Hey all,
So long story short, my business is currently in the process of getting a winery license and one of the products we are putting out will be an aperitif wine with a white wine/mead blend with the majority of the blend being a traditional mead. We're aiming to start manufacturing mead in late March once our license is approved (buying the white wine in bulk from a local winery). So I've got from now till end of March to absolutely nail a off-dry traditional mead for this product before we go into scaled production (~500L batches, already got nesseary equipment...ish).
I've never (purposely) fermented a thing before, no homebrewing, mead making, nothing.... https://youtu.be/NHkArPyVa-U?t=20
But! I currently use a lot of similar equipment/methods at work (producing soda syrups), and have a been a long time lurker in the home brew/distilling/winemaking/mead forums for the last few years, so I've got a pretty good idea of whats involved.
About an hour ago I just finished my very first mead/first time fermenting. I would LOVE your feedback on how I can improve my recipe/process so that I can knock this traditional mead out of the park in the next couple months before I start doing this in 500L batches.
Below is the recipe, process and mead log of the batch I just finished (I pitched about 3hrs ago), any tips on how I can do this better? Thank you!! I'm currently thinking of switching from Fermaid K to O for the SNA (bought K before I knew better). I also haven’t done enough research into sulphating/SO2/stabilizing, so would love some feedback on best practices (on my list for this week is to listen to Ryan's (Squatchy) podcast on the topic), also Ryan, thank you for all the info you post. It's been a god-send.
Off-Dry Traditional Mead - Blueberry Blossom Honey. 71B Yeast. 18.9L batch. Aiming for 14%ABV.
Ingredients
7.4kg honey (5.1388L) Honey Gravity: 1.4444
10g dry yeast (71B)
12.5g Go-Ferm
13.76L water, minus amount needed for rehydration of yeast (250ml)
Total SNA amounts
7.6g Fermaid K /4
14.5G DAP /4
Target OG: 1.114
Actual OG: 1.114
Procedure for 18.9L batch
1. Warm honey (in water bath using immersion circulator) to 40C for easy transfer
3. Sanitize all equipment that will come into contact with must or yeast
4. Weigh out all ingredients
5. Add honey and 24C water into mixing tank. Reserve some of this water for yeast rehydration (250ml).
6. Stir to dissolve
7. Test PH/SG/temp
8. Aggressively aerate must with drill stirrer (ideally need 12-15ppm O2, achieved with pure O2 - 1L/min - through at 0.5 micron carb stone for 120sec )
9. Transfer to fermentor
10. Aerate with pure O2 hack job (see mead log for why second aeration)
11. Rehydrate/temper yeast (10g dry yeast, 71B)
13. Seal carboy with airlock,
14. Store in Ferm Chamber at 18C
15. After 12 hrs, dose again with pure O2 for 120sec
17. After 24hrs degas must, test PH/SG and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must (this prevents excessive foaming)
18. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
19. After 48hrs degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must
20. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
21. After 72hrs degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must
22. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
23. When must reaches 1/3 sugar break (1.076), but no later than 7 days after pitch, degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must
24. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
25. Rack when fermentation complete (no drop in SG after 2 weeks). Do not let stand on yeast cake for more than 3 weeks.
26. Stabilizing?
27. Age for ~3 months in stainless steel.
Degas x2 per day for first week. Test gravity each day. Test PH every other day for first week, adjust as needed?
Mead log
Sanitizer: Iodophor
Tried to warm 15kg bucket of honey (honey was at 4C) in a 38C water bath. After 4hrs, not enough liquified so increased to 45C. Need to get honey properly warmed first for longer, 40C is a good temp, but needs to be done for 8+ hrs. After 6hrs using the immersion circulator at 38C-45C, still not enough to liquify 15kg bucket, only edges. Had to carve honey out into a smaller container, a sticky pain to deal with. Allow more time to warm honey.
Don’t use standard sized spatula, use longer one to avoid sticky hands.
pH before pitch: 4.38
OG before pitch: 1.112
pH after pitch (but did not shake up carboy too much so doubt yeast got all the way the bottom where I got my sample from, this may affect pH): 4.23
Pitch temp: 25.5C
OG after pitch: 1.114
I’m nearly confident that the increase in OG after pitch is due to the aggressive stirring/aeration I did after the first SG test. There were still a few clumps of honey remaining that I think dissolved later and bumped the OG.
