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BOMM Questions.

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I am almost at Post Fermentation stage so i have 2 questions.

1. I will be adding the 3 lbs frozen berry mix from the grocery store. How long till i can bottle? A month?

2. when i make my second batch I will be doing the Add 1 vanilla bean, 3 cubes American Medium toast and 2 cubes French Medium toast oak for 2-4 weeks to taste. I can not get/afford the 1 vanilla bean. Could I use vanilla extract? If so how much?
 
One vanilla bean doesn't make much vanilla extract (vodka based extraction method). So I would say only add a few drops per gallon and then taste it. You can always add more.

I just added some French Oak medium toast flakes and one split vanilla bean a week ago to my first plain old BOMM batch. Looked at it today and it looked nasty, lots of filmy looking floaties in it. Filtered out the oak chips and split bean by pouring the mead into another 1 gallon jug using a funnel and cheese cloth. That cleaned it up nicely.
 
Hello dear Gotmeadists,

A couple of questions from a Dutch newbee:
-When using fruit, how to use the Kmeta (or available alternative) to prevent oxidation?

-I was thinking about a raspberry chipotle BOMM. Any guidelines for the amounts? I have two 10 litre bottle (2.64 gallons) so I can rack after a to be determined time.

-After how much time should I rack if I made such a concoction?

-Another recipe would perhaps use juniper berries. What would be a good amount and what would be a fitting honey? Holland sadly enough doesn't have sourwood, tupelo or mesquite honeys, but lots of heather, thyme, chestnut, forest (pine), lemon, lavender, orange blossom, policeman's helmet (impatiens glandulifera), clover and acacia.

-What would complement the juniper?

-After how much time should I rack this?

-The Netherlands (and Germany, Belgium and the UK) doesn't have Fermaid K, will Wyeast yeast nutrient do? The other option is Tronozynol. I am not certain of the amount per gallon I should use.

-Loveofrose, the Szechuan pepper sold over here doesn't come in red and green. It all looks black or brown to me. Just use the available in the right amount?

Kindest regards from a Dutch newbee
 
Last edited:
Griebel said:
Hello dear Gotmeadists,

A couple of questions from a Dutch newbee:
-When using fruit, how to use the Kmeta (or available alternative) to prevent oxidation?

-I was thinking about a raspberry chipotle BOMM. Any guidelines for the amounts? I have two 10 litre bottle (2.64 gallons) so I can rack after a to be determined time.

-After how much time should I rack if I made such a concoction?

-Another recipe would perhaps use juniper berries. What would be a good amount and what would be a fitting honey? Holland sadly enough doesn't have sourwood, tupelo or mesquite honeys, but lots of heather, thyme, chestnut, forest (pine), lemon, lavender, orange blossom, policeman's helmet (impatiens glandulifera), clover and acacia.

-What would complement the juniper?

-After how much time should I rack this?

-The Netherlands (and Germany, Belgium and the UK) doesn't have Fermaid K, will Wyeast yeast nutrient do? The other option is Tronozynol. I am not certain of the amount per gallon I should use.

-Loveofrose, the Szechuan pepper sold over here doesn't come in red and green. It all looks black or brown to me. Just use the available in the right amount?

Kindest regards from a Dutch newbee
Click to expand...

I'll answer what I can in the order you asked:

-K meta is not necessary if you use good technique. Keep everything under airlock and you will be fine. I never use the stuff.

-I have a cyser-capsicumel (Hot Mama Cypsicumel BOMM) that I spent 3 years getting the balance right of sweet/sour/heat/sweet/oak. As a result, I would suggest making a large batch of raspberry, then splitting out some of the batch to experiment with peppers. It is best to use multiple types of peppers for full flavor. The spice needs to be balanced by sweet and sour. Oak is needed so that the mid palette doesn't feel hollow.

-Racking depends on your goals. If you want it dry, rack at 1.000. If you are step feeding honey, you rack after the gravity stabilizes at your desired FG. Be sure to let the gravity stabilize in any scenario before racking. Put peppers in hop bags so that you can simply pull them out when the spice gets where you want it rather than racking.

-I've not tasted a lot of the varietals you have access to, but if forced to guess, I would go with thyme or pine. Acacia or clover would probably work, but may not be as complementary.

-Sage, thyme, allspice, cloves and pepper could all go well. Make a tea with different proportions, sweeten a small bit with honey, and see if you hit gold. Experiment!

-I'm not familiar enough with those nutrients. Someone else will have to chime in.

-Red and green are not easy to find anywhere. You have to spend a bit of time on the web to find it. I'll give you my sources, but if that doesn't work, use what you can get!
Red - https://www.mountainroseherbs.com
Green - www.amazon.com

Let me know if you have more questions.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
Thank you, good sir, for the answers. All of the books and a lot of the recipes have been written by Americans using American products. Not being an American means some of the ingredients have to be tweaked. Your answers help a lot. I thank you for your swift response.
The only thing still bugging me is the Fermaid. I asked about it in the Dutch section of the forum but no one knows a real alternative. I ordered the Wyeast and will give it a try.

Thank you for your good work, keep it up.
 
To: Griebel
Re: Dutch middelen

GntlKnigt1 zou een geweldige bron voor u als hij woont in Emmeloord, ik denk dat er ten minste één ander lid dat uit Nederland ook.

