New Brewer Wanting Advice

[Mistivor]

I started my first brew 1pm yesterday and today at 6am I've found that it's fizzing and a must is already starting to form. I got my brew set up on an air lock now. Is the speed in which my fermentation set a good thing or should I be worried?

Full process:
We started off with prepping some Premium Rouge yeast. We warmed the honey in a pot of water brought almost to boil on the stove. Brewed 1cup of water with two bags of black tea. Took two cups of dried figs tore them and tossed them in. Poured 128oz of apple juice and 36oz of honey. To get it started. Tossed in 3.8lbs of quartered apples with all leafage, stems, and seeds removed. Added 15 raisins and a whole orange quartered with seeds removed and peel on.

Added 1tsp of ground allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and 6 crushed clove.
Rouge yeast was added after mixing. The whole brew was shaken for 5 minutes to aerate at start 1:40pm, 3:45pm, 5pm, and 7:36pm

Current weight is 1.110 (I didn't measure at start)

Currently single bubble in air lock every 3-4 seconds.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I'm interpreting your post as questioning if your fermentation kick off was too fast or too slow?

I'd say your fermentation kick off is great! You want fast starts. My max is 12 hours before I start feeling like I failed. I'd say you're on par.

 

[Mistivor]

I'm interpreting your post as questioning if your fermentation kick off was too fast or too slow?

I'd say your fermentation kick off is great! You want fast starts. My max is 12 hours before I start feeling like I failed. I'd say you're on par.

Yes that was my question exactly. I tried my best to make sure to provide a good environment for the yeast. I was expecting a longer wait.

Since I was expecting a longer wait I have my set up in a bucket without a spout. How detrimental will it be to open it up and taste it to see if adjustments need to be made? Should I rack sooner rather than later so I can see what's going on? Or just pray to the yeast pixies they're happy and watch my air lock?

 

[madscientist451]

I Is the speed in which my fermentation set a good thing or should I be worried?

How many bubbles in your airlock don't really have a whole lot to do with making good mead.
I would suggest you check out the mead made right website read all about staggered nutrient additions and also not heat your honey above 100F because you'll lose aromatics.

 

[Dan O]

To answer your question, a fast start is good. Not necessarily good for the whole ferment though. Yeast can get stressed if they ferment to quickly, creating fusels and other off flavors. Temperature control can be very helpful there. Bubbles in the airlock just tells you that it's putting out cO2. If you really want to know where your fermentation is @, take a reading.You don't have to rack to see what's going on. Racking too early will cause you to lose live yeast that are still working, in turn, slowing down your ferment. As long as your sanitizing habits are sound, you can take readings regularly to monitor your ferment.

On a side note, was this a recipe or did you come up with this on your own?

6 cloves in 1 gallon may overpower everything if you're not careful. I would taste it along the way to make sure that doesn't happen, (unless you REALLY love cloves, they're potent little buggers), then, you may want a clove mead.
Also, as @madscientist451 has pointed out, heating honey beyond 100F will cause you to lose some of those floral notes you're trying to capture in your mead.
I hope this helps you. Good luck.
Happy meading

 

[Mistivor]

To answer your question, a fast start is good. Not necessarily good for the whole ferment though. Yeast can get stressed if they ferment to quickly, creating fusels and other off flavors. Temperature control can be very helpful there. Bubbles in the airlock just tells you that it's putting out cO2. If you really want to know where your fermentation is @, take a reading.You don't have to rack to see what's going on. Racking too early will cause you to lose live yeast that are still working, in turn, slowing down your ferment. As long as your sanitizing habits are sound, you can take readings regularly to monitor your ferment.

On a side note, was this a recipe or did you come up with this on your own?

6 cloves in 1 gallon may overpower everything if you're not careful. I would taste it along the way to make sure that doesn't happen, (unless you REALLY love cloves, they're potent little buggers), then, you may want a clove mead.
Also, as @madscientist451 has pointed out, heating honey beyond 100F will cause you to lose some of those floral notes you're trying to capture in your mead.
I hope this helps you. Good luck.
Happy meading

Definitely helps! How best do you do temperature control? I have no way to read my temp atm but I can easily fix that I'm sure. If it's something that'll be needed. I'm trying to keep my process as simple and straight forward as possible. I know a lot of others go way into the subtle science but I just want to make a tasty drink for me and my family.

I'll take any new info I can. This is a recipe I made myself as I'm not one to take the easy route apparently and do a tried and true recipe. I did a lot of reading before hand and thought the recipe based solid it originally only used 2-3 whole cloves not crushed. But I didn't listen to people online and my inner spice god took over added more then crushed them for "more flavor".

