Hiya first post here, thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Been keeping bees at a hobby level (four hives at the moment) for four years now, thought it was about time I had a go at a brew. Hail from Auckland, New Zealand. Howdy y'all. Or gidday mate.
Just keen for your thoughts and advice to make sure I'm going in the right direction. Feel free to pick holes in my naivety.
23 liter batch (6 US Gallons)
6 Liters honey made to 23 L OG 1.100. No easy way of weighing the honey but assume its 1.4kgs/L so 18.5 lbs.
Added to this, which I boiled for 15 minutes first,
juice and zest of 4 oranges
zest of 4 lemons
4 handfuls of raisins
2 cinnamon quills
2 vanilla pod chopped up/ slit.
5 tablespoons of fast acting bread yeast
2 whole cloves
Pitched Gervin GV5 wine yeast Thursday last week (5 days back now)
Added vintners harvest wine nutes, 6 TSP all up staggered, final dose at 1.06.
I initially thought the bread yeast and raisins would be enough but after some advice from here and there I decided to add the nutes as well.
Stirred to aerate and degas twice/day until 1.06 then stirred to degas only, twice/day till now.
Have just bought a racking cane/23l glass carboy + K metabisulphate, K sorbate and a 100ml bottle of isinglass finings today.
SGs as follows - this is QUICK (I suspect)
OG 1.100
36 hrs 1.08
48hrs 1.06
72 hrs 1.03
Day 4 1.02
Day 5 (tonight) 1.004
Am a bit concerned re the speed of this ferment as I believe if it brews too fast you can end up with petrol flavors and a loong aging process. We are at the end of summer, daytime temps 23C nighttime 14C.
At this rate it will be finished by tomorrow or thursday night! I suspect it will ferment dry as it is a wine yeast and 1.1 to 1.0 gives 13.3% ABV.
I have been told that honey has some longer sugars which the yeast will not touch, so sweetness will be retained despite fermenting dry. I suspect this is BS from looking around the forums?
I cant really taste the vanilla/cloves/cinnamon in the must so will add the same quantities as above to the secondary vessel prior to racking, as well as some more lemon zest and maybe juice this time. Didnt add lemon juice in the primary as was afraid pH would go too low. Don't have pH testing capability.
I would like a medium drink so plan is to stabilize on racking with the K met and K sorbate, then add honey/water to back sweeten to taste and to top off carboy. Once it has cleared up I may or may not add the isinglass. At this stage I will cap the carboy and check for pressure every week or so, depending of course if there is fermenting going on still.
I have 2 dozen 1L swing top bottles that I will bottle age in once its all cleared up (I wanna brew something else now!), lees have stopped falling and fermentation has stopped.
Once again, would appreciate some expert advice and or reassurance.
Been keeping bees at a hobby level (four hives at the moment) for four years now, thought it was about time I had a go at a brew. Hail from Auckland, New Zealand. Howdy y'all. Or gidday mate.
Just keen for your thoughts and advice to make sure I'm going in the right direction. Feel free to pick holes in my naivety.
23 liter batch (6 US Gallons)
6 Liters honey made to 23 L OG 1.100. No easy way of weighing the honey but assume its 1.4kgs/L so 18.5 lbs.
Added to this, which I boiled for 15 minutes first,
juice and zest of 4 oranges
zest of 4 lemons
4 handfuls of raisins
2 cinnamon quills
2 vanilla pod chopped up/ slit.
5 tablespoons of fast acting bread yeast
2 whole cloves
Pitched Gervin GV5 wine yeast Thursday last week (5 days back now)
Added vintners harvest wine nutes, 6 TSP all up staggered, final dose at 1.06.
I initially thought the bread yeast and raisins would be enough but after some advice from here and there I decided to add the nutes as well.
Stirred to aerate and degas twice/day until 1.06 then stirred to degas only, twice/day till now.
Have just bought a racking cane/23l glass carboy + K metabisulphate, K sorbate and a 100ml bottle of isinglass finings today.
SGs as follows - this is QUICK (I suspect)
OG 1.100
36 hrs 1.08
48hrs 1.06
72 hrs 1.03
Day 4 1.02
Day 5 (tonight) 1.004
Am a bit concerned re the speed of this ferment as I believe if it brews too fast you can end up with petrol flavors and a loong aging process. We are at the end of summer, daytime temps 23C nighttime 14C.
At this rate it will be finished by tomorrow or thursday night! I suspect it will ferment dry as it is a wine yeast and 1.1 to 1.0 gives 13.3% ABV.
I have been told that honey has some longer sugars which the yeast will not touch, so sweetness will be retained despite fermenting dry. I suspect this is BS from looking around the forums?
I cant really taste the vanilla/cloves/cinnamon in the must so will add the same quantities as above to the secondary vessel prior to racking, as well as some more lemon zest and maybe juice this time. Didnt add lemon juice in the primary as was afraid pH would go too low. Don't have pH testing capability.
I would like a medium drink so plan is to stabilize on racking with the K met and K sorbate, then add honey/water to back sweeten to taste and to top off carboy. Once it has cleared up I may or may not add the isinglass. At this stage I will cap the carboy and check for pressure every week or so, depending of course if there is fermenting going on still.
I have 2 dozen 1L swing top bottles that I will bottle age in once its all cleared up (I wanna brew something else now!), lees have stopped falling and fermentation has stopped.
Once again, would appreciate some expert advice and or reassurance.
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