Hello all;
Started my first batch of mead three weeks ago, and I just finished racking to secondary a few minutes ago. I was doublechecking what I thought I needed to do for secondary only to find about 15 different suggestions for it, so I decided to post and ask.
3 Gal. Carboy (PET):
Initial readings were nonexistent because I shattered my first Hydrometer tripping on my doorstep. Calculator tells me it should have been around SG 1.108.
Reading on Thursday showed ~1.016 which seems to suggest an ABV of 12.3% according to the calculator.
I originally thought I used EC-1118 Lalvin because the closet I've been keeping my carboy at tends to stay around 70-72*F, but I discovered about a week ago that it was, in fact, D-47 (my local supply shop doesn't carry 1118, haha!) and I rushed to cool it down. Tasted it Thursday and it seemed to be fine (Light, not overly sweet, and a smidge sulfury, like a "cheap" wine, definitely hit like a truck) so I added in 2 Campden Tablets, crushed, and yesterday I added in some K-Sorbate.
This morning (about 30 minutes ago) I finished racking onto 6Lb. of frozen-thawed-frozen-thawed blueberries. I was originally planning on leaving it on the berries for a month, but it seems there has been a lot of back and forth over the years. The recipe I based mine off of did the berries for a month, but more recent posts recommend a few weeks, and still others say multiple months. I had basically the perfect amount of usable mead to come right up to the neck of my carboy with the blueberries in there.
SG reading after adding in the blueberries seemed to show 1.012, but I may have been misreading it.
Regardless, I'll be bottling by mid-July. I'd like a few to be ready to drink after my graduation early August, and some of it will age a few more months as my dad's birthday gift (blueberries are his favorite fruit). By my understanding of how this will work, I'll not want them in more than three weeks to prevent the seeds from adding a bitterness. I might do 2 weeks and siphon to tertiary with some oak, and fill with some sanitized glass balls to remove headspace.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Started my first batch of mead three weeks ago, and I just finished racking to secondary a few minutes ago. I was doublechecking what I thought I needed to do for secondary only to find about 15 different suggestions for it, so I decided to post and ask.
3 Gal. Carboy (PET):
- 8 Lb. generic honey
- 2 Gal. Spring Water
- 1.2 Lb. Mixed berries, Thawed (Blue-, Black-, Rasp-, Strawberries)
- 1 Pkt. D-47 Lalvin
Initial readings were nonexistent because I shattered my first Hydrometer tripping on my doorstep. Calculator tells me it should have been around SG 1.108.
Reading on Thursday showed ~1.016 which seems to suggest an ABV of 12.3% according to the calculator.
I originally thought I used EC-1118 Lalvin because the closet I've been keeping my carboy at tends to stay around 70-72*F, but I discovered about a week ago that it was, in fact, D-47 (my local supply shop doesn't carry 1118, haha!) and I rushed to cool it down. Tasted it Thursday and it seemed to be fine (Light, not overly sweet, and a smidge sulfury, like a "cheap" wine, definitely hit like a truck) so I added in 2 Campden Tablets, crushed, and yesterday I added in some K-Sorbate.
This morning (about 30 minutes ago) I finished racking onto 6Lb. of frozen-thawed-frozen-thawed blueberries. I was originally planning on leaving it on the berries for a month, but it seems there has been a lot of back and forth over the years. The recipe I based mine off of did the berries for a month, but more recent posts recommend a few weeks, and still others say multiple months. I had basically the perfect amount of usable mead to come right up to the neck of my carboy with the blueberries in there.
SG reading after adding in the blueberries seemed to show 1.012, but I may have been misreading it.
Regardless, I'll be bottling by mid-July. I'd like a few to be ready to drink after my graduation early August, and some of it will age a few more months as my dad's birthday gift (blueberries are his favorite fruit). By my understanding of how this will work, I'll not want them in more than three weeks to prevent the seeds from adding a bitterness. I might do 2 weeks and siphon to tertiary with some oak, and fill with some sanitized glass balls to remove headspace.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