Once yeast started to rehydrate/temper things got a little chaotic trying to clean, do an OG test, get my must aerated with drill stirrer and transferred into the carboy and then an additional aeration with pure O2 after transfer all in 25min.
Next time have absolutely everything done before yeast rehydration; will make process much easier.
After yeast temper for 10min, yeast slurry was 26.2C. Must temp was 25.5C.
The reason I aerated with the drill stir and then pure O2 after transfer to fermentor is because the .5 micron carb stone I ordered did not arrive via amazon today but the O2 regulator did and I needed to get this fermenting before I leave for a week in late Jan. I put a dip tube hop blocker on the end of a 1/4”ID vinyl tube to try and generate smaller bubbles than just the tube would yield, a bad sub for a carb stone. Did this for 2.25min.
Next time will make a aeration wand from a spare keg dip tube and carb stone on the end. The tubing on it's own only went half way up the carboy and I couldn’t get it down further.
No traditional airlock on carboy. Using orange carboy cap attached to tubing to jar of starsan as airlock.
Temp probe in fermentation chamber is attached to side of carboy with a rag covering it for insulation and taped on.
Must at pitch was a little warmer than I’d like, but I think still acceptable. 25.5C.
Make sure all honey is totally liquid, the clumps where a real pain to deal with and splashed everywhere when pouring (if clumps present, make sure to add honey first, then water, into mixing tank to avoid splashing)
After 10min in the ferm chamber I checked on it and because I didn’t agitate carboy after pitch, it looked like the yeast was just sitting on top of the must so I agitated the carboy a bit to better incorporate. Not sure if this is good practice or not but I don’t see how it could harm. Something to research.
Will update as fermentaiton continues.
So long story short, my business is currently in the process of getting a winery license and one of the products we are putting out will be an aperitif wine with a white wine/mead blend with the majority of the blend being a traditional mead. We're aiming to start manufacturing mead in late March once our license is approved (buying the white wine in bulk from a local winery). So I've got from now till end of March to absolutely nail a off-dry traditional mead for this product before we go into scaled production (~500L batches, already got nesseary equipment...ish).
I've never (purposely) fermented a thing before, no homebrewing, mead making, nothing.... https://youtu.be/NHkArPyVa-U?t=20
But! I currently use a lot of similar equipment/methods at work (producing soda syrups), and have a been a long time lurker in the home brew/distilling/winemaking/mead forums for the last few years, so I've got a pretty good idea of whats involved.
About an hour ago I just finished my very first mead/first time fermenting. I would LOVE your feedback on how I can improve my recipe/process so that I can knock this traditional mead out of the park in the next couple months before I start doing this in 500L batches.
Below is the recipe, process and mead log of the batch I just finished (I pitched about 3hrs ago), any tips on how I can do this better? Thank you!! I'm currently thinking of switching from Fermaid K to O for the SNA (bought K before I knew better). I also haven’t done enough research into sulphating/SO2/stabilizing, so would love some feedback on best practices (on my list for this week is to listen to Ryan's (Squatchy) podcast on the topic), also Ryan, thank you for all the info you post. It's been a god-send.
Off-Dry Traditional Mead - Blueberry Blossom Honey. 71B Yeast. 18.9L batch. Aiming for 14%ABV.
Ingredients
7.4kg honey (5.1388L) Honey Gravity: 1.4444
10g dry yeast (71B)
12.5g Go-Ferm
13.76L water, minus amount needed for rehydration of yeast (250ml)
