First Batch underway by a NewBee!

[SeanMC]

Courteous Long Post Warning!

Hello everyone! I've been working at a microbrewery for the past year and have always had interest in making mead, now having a little bit of fermentation experience under my belt I felt ready! I've read up a ton on the subject and one of the resources I've been referring to is "Making Wild Wines and Meads: 125 Unusual Recipes Using Herbs, Fruits, Flowers & More" by Pattie Vargas and Rich Gulling. I gratefully stumbled across this awesome community after I had already begun my first batch, which I wish I would've found first!

From the book I chose the Sack Mead recipe and I tried searching through the forums for anything related to the book and only found it referenced once and it didn't include any information about the quality of the recipes, which I was hoping to find.

Batch Recipe (As per book)
Everything cleaned & sanitized beforehand as well as throughout with Star San
- 1 Gallon Glass Carboy with airlock
- 1/4 of WYeast 4632 - Dry Mead Smack Pack
- 4 lbs local unprocessed wildflower honey
- 1.5 cups orange juice
- 1 tsp. Yeast Nutrients
- 1 tsp. Pectic Acid
- 1 tsp. Acid Blend (My concern)
- .25 tsp. Grape Tannin
- Filled to 1 gallon with spring water
- Eventually calls for Campden Tablet during last rack before bottling.

O.G. - 1.120


Started the yeast and allowed the pack to swell (3+ hours), let all ingredients, including yeast, get to room temperature (69-70°F), sanitized everything and added in all the ingredients minus yeast as well as enough spring water to get to about a 2/3 of a gallon. I mixed and aerated the carboy for a good 15 minutes to get the honey to start loosening up. At this point I emptied my yeast starter into a sanitized mason jar so I could measure out a 1/4 of it and refrigerate the rest for future batches. It says it innoculates up to 6 gallons so that's where my measurement came from. I added the yeast starter to the must after topping it off to a little over a gallon. Mixed and aerated the carboy again for about 10ish minutes, setup airlock, and then tucked away in a darker closet with an ambient temperature of about 68-70.

After reading through the forums I noticed that the acid blend isn't necessary at primary and moreso for before bottling if even. The recipe also calls for orange juice which is even more acidity. I don't have anything to properly test pH so I'm not quite sure where it's sitting currently. Does that raise concern? I would also love any feedback, positive criticism, pretty much any advice on what to do in future that I didn't do this batch as well as recipe advice. Sorry for the long post I just wanted to be as detailed as possible for you guys!

Thank you for your time and I'm glad to be here! Cheers!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Valcarion]

Courteous Long Post Warning!

Hello everyone! I've been working at a microbrewery for the past year and have always had interest in making mead, now having a little bit of fermentation experience under my belt I felt ready! I've read up a ton on the subject and one of the resources I've been referring to is "Making Wild Wines and Meads: 125 Unusual Recipes Using Herbs, Fruits, Flowers & More" by Pattie Vargas and Rich Gulling. I gratefully stumbled across this awesome community after I had already begun my first batch, which I wish I would've found first!

From the book I chose the Sack Mead recipe and I tried searching through the forums for anything related to the book and only found it referenced once and it didn't include any information about the quality of the recipes, which I was hoping to find.

Batch Recipe (As per book)
Everything cleaned & sanitized beforehand as well as throughout with Star San
- 1 Gallon Glass Carboy with airlock
- 1/4 of WYeast 4632 - Dry Mead Smack Pack
- 4 lbs local unprocessed wildflower honey
- 1.5 cups orange juice
- 1 tsp. Yeast Nutrients
- 1 tsp. Pectic Acid
- 1 tsp. Acid Blend (My concern)
- .25 tsp. Grape Tannin
- Filled to 1 gallon with spring water
- Eventually calls for Campden Tablet during last rack before bottling.

O.G. - 1.120


Started the yeast and allowed the pack to swell (3+ hours), let all ingredients, including yeast, get to room temperature (69-70°F), sanitized everything and added in all the ingredients minus yeast as well as enough spring water to get to about a 2/3 of a gallon. I mixed and aerated the carboy for a good 15 minutes to get the honey to start loosening up. At this point I emptied my yeast starter into a sanitized mason jar so I could measure out a 1/4 of it and refrigerate the rest for future batches. It says it innoculates up to 6 gallons so that's where my measurement came from. I added the yeast starter to the must after topping it off to a little over a gallon. Mixed and aerated the carboy again for about 10ish minutes, setup airlock, and then tucked away in a darker closet with an ambient temperature of about 68-70.

After reading through the forums I noticed that the acid blend isn't necessary at primary and moreso for before bottling if even. The recipe also calls for orange juice which is even more acidity. I don't have anything to properly test pH so I'm not quite sure where it's sitting currently. Does that raise concern? I would also love any feedback, positive criticism, pretty much any advice on what to do in future that I didn't do this batch as well as recipe advice. Sorry for the long post I just wanted to be as detailed as possible for you guys!

