What I did for/with Mead today

[MightyMosin]

Feeding the 4 batches of mead that I started on Thanksgiving. Today is the last feeding they get.

My spouse wanted some more freezer room, so I was asked me to make use of the frozen fruits and make mead to provide the added space . That's a new method to get me making some more.

 

[Dan O]

That's a new method to get me making some more.

I'll have to learn that trick . My freezer is chock-full right to the top. I gotta make some myself.

 

[Ren06]

Racked my cranberry orange mead one last time and also racked my cherry mead.

 

[Dan O]

I bottled my chocolate/cherry/vanilla/pomegranate tonight. I got (8) 16 oz Grolsch bottle @ 1.012.
I kept 1/2 gallon aside & back sweetened that to 1.022, which got me 4 Grolsch bottles.....(for the people in my circle that like them sweeter).

 

[MightyMosin]

I racked a Pineapple mead made with Mesquite Blossom. Only 1 gallon as I was just using up frozen fruit so the spouse could have some more space in the other freezer. OG 1.130... I haven't checked the FG... will end up about 17% if it finished dry like the last batch.

Last time I made this, it came out incredible and I'm hoping for a repeat of that batch... hopefully I can get to racking the Mango mead later...

I managed to rack ~ 5 gallons of mango mead. It had a bit of a yeast like raft on the top... not sure about that, but I pulled the plug racking long before I had that near the siphon. I'll stabilize it tomorrow and take some gravity readings on that and the Pineapple mead.

 

[MightyMosin]

Bottled approx 5 gallons of my 15% spiced Christmas mead. 24 16oz bottles and 8 750ml bottles.
All crown cap with flip top lids.

Bottled about 3 gallons of a mixed berry mead... Ended up being 26 12oz bottles and a tiny bit left over.

Will need to start another batch of the xmas mead soon-ish. I didn't start this batch until almost april and at 15% I like to have as much aging add possible. This did come out pretty well though a bit more spiced than last year's which I like a bit better. Since i bottled so late, I expect I may have some leftover to try next year and compare.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

On the list to be brewed soon, I also have a Christmas mead to get started, my wife still wants to try brewing so that's her project.

Today however, in the need to clear freezer space again, I prepped a fantasy brew I've been tweaking for a while. Final fantasy has a Rolanberry and it's referenced in a cook book for a few desserts so I thought it would be fun to turn into a wine or mead. A mix of light berries (strawberry, cherry, raspberry) and some citrus makes up the fantasy berry profile.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Bottled a few dandelion mead for a competition. The honeysuckle from this past summer managed to earn second place.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Frozen fruit soaked and thawed overnight in water, aerated with a drill mounted aerator, mixed in honey and pitched yeast. After about a week or the gravity drops below 1.020 I'll add a honey/water mix of the original gravity to the volume of 7 gallons. Leaving the extra airspace helps me avoid volcanoes when I forget to gently degas.

Images are before and after mixing. Frozen strawberries tend to puree after thawing and tend to cause headaches when I put them in a bag, I actually find it easier to punch the cap without the bag constantly ballooning. I should wake up to active fermentation if all goes well.

 

[Johnny2]

Stabilized and racked my redcurrant yesterday. Backsweeten it today. 9 liters

 

[T Murph]

I pureed 3 1/2 lbs of blackberries and put them in a purged torpedo keg. I started the base mead back on 12/16 and expected it to be ready to transfer onto the blackberry puree today but it's still bubbling at one per second. So I'll give until tomorrow and then stabilize it so I can put it on the puree Thursday 1/4.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Day 2 after yeast pitch I developed some H2S odor from yeast stress, added some nutrients and whipped the stuffing out of it to degas and give the must a little oxygen. Giving the gasses some oxygen allows them to bond and exit the must, I believe that's the science behind it, and this has never let me down yet. Early enough in fermentation I'll do this to rid the odor and stress, if it persists past the 2/3 sugar break I won't introduce oxygen.

The following day and thereafter there has been no H2S or odors, happy yeast and sweet berry melody. Consistent fermentation has started slowing today, gravity has gone from 1.082 to 1.006.

Pictures are days 3 and 7.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Looking like 4 gallons to transfer, maybe a bit more when yeast finish dropping. S.G. 0.996 after 9 days, having decided not to add additional must due to the earlier yeast stress, this will sit another week to see if it finishes below 0.996 or stays there. Cold crashing after it holds steady for a week, then planning to transfer and clarify before any back sweetening and aging.

 

[MightyMosin]

Last few days have been feeding nutrients, degassing and punch down of grape skins.

The grape skins (in muslin bag) punching down annoys me. Since I use the Fermoster carboys and they have a flat spot on the lid, I used a kegs stainless dip tube to push the bag under and the Fermoster lid to keep the dip tube in place and the bag submerged.

