might still get a sparkling mead (not what I like) but you'll keep it safe and salvageable.