Thank you for your time and I'm glad to be here! Cheers!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Welcome! I’m a brand NewBee myself, but I’ve been around the forum for almost two weeks and have learned a lot! I’ll touch on some things I’ve found, but I’m sure Squatchy/Stasis/all the other dudes and chicks on this forum will chime in and help out!

What yeast nutrients did you use? Did you throw them in before adding the yeast? If the nutrients contain DAP, I believe you wounded your yeast when you pitched them in with the nutrients at start. From what I understand, when the yeast are that “young” they are unable to use DAP, and so the salt(?) burns them and damages their membrane, causing issues down the road. Most folks here seem to have started using Fermaid O exclusively, which is fully organic and has no DAP, and I believe they don’t add the nutrients until fermentation signs are observed (small bubbles, slight foam, etc). My first batches are using fermax, which has DAP, because my shop doesn’t carry any fermaid products, and I’ve already been having major issues.

Do you know about Staggered Nutrient Additions(SNA)? TOSNA? If not, check this link out:

http://www.meadmaderight.com/tosna.html

That’s considered THE SNA protocol right now. It seems to work the best and produce the best results, from what I’ve read and heard from others.

Now I’m not familiar with smack packs, but I’ve had dry yeast recommended to me, rehydrated with GoFerm. People rave about that stuff here. According to Squatchy on the podcast(more on that in a second), he’s had nothing but crisp clean and fast ferments using yeast rehydrated using GoFerm, and following TOSNA with Fermaid O.

As far as the temperature goes, every yeast is different of course, so refer to your yeast’s instructions. Seems that most people try to ferment around 62F-64F around here, but they use a variety of yeasts that can get cranky and start making bad flavors/aromas when they’re too hot.

I’m assuming you know about degassing from your brewery yeah? I do it every time I walk by, but I think the recommendation from folks around here is at least twice a day? Be careful when you do it, foam volcanos happen a lot, especially to me it seems.... speaking of which, if you follow TONSA, add your nutrients to some of your must outside of the carboy to avoid a volcano. Dropping nutrients directly in the carboy is asking for Vesuvius part 2.

Oxygen is super important to your yeast at the beginning, from what I’ve read and been told. Squatchy recommends in the podcast to use pure o2 from a tank and aerate every day until the 1/3 sugar break. I know in beer it’s supposed to be a big no no to let oxygen into your must, but from what I understand honey is very resilient to oxidizing, so during the first 1/3 of fermentation it’s totally fine and recommended to be aerating a lot. The yeast need the o2 to reproduce!

So all that being said, you’re following a recipe in a book so I’d guess it’s probably fine if you do exactly what it says. However, based on my research, I’d wager that some of the best mead in the world is coming from folks in these forums, and they’re doing the research and finding the best ways to go about doing this, so I’m trying my best to follow their lead

On that note, podcast! Starting on 9/5/17, Ryan (Squatchy here on the forums) started joining the weekly podcast to discuss best practices for mead making. His episodes are called Modern Mead Making. It’s super interesting and very helpful, and you should totally listen to it! Doing so will put you way ahead of the curve. I learn so much from every episode, and of course the guy giving the lecture is right here on the forums so you can pick his brain for even mote info!

Podcast is here: http://gotmead.com/blog/gotmead-live/9-5-17-ryan-carlson-modern-mead-making-yeast/

Whew! That was long too! Take everything I said with a grain of salt, as I’m totally new too. The veterans here will chime in and verify stuff. Either way, welcome to the forum and have fun!

Oh and check out the NewBee guide if you want more info to read and an easy starting recipe! It’s here: http://gotmead.com/blog/making-mead/mead-newbee-guide/the-newbee-guide-to-making-mead/

Cheers!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[darigoni]

Not having that particular book, do they recommend that yeast? Do they recommend using only 1/4 of a smack pack? Wyeast smack packs are usually calibrated so that you have enough cells if you are making a batch that has a specific gravity of 1.040 or less. Once your gravities get above that you should probably be using a starter (https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Start/). Also, we don't usually cut corners by using partial packages of yeast.

The book you used as a reference, is almost 20 years old! I've been making mead for only two years and, in that short time, recipes and procedures have changed. We no longer add acids up front. With a book that old, you should use it to get ideas about recipes, but will want to use more modern techniques. Check out the NewBee guide, listen to the podcasts and also check out the 9 episode Meadology series, on youtube, by The Canadian Sasquatch; pay particular attention to episodes 6,7 & 8.
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEUA9sOZJbckxRlIRaAyUw6jg2Zlrgko7).

 

[SeanMC]

Welcome! I’m a brand NewBee myself, but I’ve been around the forum for almost two weeks and have learned a lot! I’ll touch on some things I’ve found, but I’m sure Squatchy/Stasis/all the other dudes and chicks on this forum will chime in and help out!

