Sima question

[GurraG]

I have made a batch of sima, which wan't as sweet as I had hoped. At first I used about 300 grams of honey and 200 grams of brown sugar, to 4 litres of water and 25 grams of ordinary bread yeast. After the sima had fermented in a jar for 48 hours, as per the recipe, I tasted it and found it less sweet than I wanted it, so I added about 200 grams more honey, bottled the sima and let it ferment for a day more in the bottles, as per the recipe.
What can I do to make the sima sweeter? I suspect that the additional honey I added before the bottling mainly fed the yeast, since there was a virtual volcano of carb when I opened the bottles. Should I simply use less yeast, so that (presumably) more of the honey and sugar I add will remain in the finished sima?

 

[LightningInABottle]

Thanks for making me look up Sima! You learn something new every day.

I'm thinking you should have put it in the fridge a day sooner than you did. You say you let it ferment a day longer. With no gravity readings it is impossible to tell where your mead is at on the dryness scale. Am I correct the recipe calls for you to put it in the fridge when the raisins rise in the secondary? You might try backsweetening the bottles in the fridge and putting them back in the fridge. The cold will prevent them from from fermenting.

I don't think it would matter if you used less yeast or not. I am assuming that you used bread yeast? That should have given off a lot of gas, what kind of valve did you use to allow the gas to exscape?

 

[GurraG]

You are correct, the bottles go in the fridge when the raisins rise, which took me one day after having bottled the sima, hence the "extra day" of fermenting before the bottles went into the fridge.
Since the fermentation process is not allowed to go on until all the sugar is consumed by the yeast I feel it should be possible to make the brew sweeter by adding proportionally more honey/sugar in the beginning. Am I correct?

 

[raestlyn]

You actually should put the sima in the fridge before the raisins rise, that way its done when it happens. Belive me, I'm Finn

 

[GurraG]

You actually should put the sima in the fridge before the raisins rise, that way its done when it happens. Belive me, I'm Finn

Now that might prove useful. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Aforgomon]

So I just bottled my third and fourth batches of sima yesterday. I have made it before the first time was following a method that I found on a scandanavian cooking website, the second time was from a regular cooking website.

The first batch was only with a lemon, honey, brown surgar and refined sugar fermented first in the pot then bottled in mason jars with sugar and rasins. second batch was with oranges, ginger, and a lavender and chamomile tea for tannin and turned out very well. I bottled it in a large 2 Liter vodka bottle and I used dried goji berries instead of rasins. My third batch that I made yesterday was with california sweet limes, I completely removed the skin and only added the flesh. The fourth I made with blood oranges, ginger, lavender flowers and a tea made of dried blood orange pieces.

To make the recipie I boiled 2 quarts (American) of water with 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup refined sugar. Allow the mixture to boil, being sure to stir constantly, for about 2-3 minutes then remove from burner. Then allow to cool a bit then add 2 quarts of ice cold water and allow to reach room temp. Pitch yeast at room temp and stir well, cover pot with lid (i like to use some plastic wrap as well) and allow to ferment for 12-36 hrs; if there are bubbles you are fine, thought the longer it sit the more abv. At bottling time add some sugar to the brew and stir gently, being sure not to add air to it. pour into bottles with a couple rasins and place in the fridge for longer storage, or in a cool cabinet for shorter time storage. Drink within a week.

The last batches though I used topo chico water for the brew and did the primary fermentation in some 1 gal growlers that I had around the house. I then removed the brew with an autio siphon with a bottleing cane at the end and racked directly back into the topo chico bottles (sanitized). I then sealed them with a bottle topper and am storing them now in the fridge and in the pantry. I just tried one of the blood orange and ginger with lavender tannin; simply delicious. As they sit longer in the bottles they become more and more dry, they are especially good cold and after a few days in the bottle.

My main worry is that the sealed bottles will explode... but i guess we can only see at this point. I will definitely keep you posted and let you know if they do end up essplodin'.

 

[GurraG]

What kind of yeast did you use, and how much?

 

[Aforgomon]

I just used regular bread yeast for these batches, however I am sure you can use brewers yeast or another kind of beer yeast to get different flavors out of it.