TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
The batch of JAOM that I started a few weeks ago seems to be going well, so i started a batch of plain, ol' mead tonight; no fruits, no extras...just honey.
It is a 1-gallon batch of mead with 3 pounds of clover honey, spring water and Lalvin D47 yeast, which is reputed to be very good for mead. I also added 1 teaspoon each of yeast nutrient and yeast energized. If I would have thought of it, I would have staggered the addition of the nutrient and energizer; but I didn't, so we will just have to hope that Odin was looking over my shoulder and that things will turn out alright.
It was a very easy procedure and it seems like it took less time to do it than it will to read about it, but here is what I did:
To make this mead, I warmed the honey in a sink of hot water, to make it easy to pour. While the honey was warming in the sink, I put about 2 cups of water in the bottom of my fermenter, added the nutrient and energizer, then agitated and shook it around in order to dissolve them. I then heated another 2 cups of water in the microwave. While the water was heating, I poured the honey into the fermenter through a large funnel. When the honey containers were empty, I put a little of the heated water in each; shook them to capture any residual honey, then poured them through the funnel. I then ran the last of the heated water down the funnel in order to catch any honey that might be clinging to the sides. I capped the fermenter, shook and agitated it for a few minutes to aerate and completely dissolve the honey, then added the last of the water to just a hair over a gallon. I then capped the fermenter and shook/agitated it again. Finally, I pitched the yeast and shook/agitated the fermenter for a final 5 minutes before fitting the airlock.
I did experience one potential glitch in making this mead. My fermenter has a sticky thermometer on it, and in the poor light of the room I was in, I thought that the temperature read 68 when I pitched the yeast. Unfortunately, once the yeast was pitched and agitated, I discovered to my dismay that the thermometer was actually reading 79. It cooled fairly quickly, but I did worry for a while. I looked in the back of my refrigerator and discovered another package of D47, but it expired a year or so ago. I almost pitched it anyway in desperation, but then I did notice the first tentative signs of fermentation in the fermenter as the yeast was beginning to build a bubbly cap. Watching for a while longer, it did indeed appear that the cap was continuing to build, so I will leave it alone and let it go.
That's all I have for now, but there will be more as it happens, etc. & c....
Ron
It is a 1-gallon batch of mead with 3 pounds of clover honey, spring water and Lalvin D47 yeast, which is reputed to be very good for mead. I also added 1 teaspoon each of yeast nutrient and yeast energized. If I would have thought of it, I would have staggered the addition of the nutrient and energizer; but I didn't, so we will just have to hope that Odin was looking over my shoulder and that things will turn out alright.
It was a very easy procedure and it seems like it took less time to do it than it will to read about it, but here is what I did:
To make this mead, I warmed the honey in a sink of hot water, to make it easy to pour. While the honey was warming in the sink, I put about 2 cups of water in the bottom of my fermenter, added the nutrient and energizer, then agitated and shook it around in order to dissolve them. I then heated another 2 cups of water in the microwave. While the water was heating, I poured the honey into the fermenter through a large funnel. When the honey containers were empty, I put a little of the heated water in each; shook them to capture any residual honey, then poured them through the funnel. I then ran the last of the heated water down the funnel in order to catch any honey that might be clinging to the sides. I capped the fermenter, shook and agitated it for a few minutes to aerate and completely dissolve the honey, then added the last of the water to just a hair over a gallon. I then capped the fermenter and shook/agitated it again. Finally, I pitched the yeast and shook/agitated the fermenter for a final 5 minutes before fitting the airlock.
I did experience one potential glitch in making this mead. My fermenter has a sticky thermometer on it, and in the poor light of the room I was in, I thought that the temperature read 68 when I pitched the yeast. Unfortunately, once the yeast was pitched and agitated, I discovered to my dismay that the thermometer was actually reading 79. It cooled fairly quickly, but I did worry for a while. I looked in the back of my refrigerator and discovered another package of D47, but it expired a year or so ago. I almost pitched it anyway in desperation, but then I did notice the first tentative signs of fermentation in the fermenter as the yeast was beginning to build a bubbly cap. Watching for a while longer, it did indeed appear that the cap was continuing to build, so I will leave it alone and let it go.
That's all I have for now, but there will be more as it happens, etc. & c....
Ron
