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1st batch of mead.

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B

bamcken

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 27, 2013
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hey all, just a couple questions. 1st off I have been brewing beer for about 6years. Talking with a friend near Bemidji MN, he said he had bee hives and gave me about 13 lbs of honey ( one jar had some little bee legs in it near the surface that made it into my ferment). I had a pretty slow primary ferment ( about 6 weeks) compared to brewing beer. Used a 6.5 gal carboy, about 5.5 gal of water. might be a little light on the alc contaent and tasted non sweet. I had been drinking at the time however. Anyway, question 1. I am getting tiny layer of sediment and maybe a bubble every sever hours ( I have not caught one yet). Did i rack to early or do I rack again? at some point. I have read people doing several racks.
question two, is this batch going to need back sweetening ? could have been my intoxication level. the glass did smell like honey slighty. Sorry for the 1st post. The mead looks great , its dark in the 5 gal but nearly clear in the siphon when racking. Question 3 , and I have read up. some bee parts OK? they didn't make it to the 2nd carboy.
I used a smack pack yeast from midwest brewing supply and did a 5 table spoon supliment. added about anouther tablespoon periodically over the 1st week.
I also filled my secondary with CO2 before racking. something I have gotten used to with brewing beer.
kind of disjointed question but what are your thoughts.
 
You don't mention your hydrometer readings. That kind of information is needed to help, along with your specific recipe and procedures. Your nutrient additions are probably adequate to overdose, depending on what it was (again, need detail). Racking is done to avoid off flavors from lees (and sometimes to aerate); if there are no lees, you don't need to rack. You can back sweeten, but you likely will want to avoid renewed fermentation, so you will need to treat it with sulfite and sorbate. If you want to clarify it, you will need bentonite, or some kind of clarifying agent.

The presence of bee parts means you got good unfiltered honey from your friend.

Please post as much info here about your batch as you can put together.
 
There are three yeast options for this kit. Did you use Wyeast Dry mead? I've had good luck with that one, but it does require several nutrient additions and degassing to prevent a stuck fermentation. Let us know your SG and current gravity. It will probably need more nutrients and degassing if the current gravity isn't too low.

As long as the fermentation doesn't stick, this yeast will go to 15% ABV. In other words, it will go dry. You can stabilize and backsweeten or you can step feed. We can guide you after you let us know what you prefer.
 
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