Total SNA amounts
7.6g Fermaid K /4
14.5G DAP /4
Target OG: 1.114
Actual OG: 1.114
Procedure for 18.9L batch
1. Warm honey (in water bath using immersion circulator) to 40C for easy transfer
3. Sanitize all equipment that will come into contact with must or yeast
4. Weigh out all ingredients
5. Add honey and 24C water into mixing tank. Reserve some of this water for yeast rehydration (250ml).
6. Stir to dissolve
7. Test PH/SG/temp
8. Aggressively aerate must with drill stirrer (ideally need 12-15ppm O2, achieved with pure O2 - 1L/min - through at 0.5 micron carb stone for 120sec )
9. Transfer to fermentor
10. Aerate with pure O2 hack job (see mead log for why second aeration)
11. Rehydrate/temper yeast (10g dry yeast, 71B)
1. Dissolve Go-Ferm in 250ml 43C water (20x it’s weight in water)
2. When water reaches 40C, add dry yeast
3. Gently stir to break up clumps
4. Wait 15min (no more, no less)
5. Temper yeast by very slowly adding 250ml of your must over 10min (25ml/min), repeat until slurry temp is within 0C-5C of must (prevents temp shock, which can occur if temp varies by 10C)
6. Stir to suspend yeast
7. Pitch yeast into fermentor
12. Test SG, PH and temp2. When water reaches 40C, add dry yeast
3. Gently stir to break up clumps
4. Wait 15min (no more, no less)
5. Temper yeast by very slowly adding 250ml of your must over 10min (25ml/min), repeat until slurry temp is within 0C-5C of must (prevents temp shock, which can occur if temp varies by 10C)
6. Stir to suspend yeast
7. Pitch yeast into fermentor
13. Seal carboy with airlock,
14. Store in Ferm Chamber at 18C
15. After 12 hrs, dose again with pure O2 for 120sec
17. After 24hrs degas must, test PH/SG and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must (this prevents excessive foaming)
18. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
19. After 48hrs degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must
20. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
21. After 72hrs degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must
22. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
23. When must reaches 1/3 sugar break (1.076), but no later than 7 days after pitch, degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must
24. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
25. Rack when fermentation complete (no drop in SG after 2 weeks). Do not let stand on yeast cake for more than 3 weeks.
26. Stabilizing?
27. Age for ~3 months in stainless steel.
Degas x2 per day for first week. Test gravity each day. Test PH every other day for first week, adjust as needed?
Mead log
Sanitizer: Iodophor
Tried to warm 15kg bucket of honey (honey was at 4C) in a 38C water bath. After 4hrs, not enough liquified so increased to 45C. Need to get honey properly warmed first for longer, 40C is a good temp, but needs to be done for 8+ hrs. After 6hrs using the immersion circulator at 38C-45C, still not enough to liquify 15kg bucket, only edges. Had to carve honey out into a smaller container, a sticky pain to deal with. Allow more time to warm honey.
Don’t use standard sized spatula, use longer one to avoid sticky hands.
pH before pitch: 4.38
OG before pitch: 1.112
pH after pitch (but did not shake up carboy too much so doubt yeast got all the way the bottom where I got my sample from, this may affect pH): 4.23
Pitch temp: 25.5C
OG after pitch: 1.114
I’m nearly confident that the increase in OG after pitch is due to the aggressive stirring/aeration I did after the first SG test. There were still a few clumps of honey remaining that I think dissolved later and bumped the OG.
Once yeast started to rehydrate/temper things got a little chaotic trying to clean, do an OG test, get my must aerated with drill stirrer and transferred into the carboy and then an additional aeration with pure O2 after transfer all in 25min.
Next time have absolutely everything done before yeast rehydration; will make process much easier.
After yeast temper for 10min, yeast slurry was 26.2C. Must temp was 25.5C.
The reason I aerated with the drill stir and then pure O2 after transfer to fermentor is because the .5 micron carb stone I ordered did not arrive via amazon today but the O2 regulator did and I needed to get this fermenting before I leave for a week in late Jan. I put a dip tube hop blocker on the end of a 1/4”ID vinyl tube to try and generate smaller bubbles than just the tube would yield, a bad sub for a carb stone. Did this for 2.25min.
Next time will make a aeration wand from a spare keg dip tube and carb stone on the end. The tubing on it's own only went half way up the carboy and I couldn’t get it down further.
No traditional airlock on carboy. Using orange carboy cap attached to tubing to jar of starsan as airlock.
Temp probe in fermentation chamber is attached to side of carboy with a rag covering it for insulation and taped on.
Must at pitch was a little warmer than I’d like, but I think still acceptable. 25.5C.
Make sure all honey is totally liquid, the clumps where a real pain to deal with and splashed everywhere when pouring (if clumps present, make sure to add honey first, then water, into mixing tank to avoid splashing)
After 10min in the ferm chamber I checked on it and because I didn’t agitate carboy after pitch, it looked like the yeast was just sitting on top of the must so I agitated the carboy a bit to better incorporate. Not sure if this is good practice or not but I don’t see how it could harm. Something to research.
Will update as fermentaiton continues.