What yeast nutrients did you use? Did you throw them in before adding the yeast? If the nutrients contain DAP, I believe you wounded your yeast when you pitched them in with the nutrients at start. From what I understand, when the yeast are that “young” they are unable to use DAP, and so the salt(?) burns them and damages their membrane, causing issues down the road. Most folks here seem to have started using Fermaid O exclusively, which is fully organic and has no DAP, and I believe they don’t add the nutrients until fermentation signs are observed (small bubbles, slight foam, etc). My first batches are using fermax, which has DAP, because my shop doesn’t carry any fermaid products, and I’ve already been having major issues.

Do you know about Staggered Nutrient Additions(SNA)? TOSNA? If not, check this link out:

http://www.meadmaderight.com/tosna.html

That’s considered THE SNA protocol right now. It seems to work the best and produce the best results, from what I’ve read and heard from others.

Now I’m not familiar with smack packs, but I’ve had dry yeast recommended to me, rehydrated with GoFerm. People rave about that stuff here. According to Squatchy on the podcast(more on that in a second), he’s had nothing but crisp clean and fast ferments using yeast rehydrated using GoFerm, and following TOSNA with Fermaid O.

As far as the temperature goes, every yeast is different of course, so refer to your yeast’s instructions. Seems that most people try to ferment around 62F-64F around here, but they use a variety of yeasts that can get cranky and start making bad flavors/aromas when they’re too hot.

I’m assuming you know about degassing from your brewery yeah? I do it every time I walk by, but I think the recommendation from folks around here is at least twice a day? Be careful when you do it, foam volcanos happen a lot, especially to me it seems.... speaking of which, if you follow TONSA, add your nutrients to some of your must outside of the carboy to avoid a volcano. Dropping nutrients directly in the carboy is asking for Vesuvius part 2.

Oxygen is super important to your yeast at the beginning, from what I’ve read and been told. Squatchy recommends in the podcast to use pure o2 from a tank and aerate every day until the 1/3 sugar break. I know in beer it’s supposed to be a big no no to let oxygen into your must, but from what I understand honey is very resilient to oxidizing, so during the first 1/3 of fermentation it’s totally fine and recommended to be aerating a lot. The yeast need the o2 to reproduce!

So all that being said, you’re following a recipe in a book so I’d guess it’s probably fine if you do exactly what it says. However, based on my research, I’d wager that some of the best mead in the world is coming from folks in these forums, and they’re doing the research and finding the best ways to go about doing this, so I’m trying my best to follow their lead

On that note, podcast! Starting on 9/5/17, Ryan (Squatchy here on the forums) started joining the weekly podcast to discuss best practices for mead making. His episodes are called Modern Mead Making. It’s super interesting and very helpful, and you should totally listen to it! Doing so will put you way ahead of the curve. I learn so much from every episode, and of course the guy giving the lecture is right here on the forums so you can pick his brain for even mote info!

Podcast is here: http://gotmead.com/blog/gotmead-live/9-5-17-ryan-carlson-modern-mead-making-yeast/

Whew! That was long too! Take everything I said with a grain of salt, as I’m totally new too. The veterans here will chime in and verify stuff. Either way, welcome to the forum and have fun!

Oh and check out the NewBee guide if you want more info to read and an easy starting recipe! It’s here: http://gotmead.com/blog/making-mead/mead-newbee-guide/the-newbee-guide-to-making-mead/

Cheers!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you so much! The knowledge is gladly appreciated! all of it! I have a one of the aerating wands on the way, should be here Monday!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

Not having that particular book, do they recommend that yeast? Do they recommend using only 1/4 of a smack pack? Wyeast smack packs are usually calibrated so that you have enough cells if you are making a batch that has a specific gravity of 1.040 or less. Once your gravities get above that you should probably be using a starter (https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Start/). Also, we don't usually cut corners by using partial packages of yeast.

The book you used as a reference, is almost 20 years old! I've been making mead for only two years and, in that short time, recipes and procedures have changed. We no longer add acids up front. With a book that old, you should use it to get ideas about recipes, but will want to use more modern techniques. Check out the NewBee guide, listen to the podcasts and also check out the 9 episode Meadology series, on youtube, by The Canadian Sasquatch; pay particular attention to episodes 6,7 & 8.
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEUA9sOZJbckxRlIRaAyUw6jg2Zlrgko7).