When I started these batches out, I measured out all the nutrients and placed each in a micro zip lock bag. I've been doing this for a short while and it is certainly, for me, preferable to measuring it out at each feeding. It is much faster as well.

 

[Dan O]

I measured out all the nutrients and placed each in a micro zip lock bag.

I never thought about this. Although, I will start doing this when making future batches to save time. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Rish]

punching down annoys me

Since they are in a bag, I'd suggest put a sanitized glass weight/plate in the bag to keep it submerged.

 

[MightyMosin]

Since they are in a bag, I'd suggest put a sanitized glass weight/plate in the bag to keep it submerged.

I had thought of doing something like that but the muslin bag was fairly small and 2.5 Lb of grape skins has a decent amount of buoyancy.

Since I had the stainless tube, I used that to hold it under and so far it is doing a good job of it

 

[Dan O]

Since they are in a bag, I'd suggest put a sanitized glass weight/plate in the bag to keep it submerged.

I bought some glass weights for that reason & they weren't heavy enough for the large bags of fruit I use for my melomels....the bags still floated, even with 8 glass weights in the bag

 

[Kyzaboy89]

I bought some glass weights for that reason & they weren't heavy enough for the large bags of fruit I use for my melomels....the bags still floated, even with 8 glass weights in the bag

Same issue I've had with glass weights and marbles, the amount you need to counter the fruit, which is continuously inflating with gas, displaces to much must or doesn't maintain control of the nag below the surface. Like Mosin does, I had a similar idea with a stainless thermowell or probe that attached to a fermonster/fermzilla lid if it were long enough, simply push the bag down and thread the lid shut. Haven't tried it yet but it seems possible in theory.

 

[MightyMosin]

Like Mosin does, I had a similar idea with a stainless thermowell or probe that attached to a fermonster/fermzilla lid if it were long enough, simply push the bag down and thread the lid shut. Haven't tried it yet but it seems possible in theory.

In the Fermonster, no need to take the lid off. Remove the #10 bung that has the airlock and shove the fruit bag down and wedge the keg dip tube under the rest of the lid. It is working well so far.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Today I woke up to healthy fermentation in my Bochet, came home to degas and check things out. Looking good, vigorous action rolling around in there but can't use the nose due to a rerun episode of the head cold. Oh well, we'll see how things go tomorrow.

 

[MightyMosin]

My D47 bochet fermentation is going slow. Garage temps are low overnight and keeping it slow

 

[T Murph]

My D47 bochet fermentation is going slow. Garage temps are low overnight and keeping it slow

Wrap it up in a blanket or two. I have one that just went into secondary that I had to keep wrapped to keep it at 68 degrees.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

My D47 bochet fermentation is going slow. Garage temps are low overnight and keeping it slow

Also using D47 here and my brew closet sits at 60 on the floor, 62 on the counter, and am curious if you have a preferred temperature or not. How cold does the garage get where you are at?

 

[MightyMosin]

Also using D47 here and my brew closet sits at 60 on the floor, 62 on the counter, and am curious if you have a preferred temperature or not. How cold does the garage get where you are at?

I prefer the must to be in the low 60's for D47.
Last week was a colder week and the garage got to about 38 a few nights. I find that the must stays pretty much close to concrete slab temperature which certainly isn't dropping to air temperature as they day warms up to 60-ish. For about two nights, my must dropped to about 50 but warmed up during the day and the fermentation activity helps buffer that temperature some.

My must is currently sitting at 63 and tonight's low air temp shouldn't go below 50; I think these will continue nicely and not blow off too many flavors with an overly excited fermentation.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

I've had a 3 gal bochet going for 3 weeks, d47, used nutrients and aerated well. Been fermenting nicely since day one at room temp. Can still hear it bubbling away in the next room.

Question, should I degass it? I could give it a good shake/stir.

 

[Kyzaboy89]

I've had a 3 gal bochet going for 3 weeks, d47, used nutrients and aerated well. Been fermenting nicely since day one at room temp. Can still hear it bubbling away in the next room.

Question, should I degass it? I could give it a good shake/stir.

Probably not, check your gravity but I'm sure it's well past active fermentation so there's really no need for it unless it's stalled. If there's some off gassing naturally I prefer that CO2 blanket when transferring to help avoid oxidation. Unless there is an odor early on I tend to stir things up daily until I'm done adding nutrients. This is what has worked for me and I hope it helps, Cheers

 

[T Murph]

Yes JohnDBrewer you should degass at least weekly. I simply swirl the fermenter a little and it does the trick.

 

[Ren06]

Travel ban and tons of snow again in Buffalo, no big deal, I’ll make a bunch of meads today. Blueberry melomel and also a dragonfruit melomel.

 

[T Murph]

Ren06 We are under the same conditions in North Alabama. So I'm staying in and playing with beer things. Lol drinking a Czech Pilsner testing a Blackberry Melomel and carbonating an APA. All the while working up my recipe for a Marzen to brew Tuesday.