Final Gravity for mead.

[MrThirsty]

Hi all.

I'm a long time home brewer, and recently I decided I would try my hand at a nice still mead like the ones I had in Germany.

I brewed the mead in maybe March or April 2012. I boiled 4 gallons of water in my brewkettle and then added 6 kg of honey. I boiled it for 10 minutes, added around 5 grams of yeastex yeast nutrient, and then ran it through my counterflow chiller into a sanitized carboy.

The must measured at 25 Plato or 1.106, and I added 2 packages of Lalvin EC-118. I left it in the primary fermenter until last week, when I racked to a secondary. When I racked to the secondary it measured at 1.018 or 4.5 Plato. Since racking to the secondary the mead has become extremely clear. I'm wondering if this is the appropriate time to bottle, or if there is still a possibility that the fermentation could continue in the bottles.

Cheers.

 

[Vance G]

With that amount of sugars and that yeast, I would bet it goes to .992 before it is done. I made a similiar run witrh higher gravity and it went that dry. It is a year and a half in the secondary and still not very tasty but I was told by someone I respect that it would be very good with more time.

 

[Golddiggie]

Before you make another mead, for the love of honey, read up on current methods. There's NO need to boil the honey, period. You blew a lot of the better flavors and aromas away with the steam. You also only need to use a single pack of yeast, for up to 5-6 gallons of must.

I would wait a bit longer. Since you didn't add nearly enough nutrient, and have no idea how you degassed or aerated it, you could get bombs if you bottle too soon. IF you really want to bottle, you'll really want to stabilize the mead (read up on that). Since you're only at 12% with those gravity numbers, and EC-1118 will go to 18% given half a chance, you could have serious issues if you bottle it up without stabilizing it.

 

[fatbloke]

Some excellent comments from Vance G and Golddiggie.

As already identified, less than ideal nutrition for the batch, but also that it would seem that you probably racked it a bit early and what will have happened is that a large part of the colony has been left behind and Golddiggie has pointed out that if you really want to bottle it soon it will need stabilising. Though I'd have thought you'd still be better cold crashing it first for a week then racking it while still cold onto the sulphite and add the sorbate a day or so later (if you're impatient to crack on you can rack onto both at the same time).

Without knowing the type of mead you're to replicate its hard to know what else to suggest. Was it oaked ? maybe a bit of spicing ? etc etc.

If you do have extra space, bulk storage is the recommended method for aging. It gives you a chance of tweaking as the flavour develops.....

 

[MrThirsty]

Thanks for the advice guys. I was using a recipe out of a book I have from Papazian that calls for boiling. I also realize I used too little yeast nutrient, as mead likely requires much more than beer.

I was happy with the flavour from the mead when I tasted my gravity sample, but it was too sweet for my taste. I'm happy to leave it as long as is necessary without stabilizing. What do you think is an ideal fermentation time for a mead of this gravity? Should I not have racked it off the yeast this early?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Golddiggie]

Thanks for the advice guys. I was using a recipe out of a book I have from Papazian that calls for boiling. I also realize I used too little yeast nutrient, as mead likely requires much more than beer.

I was happy with the flavour from the mead when I tasted my gravity sample, but it was too sweet for my taste. I'm happy to leave it as long as is necessary without stabilizing. What do you think is an ideal fermentation time for a mead of this gravity? Should I not have racked it off the yeast this early?

Thanks for your help.

For mead, that book is 98% (or more) worthless. The only value it has is for some flavor ideas.

At this point, consult with fatbloke on this since I've never needed to do it) you could make a yeast starter and pitch another packet into the batch. To get it to ferment to more of it's actual potential.

My initial batches (made in November of 2010) of traditional mead finished above 1.020. They were at 18% (using EC-1118). I stabilized some and bottled (too soon I know now) and put another 3 gallons to age for longer, and then onto some oak cubes. A just over two years old, they're REALLY becoming great. The sharpness the sweetness imparted has softened a great deal. I've also determined that they're better served above 50F. The flavor changes drastically as it warms (from fridge temp).

 

[Medsen Fey]

...I'm wondering if this is the appropriate time to bottle, or if there is still a possibility that the fermentation could continue in the bottles.

Cheers.

This batch will be at high risk for renewed fermentation especially if it warms up. If you want to bottle it, you need to stabilize to prevent bottle bombs. This can be done by adding a combination of potassium metabisulfite (1.5 Campden tablets per gallon) and potassium sorbate (1 gram per gallon).

Even if it looks clear now, it will probably drop more sediment- putting it in the fridge for a couple of weeks may speed that up.

 

[fatbloke]

I was thinking that you could have a bit of a go at seeing if some gentle encouragement might help it along.

I would try either boiling or nuking some bread yeast mixed with water to kill it off, then once its cooled add it back in and place the fermenter in a warmer place, gently swirling it daily to see if the yeast that will still be present will kick back in......

 

[MrThirsty]

I definitely want to keep fermenting this mead. Frankly I only racked it because I wanted to check the gravity (I don't have a good turkey baster or wine thief).

Do you think racking the mead has stopped the fermentation? I was hoping to just leave it and check the gravity again in a few months, and I would prefer not to re-pitch yeast if I can avoid it.

I'm not familiar with the fermentation times for meads or wines, so I don't really know what kind of final gravity I should be targeting for this style of mead, or how long to leave it in the primary.

This will be a good learning experience.

 

[Golddiggie]

If you had used BKM (Best Known Methods) with EC-1118 it would have been done within a month of start. Since you didn't, it didn't. As fatbloke said, adding some killed yeast could get the yeast left in the batch something to munch on and get to work again. NOT adding enough nutrient at the start put a serious strain on the yeast the first time. The higher alcohol content, now, will make it harder for the remaining yeast to get going. But, EC-1118 is a rather hearty strain, so it's possible for you to get it to get going again.

Look over the threads about making your first batch, or what methods to use (use the forums, not the main site). Follow those for future batches and I think you'll be amazed at the difference.

 

[MrThirsty]

That's quite interesting. Thank you for the help.

 

[Chevette Girl]

It is possible your early racking paused things, but it's also possible it just ran out of steam because of insufficient nutrients and it may be chugging along really slowly... when did you rack it, and have you taken a reading since then?

(I've used sanitized string tied to my hydrometer and dangled into the carboy to work, you just have to check it in pure water to see if you need to shift it by a correction factor for the weight of the string... that said, I frigging love my wine thief, worthwhile investment for mead and winemaking).

If for whatever reason, you need to rack any other batch before fermentation is complete, stir it thoroughly about a half an hour before you rack, this should resuspend any active yeast but still give any larger solids enough time to settle out. Generally you want to hold off on racking out of primary until you're getting a reading around 1.000 or are getting higher but consistent readings over a week or two.

It may look clear and still, but my pair of show meads dropped significantly over about six months after I'd racked them thinking they were done because they were out of nutrients, so yours may well keep going slowly, you'll want to check your specific gravity.

If you want yours to keep going so it's a little drier, I second Fatbloke's suggestion to nuke some bread yeast to feed it. Anything they don't use will just settle out and won't leave any chemically flavours if it doesn't do the trick. I had one batch that'd been stuck at 1.030 for two years perk up and finish dry when I added nuked bread yeast to it. It wasn't as fast as you'd expect, but with a limited number of yeast cells to work with, it did as well as can be expected.

 

[obscured by clouds]

Hi all.

I'm a long time home brewer, and recently I decided I would try my hand at a nice still mead like the ones I had in Germany.

haha! I was in Germany about a month ago, when I had some mulled mead at the winter markets. Few days when I got back I started to read up and buying equipment!

Cheers!