How often should I take readings? I've been worried about aerating it to much with taking samples and stirring since the ferment started so soon. I originally thought you shouldn't aerate at all after ferment starts but I've recently found that to be wrong. When might be the best time I should stop stirring 1-2 times a day?

I was warned about the cloves and the cinnamon a bit to late. I didn't use a spice bag and they are crushed/ground. So I've been wanting to keep an eye on flavor but worried as I said above. So future batch I'll wait on all spiced till second ferment and use a spice bag.

My current plan is to rack after maybe two weeks if the flavor isn't getting off before then due to my spices. Right now it's delicious and I wish I could keep the profile as is but I'm worried about an early rack setting me back.

I would like it to be ready to drink and it be tasty before the end of the year if not sooner.

 

[Dan O]

Definitely helps! How best do you do temperature control? I have no way to read my temp atm but I can easily fix that I'm sure. If it's something that'll be needed. I'm trying to keep my process as simple and straight forward as possible. I know a lot of others goji way into the subtle science but I just want to make a tasty drink for me and my family.

I'll take any new info I can. This is a recipe I made myself as I'm not one to take the easy route apparently and do a tried and true recipe. I did a lot of reading before hand and thought the recipe based solid it originally only used 2-3 whole cloves not crushed. But I didn't listen to people online and my inner spice god took over added more then crushed them for "more flavor".

How often should I take readings? I've been worried about aerating it to much with taking samples and stirring since the ferment started so soon. I originally thought you shouldn't aerate at all after ferment starts but I've recently found that to be wrong. When might be the best time I should stop stirring 1-2 times a day?

I was warned about the cloves and the cinnamon a bit to late. I didn't use a spice bag and they are crushed/ground. So I've been wanting to keep an eye on flavor but worried as I said above. So future batch I'll wait on all spiced till second ferment and use a spice bag.

My current plan is to rack after maybe two weeks if the flavor isn't getting off before then due to my spices. Right now it's delicious and I wish I could keep the profile as is but I'm worried about an early rack setting me back.

I would like it to be ready to drink and it be tasty before the end of the year if not sooner.

Well, if you're looking for simple & almost no work to make a mead, I would suggest looking into making a JAOM . Doesn't get any simpler than that. I know you said you don't like to follow a recipe, but this one is proven to work THIS way. You deviate from it, all bets are off & you're on your own.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/joes-ancient-orange-mead.49106/
There's a reason they say only 2 or 3 cloves, because, they can overpower the more subtle flavors very easily. Not crushed, they're very strong, but, crushed or powdered, that could be an issue. But, like I said, if you're a lover of strong clove flavor, knock yourself out. Nobody will knock you for it.

Don't aerate more than 4-5 days into your ferment. A gentle swirl 1-2 times a day is all it will take. By that time your yeast colony should have grown enough & will be starting to (or almost) making alcohol. Stop aerating @ this point. Any point after this, you'll want to let it sit as still as possible.

Honey is nutrient deficient, so for meads that don't get a lot of things added to them, a TOSNA 3.0 feeding schedule can greatly improve not only your mead, but, the time it takes to be a drinkable product as well. If a ferment goes too fast, or is too hot, (temperature of the ferment environment) , & fusels and other off flavors are created because of the yeast being stressed from not enough nutrients to feed it properly, it can take months or sometimes more than a year for those off flavors & the rocket fuel affects to age out.

https://www.meadmaderight.com/tosna-calculator
Taking readings is part of the process & it's something that you should become comfortable with. Again, as long as you have good sanitization practices, you should be fine. I use StarSan for a sanitizer & haven't had any problems with contamination.
When I start a mead, I take readings once or twice a week. Some people don't, but, this is a fun hobby for me. I like to monitor their progress. I like the sciencey part of it. Smell it, taste it. Look @ it in a glass.

Racking too early will cause you to lose live yeast that are still working, in turn, slowing down your ferment. 2 weeks might be too early. It may be finished fermenting by then, but, if you leave it for another 2 weeks, generally the yeast will go back and clean up after themselves to start the clearing process. If you taste it & you think the spices might overpower it, gently swirl or stir, (not slosh or spash) the lees (yeast cake on the bottom) back into suspension before you rack off of the spices. That way most of the yeast will get racked over to your clean, sanitized carboy & the ferment can finish.
If the spices still wind up being too much, you can always make a show mead (traditional= honey, water, yeast) & blend to 2 meads in a glass until you get the mix ratio & flavor profile you're looking for.

