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CrAzY Mead Co. is now fermenting...

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johnnymax

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www.crazymead.com
I posted a few pics with discriptions and we are now fermenting a 1/2 barrel of mead and the gravity is so High it will be a miracal if it ferments. The OG was 1.182
We airated it like CrAzY and added the proper nutrients and we will be doing it on a strengent schedule in hopes it will ferment to 24%+ in a week to 10 days.
Here is the Blog Post with pictures:
http://brewcrazy.com/?p=184

We should get 135 - 375ml bottles out of this batch and at $10 each that is in theory $1,350 (it is nice to day-dream:-)
But this being the first batch, we will age half of it for a long tie (Every year it ages we add $1 to the cost of a botte) and we will send a lot of it to people for sensior evaluation, in hopes they will post good reviews on beer advocate and or other review sites.

We need a mead review site!
 
Hey, Johnny, I'll be happy to review it for you if it finishes. But at that high of an OG I don't think it will get there. Anything above about 1.155 is almost impossible to ferment, since saccharomyces yeast can't handle that much osmotic pressure.

Slight mod - there are some strains of super yeast out there that are designed specifically to maximize ETOH production, but they are used mostly for distillation to make ethanol fuel -- the stuff they produce in fermentation is high alcohol, but it isn't necessarily drinkable!
 
Time to go hijack the strain used to make Utopias. ;)

I agree with Wayne, this will be a very challenging batch and likely won't make it to 20%. Good luck! You might also consider checking out the process used to make super-high-gravity meads like those found in Poland.

I'll also agree with Wayne that I'd be willing to try it when it's done. ;D
 
Well, in 7 days the mead fermented from a gravity of 1.182 to 1.042, so it is doing pretty good for just one week and I am fermenting it at 68 degrees F. It is still obviously too sweet, but it has only been fermenting for a week. I just love the science and fighting the pH and nutrients and trying to control the environment to make happy yeast....
Muuhahahahahaha (mad scientist laugh)
 
Well, it has been fermenting for two weeks now. It has slowed, I hope it keeps fermenting. The gravity is still way to high. It has dropped from 1.182 and is now at 1.025
The ABV is at least 21% so already our first commercial mead (Cyser) is pretty big. It tastes good already, but it is way too sweet still...
And.... It has just been two weeks and still fermenting...
 
How's the flavor? I've heard that above 20% the yeast can get unhappy and throw off flavors. Any sign of that?
 
johnnymax said:
....snip.....

We need a mead review site!
Click to expand...

Take a look here.

Not a lot of reviews, but if there is an interest then we can standardize a review template for people to use and get the reviews going.

Also, Vicky and I review mead for a number of different commercial meaderies and do a very detailed and impartial analysis, all you need to do is send one 375 ml bottle to each of us and we'll go over it with a fine tooth comb.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
Kee said:
Oh! Good point. What is the limit for mead/wine before the taxes go up? Isn't it around 24-25% or is that just the limit for homebrewers?
Click to expand...

Both the Fed and the State have a different limit here. I think the Fed is 14%. In MI, it's 16%, then the taxes go up by about 50%. There's also a legal limit to the alcohol levels in wine. I don't know them off the top of my head, but I think 24/25% is pretty close if not over it.
 
Sorry, the yeast is just Lalvin 71B1122
But if I need it to go further I can use White Labs 099 Super High Gravity Ale Yeast.

The taxes go up at 14% and you cannot make and sell wine (or Mead) in Texas if it is over 24% so that is why I was wanting to go above 24%, but it is pretty much finished, unless I repitch, but at that ABV it would more than likely just kill the yeast.

I did not taste any off flavor other than the yeast still being present and of course it is still very sweet. It is really too sweet, but it sure does have a lot of flavor and it totally hides the alcohol, other that that warming feeling you get and man you talk about a WARMING FEELING! LOL

What I think did me in was not the high ABV because I have gone way above this ABV, what I think it was, was the fact that I was not able to release the CO2 as the ABV approched the 20% mark. When I finally was able to release the CO2 there was a LOT of CO2 in solution and CO2 in high concentration with kill your yeast, especially if they are already stressed by the ABV.

I may check it today, but I am sure it will still be at 1.025 :(
I wasn't going to mention it, but Sunday I did release the CO2, add more nutrients and more yeast, but it was not the Super High Gravity Ale Yeast. I have a pound of yeast used by distillers, but I will not experiment with a yeast on my first commercial batch!

As far as sending bottles for reviews, it is tempting, but I actually could sell every bottle and then some (because the batch is so small) I have a lot of people on the waiting list. I do plan on sending one to the Beer Editor of Draft Magazine as he is a friend. Who knows, maybe they will write up an article on the SMALLEST Meadery in the US, the "CrAzY Mead Co.". Trust me, it is the smallest in square feet.
Well, lunch is over must run, no time to proof...
 
fermenting down from 1.182 to anything is pretty impressive....what do you mean about releasing the CO2?
 
When I ferment is a bucket for primary I use a wine whip every day on a drill to release the CO2, but on my fermenter I just recirculate with my pump.

CO2 in a high concentration kills yeast. A few years ago I was researching yeast and fermentation from different studies. I read through so many I can't point you to the ones that address that, but they found that high levels of CO2 would kll the yeast as will high levels of alcohol. I have been working on this high gravity high alcohol fermentation for about 5 years. Here is an article I had published that shook the homebrew world and went against what was previously taught. I oxigenated the wort every day during fermentation while feeding it more malt I concentrated through boiling. And, there was no flavors of cardboard or oxidation, because the yeast were still active and the used the oxygen to multily.

http://www.byo.com/stories/techniqu...ll-grain-brewing/51-21-alcohol-all-grain-beer
This was in BYO 2006
 
johnnymax said:
CO2 in a high concentration kills yeast.
Click to expand...

CO2 toxicity is not really an issue with fermentations. The CO2 dissolved in a 1 atm of pressure certainly isn't going to have much impact. I'm not opposed to stirring - I think that is helpful; it keeps yeast up in suspension, and even late aeration may have some benefit, but the CO2 release is not really a factor.

Even CO2 under pressure doesn't really impair them until you get to about 7 atmospheres (unless you have them treated with sulfites, a high alcohol level, or a low pH). If you take a look at the "Pressure Crashing vs. Cold Crashing" thread in the Patron's area you'll see what I mean.

As a by-product of that experiment I've come to the conclusion I got suckered when I bought this keg airlock kit to be able to hook an airlock onto a keg. The last couple of things I fermented in a keg I didn't even bother to put an air lock on. I just released the pressure in the keg a couple of times a day. The yeast went right on fermenting as if nothing was different. So I wasted a few bucks - live and learn.

Medsen
 
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