That's where my concern was. I felt like the book was old knowledge once I got on here! That why I wish I was so happy to have found this forum if only a little sooner! I wasn't trying to cut corners with the smack pack, I just figured with it innoculating 6 gallons worth, I would've gotten a yeasty touch from the whole pouch, but I could definitely be wrong! No DAP in the nutrients!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for the information! I pitched the yeast at a 2 degree difference from the must. Getting the rest of the smack pack to temperature and then I'll add must, let it acclimate and then I'll pitch the rest into the freshly aerated and degassed carboy. After this batch I'll be leaving Wyeast behind I'll go the rehydration route. I believe the yeast nutrient is DAP free, but I will call the homebrew shop and check when they open. GoFerm and Fermaid O are on my shopping list. I have an oxygenation kit on the way! Should be here monday. Thanks again you guys!!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Valcarion]

You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for the information! I pitched the yeast at a 2 degree difference from the must. Getting the rest of the smack pack to temperature and then I'll add must, let it acclimate and then I'll pitch the rest into the freshly aerated and degassed carboy. After this batch I'll be leaving Wyeast behind I'll go the rehydration route. I believe the yeast nutrient is DAP free, but I will call the homebrew shop and check when they open. GoFerm and Fermaid O are on my shopping list. I have an oxygenation kit on the way! Should be here monday. Thanks again you guys!!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

No worries dude! Like I said I’m really new too so make sure to look out for other replies as well. All of that stuff is on my shopping list as well, and I’m not going to start another batch until I have them!

Let us know how your first mead turns out. Either you, me, or both of us can learn something from it

Cheers!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Squatchy]

Hello and welcome.
I wanted to speak to a couple pieces. Valcarion means well but misspoke just a little bit about DAP so let's talk about that to clarify. When the yeast is still dry and then come in contact with the liquid. There is a small portion of time before the cell membrane functions as it was designed to work. Once it is estabilished it controls what passes in , and out through the cell wall. Before it setsa up correctly it doesn't have that function and doesnot differentiate. So for a briefe period of time. any, and everything in the slurry will get absorbed by the cell. So it is at this time that DAP is toxic to the new cell. IN just a few ticks after that the membrane can function and it then has the ability to regulate the functions. So DAP is not welcome only, in your rehydration slurry. Abd because of what I just described. We can take advantage of thie time frame and actually gut load the dry yeast with all the nutrients they need (except for O2) for the long journey ahead. This is then why Goferm is such a grat adjucnt to rehydrate in.

The advice about pitch rates are correct. A smake pack doesn't have near the cell count as does the dry yeast. And it was made for beer gravities rather than super high gravities we start with making mead. Yeast is the cheepest fraction of our cost to make mead. Most begginers underpitch all the time. As a rule of thumb. I suggest for 2 grams a gallon up to 1120. Switch to 3 grams per above that. Even in a single gallon just go ahead and pitch the entire smaks pack or a 5 gram packet for the gallon. Even then you are not over pitching.

Lastly most recipes you will find on the web are no longer viable. They are either full of misinformation, wifes tails, or, we have learned more in the past coouple years so any other good info is outdated. So it's best to run your recipes past out community first so we can help to keep you from making bad choices. Go listen to my podcast. I promise it's the best place to learn on the web right now.

 

[Valcarion]

Hello and welcome.
I wanted to speak to a couple pieces. Valcarion means well but misspoke just a little bit about DAP so let's talk about that to clarify. When the yeast is still dry and then come in contact with the liquid. There is a small portion of time before the cell membrane functions as it was designed to work. Once it is estabilished it controls what passes in , and out through the cell wall. Before it setsa up correctly it doesn't have that function and doesnot differentiate. So for a briefe period of time. any, and everything in the slurry will get absorbed by the cell. So it is at this time that DAP is toxic to the new cell. IN just a few ticks after that the membrane can function and it then has the ability to regulate the functions. So DAP is not welcome only, in your rehydration slurry. Abd because of what I just described. We can take advantage of thie time frame and actually gut load the dry yeast with all the nutrients they need (except for O2) for the long journey ahead. This is then why Goferm is such a grat adjucnt to rehydrate in.

The advice about pitch rates are correct. A smake pack doesn't have near the cell count as does the dry yeast. And it was made for beer gravities rather than super high gravities we start with making mead. Yeast is the cheepest fraction of our cost to make mead. Most begginers underpitch all the time. As a rule of thumb. I suggest for 2 grams a gallon up to 1120. Switch to 3 grams per above that. Even in a single gallon just go ahead and pitch the entire smaks pack or a 5 gram packet for the gallon. Even then you are not over pitching.

Lastly most recipes you will find on the web are no longer viable. They are either full of misinformation, wifes tails, or, we have learned more in the past coouple years so any other good info is outdated. So it's best to run your recipes past out community first so we can help to keep you from making bad choices. Go listen to my podcast. I promise it's the best place to learn on the web right now.

