Question About My Must

[Canada_Eh]

Ok so i just started a batch of mead, that consists of:

18l water
15lbs honey
10lbs fresh grapes

The gravity is 1.075 which should end up around 10% alc. Im a noobie and dont understand how its such low alcohol % considering i added 10lbs of fruit and 15lbs of honey.

I have another 3 lbs of honey do I add it to the must now if i want a dry mead with higher % alcohol ?

Thanks

 

[bernardsmith]

Eighteen liters is close to five gallons (4.75) and 15 lbs of honey should have given you a gravity of about 1.120, so your reading was off, the amount of honey you think you added was off or your water volume was off. One other possibility is that you sampled the must from a place where the honey and water (and fruit) was poorly mixed so your honey may be all towards the bottom of your fermenter and your sample was taken from nearer the top.

Adding more honey before fermentation has completed and the yeast removed will not affect the dryness - only the alcohol content. Not knowing the brix of the grapes (their sugar content) it may be that your must is already at a very high potential alcohol level. If you know the sugar content of the grapes you used (eating grapes do not have a very high sugar content), then you can estimate the SG . It it will be higher than 1.120.

 

[Canada_Eh]

Eighteen liters is close to five gallons (4.75) and 15 lbs of honey should have given you a gravity of about 1.120, so your reading was off, the amount of honey you think you added was off or your water volume was off. One other possibility is that you sampled the must from a place where the honey and water (and fruit) was poorly mixed so your honey may be all towards the bottom of your fermenter and your sample was taken from nearer the top.

Adding more honey before fermentation has completed and the yeast removed will not affect the dryness - only the alcohol content. Not knowing the brix of the grapes (their sugar content) it may be that your must is already at a very high potential alcohol level. If you know the sugar content of the grapes you used (eating grapes do not have a very high sugar content), then you can estimate the SG . It it will be higher than 1.120.

thanks for the great response! yea I used eating grapes and you're right everything settled to the bottom when i took my reading, which would explain why its so low.

Thanks for the advice