Welkom op onze kleine hoek van de wereld, mijn partner is uit Nederland dus Nederlands wordt hier gesproken. Vergeef mijn slechte Nederlands, het is niet erg goed, dus ik gebruik vertalen Google of vraag mijn partner om hulp meestal (hij is op vakantie voor een week). Hoe dan ook, WELKOM BIJ GOT MEAD!! Veel goede vriendelijke mensen om u te helpen hier, vraag weg en we zullen ons best doen om u te beantwoorden, in het Engels meestal.
 
Mr. Denard,

My first BOMM is finished. Apart from using Fermaid I stuck to the recipe. The result is now in the fridge for a coldcrash. The fermentation went by the/your "book".

Problem is, it smells and tastes rather sour, like bad beer. Could this be the result of stressed yeasties due to not using Fermaid?
Another possibility could be that I used a cleaning agent using active oxygen in stead of Starsan's diluted acid to clean my testingmaterials after checking the sugarcontent.

Will this problem resolve itself with time or do I need to add something?

For a second BOMM I acquired a proper substitute for the Fermaid.

I do hope you can deliver some insight.
 
-I started the batch at the 15th of July. It has been in the fridge for a week now for a coldcrash, vodka still in the airlock.

-As far as my nose (with hereditary a bit reduced sense of smell) can tell, it is definitely beery. The translation from Dutch to English is difficult, "zurig" kan mean acidic as well als sour, but it seems to be more sour to me based on drinking a lot of beer. My first thought was "acetaldehyde" from Piatz' book, page 142-3. Sadly he doesn't mention a remedy for it.
Articles with anti-hangovertips mention honey to help break down the acetaldehyde in your body.

-Substitute: https://www.brouwland.com/en/our-products/winemaking/yeast-nutrients/d/vitaferm-ultra-f3-1-kg, the description in Dutch also mentions dead yeastcells. Had a long phoneconversation with the store, according to them it is the best nutrient for sale in northwestern Europe, for Fermaid I'd have to order in from Portugal.

Sadly there is no large mead-scene in the Netherlands (yet). I would really have liked to start out with real life tutelage. Describing smells and looks loses a lot over the interwebz, the timedifference between Europe and the USA also doesn't help. Some of the locally available recipes over here still mention cooking the honey, even in courses for winemakers and beekeepers. We've got one professional meadery (who brews mead one day a week) and one pretender (wine with a dollop of honey).
 
Not once have I ever experienced a beer like taste in this recipe. Others have reported the same thing when they substitute nutrients or use a yeast besides Wyeast 1388 (you are using this yeast, right?). I think there is some nutrient in fermaid K that prevents beer acid production. In addition, it is fairly young. Let it drop clear and age at room temp for a month.

A small possibility is the honey. What kind are you using?


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
I used the 1388. The fermentation went pretty much like you described in your posts.

I used a lemon honey because the apiary didn't have orange blossom in stock at that time.

Thank you for the advice. I will let it age for a while. I do hope it will work out, 50 euro down the drain would be a shame. I have got my fingers crossed for the new nutrients.
 
Darn it, I am a sucker for sage, lavender and forest honey on bread and in my tea. This was my first subtle honey purchase in a long time. Didn't expect this. One underlined entry for the notebook.

I don't want to reinvent the wheel. Is there a list in existence of honey varieties and their meadmaking results? Rummaging through Gotmead and Schramm's and Piatz's books doesn't yield a long comprehensive list.

Can I salvage my mead? Ageing, spices, fruits?
 
Aging will change the mead in ways you can't imagine.

The best thing to do after you finish the cold crash is to transfer it to a clean carboy, put an airlock on it and let it sit for another 30 days before you try it again.

Then you can back-sweeten if it still seems sour. But chances are you will notice a change in 30 days and you will be encouraged to wait another 30.

BOMM is the quickest mead I know and is drinkable right after primary but it improves with aging (up to a year) immensely.

Trust me. I learned the hard way. Even quick mead is best when treated as regular mead.

After you have given it some time (I say at least 90 days) you can start experimenting with sweetening and flavoring and oak.


Sent from my TARDIS at the restaurant at the end of the universe while eating Phil.
 
Thank you sir,

As someone's signature on this board says: "the main ingredient is patience". (Although I always wonder how that person adds the playing cards to her mead, perhaps in a hop bag ;)).

The extra weeks seem to do the trick, the acidic/sour smell and taste have grown weaker. Smells a bit yeasty. I cleaned the airlock and put some new vodka in it. I'll give it some more time. Sadly my other carboy is in use for a herbal ginger BOMM which needs another three weeks. If a racking is really required, I'll have to go out and buy a new one.

Perhaps a good moment to also pick up some oak. Sadly enough over here they only sell oak chips, I don't know how much grams of chips is equal to a cube.
 
Griebel said:
Thank you EJM3,
You are aware of the
http://www.gotmead.com/forum/group.php?groupid=2?

Perhaps the forum moderators could start a whole section for countries that aren't the USA where this kind of topics can be discussed? Let's for now set this thread back on the right track, answering questions about the BOMM.
Click to expand...

Haha. You remind me of John Oliver's "Other Countries Presidents of The United States"
There is a whole world out there! or for the more patriotic Merricans, a whole "other" world out there.

Edit: Sorry for the derail.
 
We who were born and raised in New York view the world this way:





ImageUploadedByTapatalk1442445710.056672.jpg

I don't see anything wrong with it :)


Sent from my TARDIS at the restaurant at the end of the universe while eating Phil.
 
Any word on how BOMM holds up after 3+ years? I've tried searching to see if that's been asked but I keep ending up in wormholes that are causing me to order more honey than I can afford...
 
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