Was waiting for you to come and clarify


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

Hello and welcome.
I wanted to speak to a couple pieces. Valcarion means well but misspoke just a little bit about DAP so let's talk about that to clarify. When the yeast is still dry and then come in contact with the liquid. There is a small portion of time before the cell membrane functions as it was designed to work. Once it is estabilished it controls what passes in , and out through the cell wall. Before it setsa up correctly it doesn't have that function and doesnot differentiate. So for a briefe period of time. any, and everything in the slurry will get absorbed by the cell. So it is at this time that DAP is toxic to the new cell. IN just a few ticks after that the membrane can function and it then has the ability to regulate the functions. So DAP is not welcome only, in your rehydration slurry. Abd because of what I just described. We can take advantage of thie time frame and actually gut load the dry yeast with all the nutrients they need (except for O2) for the long journey ahead. This is then why Goferm is such a grat adjucnt to rehydrate in.

The advice about pitch rates are correct. A smake pack doesn't have near the cell count as does the dry yeast. And it was made for beer gravities rather than super high gravities we start with making mead. Yeast is the cheepest fraction of our cost to make mead. Most begginers underpitch all the time. As a rule of thumb. I suggest for 2 grams a gallon up to 1120. Switch to 3 grams per above that. Even in a single gallon just go ahead and pitch the entire smaks pack or a 5 gram packet for the gallon. Even then you are not over pitching.

Lastly most recipes you will find on the web are no longer viable. They are either full of misinformation, wifes tails, or, we have learned more in the past coouple years so any other good info is outdated. So it's best to run your recipes past out community first so we can help to keep you from making bad choices. Go listen to my podcast. I promise it's the best place to learn on the web right now.

Hi there! Thank you, thank you and thank you again! I appreciate all the help and it's nice to meet the community. Almost through the first podcast starting on 9/5. The volume of information is grandeous! Holy smokes, literally taking notes!

Since it was a smack pack and the yeast had a few hours (3+) to get started before being introduced to the must that already had the nutrient in it, which I found out has DAP in it, I'm hoping the cell walls had enough time to get going so that they operate properly. I wish I would've found this forum sooner so I could've started on a better note, but from what I've gathered my next steps for future meadmaking include:

- Oxygenation Wand (.05 micron diffuser stone) on the way, w/ pure O2
- Purchasing Fermaid O, Go-Ferm, and Lavlin 71B-1122 for all future batches!
- No need for acid blend, no nutrients until after the lag phase!
- Using the Staggered Nutrient Addition method
- Running future recipes past this amazing community!!

Any feedback, critiscisms, advice is all greatly appreciated!

Also, does anyone have recommendations for where to purchase Goferm, Fermaid O and 71B? Amazon has it all, so I thinking of going that route if not directed elsewhere. (Tried my best to search through before asking)

I'm going to continue this batch using this forum for instructions and hope for the best, hopefully I'll be able to age out any issues!

Thanks again!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

Hello and welcome.
I wanted to speak to a couple pieces. Valcarion means well but misspoke just a little bit about DAP so let's talk about that to clarify. When the yeast is still dry and then come in contact with the liquid. There is a small portion of time before the cell membrane functions as it was designed to work. Once it is estabilished it controls what passes in , and out through the cell wall. Before it setsa up correctly it doesn't have that function and doesnot differentiate. So for a briefe period of time. any, and everything in the slurry will get absorbed by the cell. So it is at this time that DAP is toxic to the new cell. IN just a few ticks after that the membrane can function and it then has the ability to regulate the functions. So DAP is not welcome only, in your rehydration slurry. Abd because of what I just described. We can take advantage of thie time frame and actually gut load the dry yeast with all the nutrients they need (except for O2) for the long journey ahead. This is then why Goferm is such a grat adjucnt to rehydrate in.

The advice about pitch rates are correct. A smake pack doesn't have near the cell count as does the dry yeast. And it was made for beer gravities rather than super high gravities we start with making mead. Yeast is the cheepest fraction of our cost to make mead. Most begginers underpitch all the time. As a rule of thumb. I suggest for 2 grams a gallon up to 1120. Switch to 3 grams per above that. Even in a single gallon just go ahead and pitch the entire smaks pack or a 5 gram packet for the gallon. Even then you are not over pitching.

Lastly most recipes you will find on the web are no longer viable. They are either full of misinformation, wifes tails, or, we have learned more in the past coouple years so any other good info is outdated. So it's best to run your recipes past out community first so we can help to keep you from making bad choices. Go listen to my podcast. I promise it's the best place to learn on the web right now.

Hi there! Thank you for your time and expertise! I had an awesome reply written up, but I don't believe it posted properly. The podcast is amazing and I'm literally taking notes, the information is grandeous! I was curious of the validity of the recipe from the book too. Thank you, I will run future recipes past this awesome community first!

The smack pack had 3+ hours to start before it made contact with the must that contained the yeast nutrient which contains DAP, hopefully the yeast had enough time to develop in those 3 or so hours to not be negatively impacted from the DAP.

