I got my 19 lbs of orange blosson honey form my local vender yesterday. i paturized today and pitches my champaign yeast only problem is I over diluted and have a gallon extra must think ill just top off when I re rack. My only ?'s are how to bottel as ive only botteled beer and what how important is chilling your must quickly? I forgot to buy ice :-[.
first batch
- Thread starter teljkon
- Start date
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Always good to have an extra small carboy going in parallel with the larger batch -- that's what I do to solve the racking loss dilemma. But, what do you mean by overdiluting? Are you still at a good original SG? What is the SG of the batch you just started? You want to make sure that you'll get enough alcohol out of the fermentation to ensure that you won't invite spoilage organisms into the brew later!
As far as bottling, it really isn't too different from bottling beer. You've already got the technique down if you've done beer before. Are you planning to bottle as a still wine? If so, then the corking thing will be the only new part of the process. Hint: if you can afford it, buy a floor corker. In fact for most synthetic corks you can't even use an old hand corker. The floor corkers make the job SO MUCH easier that I'm surprised they still sell hand corkers!
As far as bottling, it really isn't too different from bottling beer. You've already got the technique down if you've done beer before. Are you planning to bottle as a still wine? If so, then the corking thing will be the only new part of the process. Hint: if you can afford it, buy a floor corker. In fact for most synthetic corks you can't even use an old hand corker. The floor corkers make the job SO MUCH easier that I'm surprised they still sell hand corkers!
I added to much water to the origional honey i ended up with like 6 or 7 gallons of must i planed on only making a 5 gallon batch. Im going for a carbonated bottoling so im curious if I can put the stuff right in beer bottels? i know carpdiem bottels in larg bottels like that. I actually have a floor bottler for beer curious if it will work for wine to looks like itll take a cork! :cheers:
Hmmm... there's lots here behind your simple questions! First, if you ended up with a total volume of 7 gallons, using 19 lbs of honey, and your honey has average moisture content, you started out with an SG of around 1.095. As far as sugar content goes, that's right in the "sweet spot" most grape winemakers try to hit with their musts. You'll end up fermenting to dryness, with an ending ABV of around 12.5-13%. Not bad for a "mistake!" 
I'd recommend that you let it ferment out completely dry (as in when all evidence of fermentation - bubbles in the air lock - stop completely), and then add some conditioning sugar just before you bottle. Personally, since this is a mead, I'd use about 3/4 cup of honey (or a little bit more) into 5 gallons. Don't use any stabilizers - NO K-META or Sorbate - if you want to carbonate. That amount of added honey will give your champagne yeast enough to chew on when you bottle to give you a nice sparkling result without creating bottle bombs. Yes, you can bottle in beer bottles. This'll carbonate just right for that kind of bottle. Also, if you have the Italian floor corker with a crown capper attachment, yes, you can either crown cap or cork with the same machine.
Sounds like you're off and running!
I'd recommend that you let it ferment out completely dry (as in when all evidence of fermentation - bubbles in the air lock - stop completely), and then add some conditioning sugar just before you bottle. Personally, since this is a mead, I'd use about 3/4 cup of honey (or a little bit more) into 5 gallons. Don't use any stabilizers - NO K-META or Sorbate - if you want to carbonate. That amount of added honey will give your champagne yeast enough to chew on when you bottle to give you a nice sparkling result without creating bottle bombs. Yes, you can bottle in beer bottles. This'll carbonate just right for that kind of bottle. Also, if you have the Italian floor corker with a crown capper attachment, yes, you can either crown cap or cork with the same machine.
Sounds like you're off and running!
I was trying to get the most out of the yeast maybe I got the formula wrong. I though for each lb of honey translated into one 1% of alcohol ?? Is that wrong? I am sure it will come out fine right know I am trying to get my fridge at the right temp I put it down way to cold last night so I turned it off and I am letting it warm. I have one of those little fish tank thermometers on the carboy and I am not even getting a reading. It goes down to 64% or so I am figuring its way to cold for it to take a reading
:cheers:
:cheers:
teljkon said:
It is approx. 1% per pound of honey in a 5 gallon batch. This means if you add 1 gallon of honey (12 pounds) to 4 gallons of water (1 gallon honey + 4 gallons water = 5 gallons of Must) you will have enough sugars to ferment about 12% alcohol.
19 pounds of honey in say 6.5 gallons of must would be approx. thus... 19 divided by 6.5, multiplied by 5 = Approx 14.6% potential Alchohol.
Cheers,
Wrathwilde
Yep I over diluted. Any ways the only real problem im having per say is that the fridge im using to ferment in seems to be colder that 65% even at the lowest temp if I got it right and i think that i do i should be between 65% and 75%. I just re started the fridge maybe the carboy was still colder than the air and it’ll still come up in temp im keeping my fingers crossed.
:icon_scratch:
For future batches i need only 3.5 gallons of water and 1.5 gallons of honey to get my 18% even though I don’t necessarily need or want a full fermentation. Im sorry though if I have confused the numbers I have. 18.6 lbs of honey, I saved a little just to have, and i put that in 5 gallons of water. I kind of figured id lose more during pasteurization than I did. I have one more ? Why do so many recipes say that they scrape the stuff off the top when they boil/pasteurize.
Thanks for all the help :icon_pirat:
:icon_scratch:
For future batches i need only 3.5 gallons of water and 1.5 gallons of honey to get my 18% even though I don’t necessarily need or want a full fermentation. Im sorry though if I have confused the numbers I have. 18.6 lbs of honey, I saved a little just to have, and i put that in 5 gallons of water. I kind of figured id lose more during pasteurization than I did. I have one more ? Why do so many recipes say that they scrape the stuff off the top when they boil/pasteurize.
Thanks for all the help :icon_pirat:
