New to mead making

[JimRausch]

In both cases I boiled down sap until it hit an OG of about 1.100. Volume 1 gallon, so it took about 20 gallons of sap.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

For wines, meads, and acerglyns, I've only used Red Star Cote des Blanc yeast (called premier blanc now). It ferments quick and neutral flavored, but takes a couple months to all settle out. Doesn't affect the flavor at all. My acerglynns (did one in 2017, and one in 2018) are very subtly mapleish. I have to say it's pretty unimpressive. Pretty golden colored though.

That's a bit disappointing; I'm not really all that into subtle flavors, I like flavors that knock you in the head. (I don't actually drink a lot, or often, and a few ounces of subtle once in a while? Meh.) Maybe I'll pass on the acerglyn, then, and save the syrup for my pancakes.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

In both cases I boiled down sap until it hit an OG of about 1.100. Volume 1 gallon, so it took about 20 gallons of sap.

Yeah, I remember the one time I made maple syrup on a lark. It was good, sure, but man, did I ever go through a lot of propane.

 

[JimRausch]

but man, did I ever go through a lot of propane.

Yes at 40:1, I now realize why the stuff is so expensive in the store. I'm working on designing a wood-fired rocket stove out in my backyard, to save at least some of the propane.

 

[Guido Anicito]

I got the maple syrup for free otherwise I probably wouldn’t have made one lol

 

[Guido Anicito]

So I just took another gravity reading I’m at 1.004 for my traditional and .994 for my Acerglyn

 

[CKuhns]

Perfect, congratulations. Rack off the gross Lee's when you cant stand it anymore, let it clarify and rack again.

 

[Guido Anicito]

Perfect, congratulations. Rack off the gross Lee's when you cant stand it anymore, let it clarify and rack again.

Ya I was gonna take another reading soon to see if it stayed the same or if it’s still going

 

[Guido Anicito]

So I went away for the weekend...came home and decided to rack my mead. It’s been two weeks and fermentation seems to have slowed. Took a small taste of the traditional mead and it tastes god awful. Granted it’s .994 gravity so I expected the sweetness to be gone but this tastes like the most dry white wine I’ve ever tasted...

 

[bernardsmith]

So you made a brut dry mead and you prefer a sweeter wine. OK I would stabilize the mead by adding K-meta and K-sorbate and then after a day or so bench test to see how sweet you like this mead. Take a few identical sample sizes and add differing quantities of sugar or honey until you find the sweet spot and use the sample size to determine how much sugar (or honey ) you need to add to the entire batch to make it as sweet as you want it. (you divide the total volume by the sample size to determine how many samples there are in this batch and you multiply the amount of sugar you added by the number of sample sizes and add that amount of sugar (or honey ) to the batch.

 

[JimRausch]

ook a small taste of the traditional mead and it tastes god awful. Granted it’s .994 gravity so I expected the sweetness to be gone but this tastes like the most dry white wine I’ve ever tasted...

Yes. Would be expected at 0.994 FG. Rack until it stays clear, then stabilize and backsweeten until it reaches a taste that you like.