Virgin run

[Jackstraw207]

I started a basic show mead 12-29-15. Now everything I'm reading is confusing. Some sites say ferment 7-10 days other sites say ferment 2 weeks plus... Help? Any way, I have added a total of 1tsp nutrients and 1 tsp energizer 24 hrs after ferment began. I had added 1 tsp nutrients right after pitching. My SG? OG? Was 1.100. Any tips tricks or help would be nice. Thanks... Oh and my original airlock had a crack in the seam so I rigged up a section of siphon tubing going into a glass of sanitized spring water. Will this work or did I just waste 45$ of honey?

 

[jc5066]

Should be good.

Keep it in primary until your gravity reading doesn't move for 3 days. Generally mead can stay in the primary for longer then wine. You don't need to be in a huge hurry to rack. I've left my JAOM mead in the primary for a few months.

 

[CKuhns]

Blow off tube is fine your honey (now Must) will likely be OK.

$45 on honey a 5 gallon batch or very expensive varietal Honey for a gallon batch?
7 - 10 days for primary and 1.100 OG sounds like a BOMM (Brays One Month Mead) If YES then follow the directions exactly as LOR (LoveOf Rose) provides. (See Brays One Month Mead Post)

If not a BOMM then consider the following:

Time is your friend - generally mead is for the patient.
I have found on the forums that there literally are thousands of ways and hundreds of techniques folks use to make a mead. Some rather quickly like a BOMM and some that literally take a year or more to be considered anything but "Drinkable". With that said there are many practices and a lot of advice out there. For a first timer this can be very confusing.

The interesting thing is that most of those techniques and practices (not all) will make a pretty good Mead. It really is up to each of us to find out what works for us.

Here is what i would suggest... (Middle of the road stuff here and what i do, others will have differing opinions)
- Aerate and degass to 1/3 sugar break 1 - 2x's a day. (BE VERY CAREFULL it has a delayed reaction and foams A LOT!)
- To determine the 1/3 break OG 1.100 minus expected or target FG divided by 3. Example OG 1.100 - FG 1.000 = .100 then / 3 = 33.3 then subtract .33 from 1.100 = 1.067.
- If a 5 gallon batch add same amount of nutrients at 1/3 break. Or if too complicated and or no hydrometer add nutrients between 48 - 60 hours after yeast pitch. (No more aeration after this point.)
- If a 1 gallon you probably have enough nutrients in their already.
- Then let it go.... (The yeast will take as long as it takes to convert the sugars.) BOMMS and very aggressive yeasts - 8 - 14 days. Other Straight Meads without staggered nutrient additions and different yeasts as long as 30+ days in Primary. (I had a VERY slow one and lost track after 60 days!) It is all dependent upon yeast, temperature and nutrients.
- Keep temp in the yeast range if possible throughout.
- I consider Primary done when air lock bubbles > each few minutes or so and or gravity does not change over a day or two. (Bubble rate is not a real good predictor as some yeasts and conditions just take a long time. Gravity readings are the only real way of likely knowing what is going on.
- When primary is done rack off the gross lees to secondary and let it go until no air lock activity and SG does not change for a week or two, it hopefully clears some in that time.
- Watch head space after racking, too much after primary can cause problems. Either move to a smaller sanitized container or top off with distilled water or another very clear similar mead. (Water will dilute and in my opinion may make it a little "thin".)
- Check air lock each few days to ensure it stays full and rack off lees whenever you can't stand it or if > 1/4 to 1/2" or so.
- If it tastes "hot" let it age. If everything went well (and it likely will) you will have something "drinkable" in 1 - 9 months and something really good on average after being aged for a month or so for each % ABV produced.
- Drinkable and really good are subjective and dependent upon the consumer to determine. I am a bit fussier than some.
- Quick and dirty ABV calc. OG-FG*131 (Not 100% accurate but close enough and definitely "in the ballpark".)

Good luck and welcome to the craft.

Let us know how it works out.

 

[Jackstraw207]

Thanks for the advice it's a 5 gallon batch. I came up with my own recipe of 14 lbs honey and water to bring it to 5 gal. I'm using pasture champagne yeast and hoping for the best.

 

[CKuhns]

Great way to start.

That is almost exactly what i did for my first run at mead. Went with 15 pounds of honey 4 gallons water from my kitchen tap and D47 yeast. Nutrients didn't even know there was such a thing. (Your one up on me with that.) After 16 months it turned out very well. Actually cracked one open last night. Unfortunately they are now almost gone.

Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast something like 15% alcohol tolerance? I have no personal experience with it but it will likely go dry expect your FG <1.000 and it may produce some fusels causing some of that "hot" young flavor. That does age out nicely after a number of months.

During Primary if you can keep it near 68 deg F it might help that a bit. Will take a little longer to ferment out but will age and absorb / convert the fusels quicker.

 

[Jackstraw207]

as far as temps go my house sits between 64-70 degrees. The guys at my hbs say the pasture champagne has up to 18% abv tolerance...now if I split this batch up in secondary say put three gallons in a carboy and put the rest in one gallon jugs could i flavor the smaller bottles or not? I was gonna put a hot pepper in one and a few vanilla beans in the other. Or am I getting too carried away with this run.