I also brought out the rest of the smack pack and will let that get a good bubbling start going before I add it in

What I've learned so far for any future Meadmaking ventures includes:

- No nutrients until after the lag phase, especially no DAP when starting the yeast!
- No real need for acid blend.
- Oxygenation Kit on the way w/ .05 Micron diffuser stone and pure O2.
- Ordering Fermaid O for nutrients, GoFerm for starting and Lavlin 71B-1122 for future batches.
- Using the Staggered Nutrient Additin Method
- Proper feeding, aeration, and degassing

I will continue this batch as per instructions from this community and hope for the best, hopefully I can age out any issues! I would love any and all feedback and advice!

I'm really looking forward to the meadmaking experience and I'm excited to prepare a second batch starting off on a much better and hopeful note!



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

Hello and welcome.
I wanted to speak to a couple pieces. Valcarion means well but misspoke just a little bit about DAP so let's talk about that to clarify. When the yeast is still dry and then come in contact with the liquid. There is a small portion of time before the cell membrane functions as it was designed to work. Once it is estabilished it controls what passes in , and out through the cell wall. Before it setsa up correctly it doesn't have that function and doesnot differentiate. So for a briefe period of time. any, and everything in the slurry will get absorbed by the cell. So it is at this time that DAP is toxic to the new cell. IN just a few ticks after that the membrane can function and it then has the ability to regulate the functions. So DAP is not welcome only, in your rehydration slurry. Abd because of what I just described. We can take advantage of thie time frame and actually gut load the dry yeast with all the nutrients they need (except for O2) for the long journey ahead. This is then why Goferm is such a grat adjucnt to rehydrate in.

The advice about pitch rates are correct. A smake pack doesn't have near the cell count as does the dry yeast. And it was made for beer gravities rather than super high gravities we start with making mead. Yeast is the cheepest fraction of our cost to make mead. Most begginers underpitch all the time. As a rule of thumb. I suggest for 2 grams a gallon up to 1120. Switch to 3 grams per above that. Even in a single gallon just go ahead and pitch the entire smaks pack or a 5 gram packet for the gallon. Even then you are not over pitching.

Lastly most recipes you will find on the web are no longer viable. They are either full of misinformation, wifes tails, or, we have learned more in the past coouple years so any other good info is outdated. So it's best to run your recipes past out community first so we can help to keep you from making bad choices. Go listen to my podcast. I promise it's the best place to learn on the web right now.

Hi there! Thank you for your time and expertise! I had an awesome reply written up, but I don't believe it posted properly. The podcast is amazing and I'm literally taking notes, the information is grandeous! I was curious of the validity of the recipe from the book too. Thank you, I will run future recipes past this awesome community first!

The smack pack had 3+ hours to start before it made contact with the must that contained the yeast nutrient which contains DAP, hopefully the yeast had enough time to develop in those 3 or so hours to not be negatively impacted from the DAP.

I also brought out the rest of the smack pack and will let that get a good bubbling start going before I add it in

What I've learned so far for any future Meadmaking ventures includes:

- No nutrients until after the lag phase, especially no DAP when starting the yeast!
- No real need for acid blend.
- Oxygenation Kit on the way w/ .05 Micron diffuser stone and pure O2.
- Ordering Fermaid O for nutrients, GoFerm for starting and Lavlin 71B-1122 for future batches.
- Using the Staggered Nutrient Additin Method
- Proper feeding, aeration, and degassing

I will continue this batch as per instructions from this community and hope for the best, hopefully I can age out any issues! I would love any and all feedback and advice!

I'm really looking forward to the meadmaking experience and I'm excited to prepare a second batch starting off on a much better and hopeful note!

Thanks again!



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

Hi there! Thank you for your time and expertise Squatchy! I had an awesome reply written up, but I don't believe it posted properly. The podcast is amazing and I'm literally taking notes, the information is grandeous! I was curious of the validity of the recipe from the book too. Thank you, I will run future recipes past this awesome community first!

The smack pack had 3+ hours to start before it made contact with the must that contained the yeast nutrient which contains DAP, hopefully the yeast had enough time to develop in those 3 or so hours to not be negatively impacted from the DAP.

I also brought out the rest of the smack pack and will let that get a good bubbling start going before I add it in

What I've learned so far for any future Meadmaking ventures includes:

- No nutrients until after the lag phase, especially no DAP when starting the yeast!
- No real need for acid blend.
- Oxygenation Kit on the way w/ .05 Micron diffuser stone and pure O2.
- Ordering Fermaid O for nutrients, GoFerm for starting and Lavlin 71B-1122 for future batches.
- Using the Staggered Nutrient Additin Method
- Proper feeding, aeration, and degassing

I will continue this batch as per instructions from this community and hope for the best, hopefully I can age out any issues! I would love any and all feedback and advice!

I'm really looking forward to the meadmaking experience and I'm excited to prepare a second batch starting off on a much better and hopeful note!