On temperature control, search the forums, Google, craigslist, etc. My basement is a pretty constant temperature so I don't worry that much about it. There are many on here that would be much more knowledgeable about it than I.
I hope this helps & I hope I answered your questions.
Happy meading
The picture is my current setup & clear example of just how addictive this hobby can be

 

[Mistivor]

Well, if you're looking for simple & almost no work to make a mead, I would suggest looking into making a JAOM . Doesn't get any simpler than that. I know you said you don't like to follow a recipe, but this one is proven to work THIS way. You deviate from it, all bets are off & you're on your own.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/joes-ancient-orange-mead.49106/
There's a reason they say only 2 or 3 cloves, because, they can overpower the more subtle flavors very easily. Not crushed, they're very strong, but, crushed or powdered, that could be an issue. But, like I said, if you're a lover of strong clove flavor, knock yourself out. Nobody will knock you for it.

Don't aerate more than 4-5 days into your ferment. A gentle swirl 1-2 times a day is all it will take. By that time your yeast colony should have grown enough & will be starting to (or almost) making alcohol. Stop aerating @ this point. Any point after this, you'll want to let it sit as still as possible.

Honey is nutrient deficient, so for meads that don't get a lot of things added to them, a TOSNA 3.0 feeding schedule can greatly improve not only your mead, but, the time it takes to be a drinkable product as well. If a ferment goes too fast, or is too hot, (temperature of the ferment environment) , & fusels and other off flavors are created because of the yeast being stressed from not enough nutrients to feed it properly, it can take months or sometimes more than a year for those off flavors & the rocket fuel affects to age out.

https://www.meadmaderight.com/tosna-calculator
Taking readings is part of the process & it's something that you should become comfortable with. Again, as long as you have good sanitization practices, you should be fine. I use StarSan for a sanitizer & haven't had any problems with contamination.
When I start a mead, I take readings once or twice a week. Some people don't, but, this is a fun hobby for me. I like to monitor their progress. I like the sciencey part of it. Smell it, taste it. Look @ it in a glass.

Racking too early will cause you to lose live yeast that are still working, in turn, slowing down your ferment. 2 weeks might be too early. It may be finished fermenting by then, but, if you leave it for another 2 weeks, generally the yeast will go back and clean up after themselves to start the clearing process. If you taste it & you think the spices might overpower it, gently swirl or stir, (not slosh or spash) the lees (yeast cake on the bottom) back into suspension before you rack off of the spices. That way most of the yeast will get racked over to your clean, sanitized carboy & the ferment can finish.
If the spices still wind up being too much, you can always make a show mead (traditional= honey, water, yeast) & blend to 2 meads in a glass until you get the mix ratio & flavor profile you're looking for.

On temperature control, search the forums, Google, craigslist, etc. My basement is a pretty constant temperature so I don't worry that much about it. There are many on here that would be much more knowledgeable about it than I.
I hope this helps & I hope I answered your questions.
Happy meading
The picture is my current setup & clear example of just how addictive this hobby can be

View attachment 733441

I did see the JAOM recipe and I think it's a great idea for sure! I even saw and updated one that has a more consistently tasty flavor? Main difference was they took some of the orange slices peels off.

Taking readings I can do I just didn't know how often. I've taken two readings so far and my mead isn't even a week yet. Once or twice a week is a perfect amount that I'm okay with.

It's excellent advice to make a show mead and mellow mine down after if needed. Thank you! I feel a lot better about my possible oops with the spices.

I was just looking into TOSNAs schedule. May I ask, do you buy just one type of yeast or do you try to use different yeasts each time. I was debating buying in bulk but it seems variety packs are more expensive/harder to find. I can buy FO in bulk on Amazon it seems so I believe I'll incorporate that for my next batch as I believe it'll be nearly too late to try any nutrition supplements by the time anything arrived. I hoped my fruit dispersion was good enough to cover all they would need to be healthy.

If I racked by pouring through a filter of some kind would that help keep my yeast in the early rack? I was thinking about using a sanitized cheese cloth to filter out the seasonings when I go into my carboy. If not waiting two more weeks is no biggy at all.

Thank you very much!

Your collection is amazing! I'll be there soon enough. I'm pretty hooked and I haven't even finished my first gallon. I love it. I just want to not overwhelm myself with stuff I don't fully understand. I like to know what I'm doing and I know it's not all the same every time so I want to build my intuition so I rely less on other tools or people to help me.

 

[bernardsmith]

Many good points made by members of this forum, Mistivor, but let me add THREE over-arching thoughts You can make mead as complicated or as simple as you want. When you add yeast to a solution of about 1. 090 (or 1.100 or thereabouts) at about room temperature the yeast will do all the work and your job can be simply to ensure that the yeast have all the nutrients they need and so don't get stressed.

