Vanilla mead

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vetusstimulus

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So I just made a fresh batch of 'straight' mead....
Few raisins and some lemon zest along with 6lb honey.... I have been told to wait till fermentation stops before splitting one vanilla pod and adding it, leave for 3 weeks then rack into secondary ! Any sugestions or feedback???
 
I do my infusions (vanilla, rosemary/bay, etc) in secondary. For vanilla, I simply split the bean or beans lengthwise, scrape out the pulp and toss pod and pulp in a small amount of boiling water , maybe a cup for a 5 gal batch, for about 10 min. Pour it through a coffee filter and you have a nice and easy infusion that has no real color, no particles and ALL flavor.
 
I only have 1 gallon. Do u think 1 pod will do it....
Yes, 1 should be fine in 1 gallon.

Just split it and chuck it in secondary. Vanilla extracts best in alcohol, you don't need to do anything cheffy like scraping the seeds.

Keep taking little tastes to judge when its the right amount for your preference.....
 
Thanks guys,


I am a little concerned about the amount of honey I have use as I have just read something on the net about 6lb of honey to 1gallon water not being great and used 6lb to make a must IN a 1 gallon dj ......

At suggestions .?

I could split the contents 50/50 into another dj and top up with spring water? Or should I leave well alone and see what happens.?
 
Thanks guys,


I am a little concerned about the amount of honey I have use as I have just read something on the net about 6lb of honey to 1gallon water not being great and used 6lb to make a must IN a 1 gallon dj ......

At suggestions .?

I could split the contents 50/50 into another dj and top up with spring water? Or should I leave well alone and see what happens.?

is that 6lb+water to 1 gallon (so about 50/50 water and honey) or 6 lb +1 gallon which would be about 1.5 gallons?

Typically mead is 2lb (dry) to 3lb+(sweet) per gallon of must. I'd say double your water with either 2 1 gallon fermentors or something.
 
I have a 1 gallon vessel so yes 6lb honey and remainder water....

Should I also add more yeast?
 
You should find another jug and split the batch in half and top up the jugs with water and you will have two batches at the right gravity. That much sugar will shock the yeast and likely stall the ferment.
 
You don't note a location so equally US or Imperial gallons ?

Imp are about 20% larger and I routinely use 3 to 3.5 lb made up to a gallon.....
 
5 litres volume....
So a UK/EU size....

Yes, that should work i.e. either 2 DJ's or just a 2 gallon brewing bucket should work fine. So I'd split it if it was mine......


Oh and its gonna need more nutrition than that.....

Another hand full of raisins and maybe a sachet or teaspoon of bread yeast either boiled or microwaved to kill it, per container.....
 
You don't note a location so equally US or Imperial gallons ?

Imp are about 20% larger and I routinely use 3 to 3.5 lb made up to a gallon.....

5 litres volume....

>smack< Since I've been around the US v Imperial discussion before and possible with Fatbloke even, it would make sense to discuss this all in L, not Gallons. Anyhow. 5L should be 1 Gall Imp. I know a US gallon is about 3.7L.

Anyhow my comment about 2-3 lb honey applies to US gallons. It might be better to discuss starting gravities.

Typically 2lb honey in 1 US gall would have an SG around 1.070 and 3lb around 1.105 So that is the gravity you'd want to start with.

I'd again say you need to double your volume, but since your start volume was larger (5L, not 3.7L) your gravity isn't quite as bad, still I have a estimated calculated OG of 1.155 (6lb at 35 points in 5L of must). I think you want to get that down. To have a sweet mead, add more water to get to about 50% more of what you have, or double your liquid for a dry mead.
 
I have removed approx 1 ltr must from the DJ andtopped up with water.... Grav is still quite high but the yeast is a high alch yeast... Hoping this makes a difference.... I will be adding some more raising tomorrow,,, there is approx 25 in there now and u plan to add another 10.... Oh and I added a tiny bit of yeast also..

What u all think?
 
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