Yeast Question

[winstonofbeer]

Got my first mead made last week
Cherry mead.
Recipe is simple
2 1/2 gal of h20
12lbs of honey
3lbs of frozen cherrys and 2 quarts of cherrys
OG 1.132
yeast k1-v1116

Question on this yeast,
If i got the right yeast, This is going to made a sweet mead...Well least thats what i am shooting for.

Is this yeast like beer yeast, Where after so long...It will just stop?
Or do you need to stop the yeast when your happy with the gravity your looking for?

I "thought" the mead was done fermenting in 7 days...i moved it from primary to a secondary because i didnt see any movement in the airlock...hadnt for a full day....moved it and now in a glass carboy it seems to have a nice clear crauson going on...
So thats why i asked about the yeast and if i have to cold crash it or not?


Also, Looking for the sweet mead...IF i have to kill those poor yeastie's that worked so hard....What gravity should i be shooting for?

Thanks again for the help

 

[huesmann]

Since 1116 has tolerance up to 18%, it should stop when the ABV reaches 18%, or it runs out of nutrients. Looks like you have quite a bit of sugar for the yeasties to eat, so I'd say you're going to be close to 18% if you let it run its course. If you have a target alohol % you can use the potential alcohol calculator at gotmead.com to figure out what your target SG needs to be. When you hit that SG, then you should stop the fermentation (sulfite+sorbate).

 

[fatbloke]

Ok, so you say that the SG is 1.132. Now taking dry/finished as 1.000, that drop of 132 points equates to 17.9% ABV.

Hence it depends on where it actually stop's as to how dry it may end up. If you manage the fermentation correctly it should hit 1.000 or less. Now if it stops above 1.000, then there's a lower % ABV and some residual sugar. That being the case, I'd taste it and see if it's roughly where you like it. If so, then stabilise it (sorbate/sulphite), then progress to the clearing/racking stage(s).

If it did finish too dry for you, then still stabilise it, but then back sweeten it gently (testing the gravity after each small addition of sugar/sweetener/honey/whatever). That way you'd sweeten it to your taste before starting on the racking/clearing processes.

Some like to age it first, to see if it recovers any of the honey character.... but if you have to use honey to sweeten it, then I usually do that before clearing/racking as honey can cause a haze to appear in a cleared mead - that way, the haze normally drops out with the other sediment during racking.

Don't forget, you will probably have to age this for some time, because people do find that higher alcohol cherry based meads can taste like "robitussin"/cough medicine, if you try to drink it too early and it's not ready.