The secret to wine (or mead making) is patience. Yeast are a living organism and they ferment on their own schedule and not on yours. If you create a large enough and sufficiently viable enough colony of yeast they will take off and do their thing. If you provide a small colony or the colony you provide needs to spend a great deal of time acclimatizing themselves to this environment then it will take time for the yeast to begin visibly fermenting. Active fermentation can be as short as a few days or as long as a month or more.

Lastly, unless you are a commercial wine maker and you are making 5000 gallons of wine or more there is no need to be anxious. It's not impossible to spoil a few gallons of mead or wine but it is very difficult to do so. Certainly, if you are using ingredients in quantities that you have never used them before , or you are using ingredients you have never used in a food, then you might create a wine whose flavor or aroma is unpleasant or bizarre - so try ingredients before using anything with which you are not sufficiently familiar. Wine is all about balance and the elements you are balancing are the amount of alcohol (ABV) with the intensity of flavor of your wine with its acidity the presence of tannins, the perceived sweetness and the wine's viscosity (mouthfeel). It's all about balance. The yeast do all the heavy lifting when it comes to fermentation but the wine maker is the one doing all the work of balancing.

 

[mongoose33]

IMO, new brewers should start off with simple recipes until they have the process down. There are so many variables in brewing that, if something screws up, it can be hard to nail down the cause of a bad beer. Thus, simplicity at the outset can help ensure that the initial batches turn out well.

As an example--and I was where you are at one time, so I'm not picking on you--your question about the rigor and speed of the fermentation indicates some uncertainty about the process. That's OK, I had issues with my first brew as well.

But I see it a lot--a new brewer wants to brew a left-handed coconut stout with overtones of lavender but enhanced by triple-hop dry hopping along with adding milk sugar....etc. etc. It becomes so complicated that when it doesn't turn out, is it the process of brewing, the fermentation temps, the recipe, the timing of additions or whatever, a screwup in the yeast starter, or ?????

Simplicity is the new brewer's best friend. Think on where you want to be six months from now, and to the extent you can, exercise as much patience as you can muster. I know patience is not the standard characteristic of new brewers, or even experienced ones, but it's important.

Anyway, good luck with this brew, and try to relax a bit with the progress.

 

[Mistivor]

IMO, new brewers should start off with simple recipes until they have the process down. There are so many variables in brewing that, if something screws up, it can be hard to nail down the cause of a bad beer. Thus, simplicity at the outset can help ensure that the initial batches turn out well.

As an example--and I was where you are at one time, so I'm not picking on you--your question about the rigor and speed of the fermentation indicates some uncertainty about the process. That's OK, I had issues with my first brew as well.

But I see it a lot--a new brewer wants to brew a left-handed coconut stout with overtones of lavender but enhanced by triple-hop dry hopping along with adding milk sugar....etc. etc. It becomes so complicated that when it doesn't turn out, is it the process of brewing, the fermentation temps, the recipe, the timing of additions or whatever, a screwup in the yeast starter, or ?????

Simplicity is the new brewer's best friend. Think on where you want to be six months from now, and to the extent you can, exercise as much patience as you can muster. I know patience is not the standard characteristic of new brewers, or even experienced ones, but it's important.

Anyway, good luck with this brew, and try to relax a bit with the progress.

I definitely understand where you're coming from and it's excellent advice. I definitely wasn't trying to over complicate things in my first brew. My worry about the process came from misunderstanding the process when I first put it to memory.

I do hope this brew comes out wonderfully and I have plans on starting a batch of JAOM with some light modifications to help the flavor as suggest by many in the interwebs.

I also will be trying to make a good semi sweet 5 gallon batch here soon too.

I wanted my first brew to be a short mead with lots of flavor and yum. Apples seemed the easiest to go with and I thought I have my calculations correct with the research I did in proportions and balancing flavors.

Over all I agree simpler is better. But that's never been quite my nature. I always gotta mess with things to make them a little like me.

Current mistakes I know of are 1. I may have over heated the honey a bit in the bottle, 2. I didn't use a spice bag or tea bag for the seasonings, 3. I used to many apples originally as it made it hard to mix, 4, and I stopped stirring all together once the yeast kicked in under 12 hours and I thought it needed to be left alone. 5. Didn't take any starting gravities day one. And lastly 6. I didn't know about nutrient supplements before so I researched how my fruit would feed the yeast instead. That was due to my book on mead making encouraging not using supplements.

Over all it seems like things are going well and I've learned a lot from this batch plus it's still good so I haven't ruined anything yet. Thanks for all the support. Hope my Future batches will show my growth and be delicious!