 

[CKuhns]

"now if I split this batch up in secondary say put three gallons in a carboy and put the rest in one gallon jugs could i flavor the smaller bottles or not? I was gonna put a hot pepper in one and a few vanilla beans in the other. Or am I getting too carried away with this run. "

Yes You could and I do encourage experimentation. You should do what you are comfortable with and adding a couple of items in secondary is in my opinion certainly something we all should do at some point.

I like the idea of leaving a few gallons as your "control". Being able to refer to it will really help in understanding how the mead changes over time and the impacts your additions have on the original material. You will gain a bunch of experience by doing so and be able to make better decisions as a result.

 

[Vex3521]

I think splitting a batch out is good too. Can help fine tune recipes and additions you might not be sure of that way a note isn't too assertive later!

 

[Jackstraw207]

Quick update. Ferment is going strong. Gravity readings are leading me to believe I'll be racking on or by the 10th. So once I split and transfer to multiple secondaries some with fruit and or hot peppers are there chemicals I should be adding? What are the "newbie fruits" ie almost impossible to frig up...and also fresh or frozen fruit? Which works best. Thanks for the help and wisdom

 

[ReDim]

Chemical additions SNA schedules:

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/improve-mead-staggered-nutrient-additions/

Primary fermentation time. It will vary based on SNA schedule, Yeast used, and the amount of terminable. I bottled after 8 days, but it was done with primary on day 6 (this is 1.1011 starting gravity) higher gravity / different ingredients.

 

[CKuhns]

Quick update. Ferment is going strong. Gravity readings are leading me to believe I'll be racking on or by the 10th. So once I split and transfer to multiple secondaries some with fruit and or hot peppers are there chemicals I should be adding? What are the "newbie fruits" ie almost impossible to frig up...and also fresh or frozen fruit? Which works best. Thanks for the help and wisdom

Can't help with other chemicals to inhibit yeast or to back-sweeten (Xyletol, Truvea etc.) or anything to add complexity etc. I just don't use them. (Sorry)

Here is what i found be a good rule of thumb for fruit.

If fresh wash and freeze for at least a day and then thaw. Helps break down the cell walls and gives up the flavor better. Otherwise buy pre-frozen and be sure to bring to room temp before adding to Secondary. All of these seem to work well for me. Other fruit does as well for other folks I don't have a lot of experience with other fruits. (Trying a Cranberry Orange combo for the first time as of this writing.)

Fruit flavor guide is copied from http://www.winninghomebrew.com/melomels.html

Days in Secondary are what works for the flavors I like. Rule of thumb if small seeds no more than 14 days, everything else but Citrus at about 30 days kind of give up all their flavor, Citrus can go longer.

All of these Fruit additions would take place in Secondary and all are for 5 gallons of mead. (Obviously - Divide by 5 for 1 gallon - Absolutely does not have to be exact.)

24 – 30 Days
Blueberries, Cherries (Sweet)
Mild Fruit Character – 5 lbs in secondary
Medium Fruit Character – 7 lbs in secondary
Strong Fruit Character – 11 lbs or more in secondary

Citrus Fruits
Mild Fruit Character – 5 lbs in secondary
Medium Fruit Character – 7 lbs in secondary
Strong Fruit Character – 9 lbs or more in secondary

Plums (use skins as well)
Mild Fruit Character – 4 lbs to 6 lbs in secondary
Medium Fruit Character – 8 lbs in secondary
Strong Fruit Character – 10 lbs or more in secondary

8 – 10 Days
Raspberries - Blackberries
Mild Fruit Character – 2 lbs to 4 lbs in secondary
Medium Fruit Character – 6 lbs in secondary
Strong Fruit Character – 8 lbs or more in secondary

Strawberries
Mild Fruit Character – 5 lbs to 7 lbs in secondary
Medium Fruit Character – 11 lbs in secondary
Strong Fruit Character – 13 lbs or more in secondary

 

[Jackstraw207]

Quick update. Racked to secondary on the 12th. tastes good no bad off flavors, a little bitter which I'm assuming is the left over yeast. Going to skip fruit additions this run because I'm happy with how it is currently. It's not as dry as I thought it would be. It finished at 13.5% abv.

 

[Jackstraw207]

Quick update. Racked into tertiary on 2/12. Left four gallons as a show mead and added three pounds blueberries to the last half gallon. Quite impressed with my product as of now. The jet fuel flavor has mellowed nicely and for being a combination of Walmart and bjs honey it is quite floral in flavor. Now when I added the berries half were still slightly frozen.... I'm guessing I killed the yeast that had restarted fermentation when I racked it. Is this a bad thing. And do I have to use chemicals to stabilize or can I just bulk age it? The reason I ask is I have family member that is extremely allergic to sulphites and I'm avoiding additives so I can gift some of this for Christmas.

 

[HB_in_Subic]

I would put the melomel (one with berries) in a warmer room and see if the fermentation kicks in again. I would also check to see if the berries had preservatives in them (potassium sorbate). If it has potassium sorbate, then you have already stunted the yeast and they will die off.

You do not need to stabilize the batches unless you want to back sweeten them and the alcohol level has not exceeded the yeast's tolerance (and thus died off).