Thank you!



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

Hi there! Thank you for your time and expertise! I had an awesome reply written up, but I don't believe it posted properly. The podcast is amazing and I'm literally taking notes, the information is grandeous! I was curious of the validity of the recipe from the book too. Thank you, I will run future recipes past this awesome community first!

The smack pack had 3+ hours to start before it made contact with the must that contained the yeast nutrient which contains DAP, hopefully the yeast had enough time to develop in those 3 or so hours to not be negatively impacted from the DAP.

I also brought out the rest of the smack pack and will let that get a good bubbling start going before I add it in

What I've learned so far for any future Meadmaking ventures includes:

- No nutrients until after the lag phase, especially no DAP when starting the yeast!
- No real need for acid blend.
- Oxygenation Kit on the way w/ .05 Micron diffuser stone and pure O2.
- Ordering Fermaid O for nutrients, GoFerm for starting and Lavlin 71B-1122 for future batches.
- Using the Staggered Nutrient Additin Method
- Proper feeding, aeration, and degassing

I will continue this batch as per instructions from this community and hope for the best, hopefully I can age out any issues! I would love any and all feedback and advice!

I'm really looking forward to the meadmaking experience and I'm excited to prepare a second batch starting off on a much better and hopeful note!

Thanks again!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

Hi there! Thank you for your time and expertise! I had an awesome reply written up, but I don't believe it posted properly. The podcast is amazing and I'm literally taking notes, the information is grandeous! I was curious of the validity of the recipe from the book too. Thank you, I will run future recipes past this awesome community first!

The smack pack had 3+ hours to start before it made contact with the must that contained the yeast nutrient which contains DAP, hopefully the yeast had enough time to develop in those 3 or so hours to not be negatively impacted from the DAP.

I also brought out the rest of the smack pack and will let that get a good bubbling start going before I add it in

What I've learned so far for any future Meadmaking ventures includes:

- No nutrients until after the lag phase, especially no DAP when starting the yeast!
- No real need for acid blend.
- Oxygenation Kit on the way w/ .05 Micron diffuser stone and pure O2.
- Ordering Fermaid O for nutrients, GoFerm for starting and Lavlin 71B-1122 for future batches.
- Using the Staggered Nutrient Additin Method
- Proper feeding, aeration, and degassing

I will continue this batch as per instructions from this community and hope for the best, hopefully I can age out any issues! I would love any and all feedback and advice!

I'm really looking forward to the meadmaking experience and I'm excited to prepare a second batch starting off on a much better and hopeful note!

Thanks again!

 

[SeanMC]

Hello and welcome.
I wanted to speak to a couple pieces. Valcarion means well but misspoke just a little bit about DAP so let's talk about that to clarify. When the yeast is still dry and then come in contact with the liquid. There is a small portion of time before the cell membrane functions as it was designed to work. Once it is estabilished it controls what passes in , and out through the cell wall. Before it setsa up correctly it doesn't have that function and doesnot differentiate. So for a briefe period of time. any, and everything in the slurry will get absorbed by the cell. So it is at this time that DAP is toxic to the new cell. IN just a few ticks after that the membrane can function and it then has the ability to regulate the functions. So DAP is not welcome only, in your rehydration slurry. Abd because of what I just described. We can take advantage of thie time frame and actually gut load the dry yeast with all the nutrients they need (except for O2) for the long journey ahead. This is then why Goferm is such a grat adjucnt to rehydrate in.

The advice about pitch rates are correct. A smake pack doesn't have near the cell count as does the dry yeast. And it was made for beer gravities rather than super high gravities we start with making mead. Yeast is the cheepest fraction of our cost to make mead. Most begginers underpitch all the time. As a rule of thumb. I suggest for 2 grams a gallon up to 1120. Switch to 3 grams per above that. Even in a single gallon just go ahead and pitch the entire smaks pack or a 5 gram packet for the gallon. Even then you are not over pitching.

Lastly most recipes you will find on the web are no longer viable. They are either full of misinformation, wifes tails, or, we have learned more in the past coouple years so any other good info is outdated. So it's best to run your recipes past out community first so we can help to keep you from making bad choices. Go listen to my podcast. I promise it's the best place to learn on the web right now.

Hi there! Thank you for your time and expertise! I had an awesome reply written up, but I don't believe it posted properly. The podcast is amazing and I'm literally taking notes, the information is grandeous! I was curious of the validity of the recipe from the book too. Thank you, I will run future recipes past this awesome community first!

The smack pack had 3+ hours to start before it made contact with the must that contained the yeast nutrient which contains DAP, hopefully the yeast had enough time to develop in those 3 or so hours to not be negatively impacted from the DAP.

I also brought out the rest of the smack pack and will let that get a good bubbling start going before I add it in

What I've learned so far for any future Meadmaking ventures includes:

- No nutrients until after the lag phase, especially no DAP when starting the yeast!
- No real need for acid blend.
- Oxygenation Kit on the way w/ .05 Micron diffuser stone and pure O2.
- Ordering Fermaid O for nutrients, GoFerm for starting and Lavlin 71B-1122 for future batches.
- Using the Staggered Nutrient Additin Method
- Proper feeding, aeration, and degassing

I will continue this batch as per instructions from this community and hope for the best, hopefully I can age out any issues! I would love any and all feedback and advice!

I'm really looking forward to the meadmaking experience and I'm excited to prepare a second batch starting off on a much better and hopeful note!

Thank you

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

Hi there! Thank you for your time and expertise! I had an awesome reply written up, but I don't believe it posted properly. The podcast is amazing and I'm literally taking notes, the information is grandeous! I was curious of the validity of the recipe from the book too. Thank you, I will run future recipes past this awesome community first!

The smack pack had 3+ hours to start before it made contact with the must that contained the yeast nutrient which contains DAP, hopefully the yeast had enough time to develop in those 3 or so hours to not be negatively impacted from the DAP.

I also brought out the rest of the smack pack and will let that get a good bubbling start going before I add it in

What I've learned so far for any future Meadmaking ventures includes:

- No nutrients until after the lag phase, especially no DAP when starting the yeast!
- No real need for acid blend.
- Oxygenation Kit on the way w/ .05 Micron diffuser stone and pure O2.
- Ordering Fermaid O for nutrients, GoFerm for starting and Lavlin 71B-1122 for future batches.
- Using the Staggered Nutrient Additin Method
- Proper feeding, aeration, and degassing

I will continue this batch as per instructions from this community and hope for the best, hopefully I can age out any issues! I would love any and all feedback and advice!

I'm really looking forward to the meadmaking experience and I'm excited to prepare a second batch starting off on a much better and hopeful note!

Thanks again!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[SeanMC]

Hello and welcome.
I wanted to speak to a couple pieces. Valcarion means well but misspoke just a little bit about DAP so let's talk about that to clarify. When the yeast is still dry and then come in contact with the liquid. There is a small portion of time before the cell membrane functions as it was designed to work. Once it is estabilished it controls what passes in , and out through the cell wall. Before it setsa up correctly it doesn't have that function and doesnot differentiate. So for a briefe period of time. any, and everything in the slurry will get absorbed by the cell. So it is at this time that DAP is toxic to the new cell. IN just a few ticks after that the membrane can function and it then has the ability to regulate the functions. So DAP is not welcome only, in your rehydration slurry. Abd because of what I just described. We can take advantage of thie time frame and actually gut load the dry yeast with all the nutrients they need (except for O2) for the long journey ahead. This is then why Goferm is such a grat adjucnt to rehydrate in.

The advice about pitch rates are correct. A smake pack doesn't have near the cell count as does the dry yeast. And it was made for beer gravities rather than super high gravities we start with making mead. Yeast is the cheepest fraction of our cost to make mead. Most begginers underpitch all the time. As a rule of thumb. I suggest for 2 grams a gallon up to 1120. Switch to 3 grams per above that. Even in a single gallon just go ahead and pitch the entire smaks pack or a 5 gram packet for the gallon. Even then you are not over pitching.

Lastly most recipes you will find on the web are no longer viable. They are either full of misinformation, wifes tails, or, we have learned more in the past coouple years so any other good info is outdated. So it's best to run your recipes past out community first so we can help to keep you from making bad choices. Go listen to my podcast. I promise it's the best place to learn on the web right now.

Hi there! Thank you for your time and expertise! I had an awesome reply written up, but I don't believe it posted properly. The podcast is amazing and I'm literally taking notes, the information is grandeous! I was curious of the validity of the recipe from the book too. Thank you, I will run future recipes past this awesome community first!

The smack pack had 3+ hours to start before it made contact with the must that contained the yeast nutrient which contains DAP, hopefully the yeast had enough time to develop in those 3 or so hours to not be negatively impacted from the DAP.

I also brought out the rest of the smack pack and will let that get a good bubbling start going before I add it in

What I've learned so far for any future Meadmaking ventures includes:

- No nutrients until after the lag phase, especially no DAP when starting the yeast!
- No real need for acid blend.
- Oxygenation Kit on the way w/ .05 Micron diffuser stone and pure O2.
- Ordering Fermaid O for nutrients, GoFerm for starting and Lavlin 71B-1122 for future batches.
- Using the Staggered Nutrient Additin Method
- Proper feeding, aeration, and degassing

I will continue this batch as per instructions from this community and hope for the best, hopefully I can age out any issues! I would love any and all feedback and advice!

I'm really looking forward to the meadmaking experience and I'm excited to prepare a second batch starting off on a much better and hopeful note!

Thanks again!