Going to try and repost this. Original post has been awaiting mod approval for 3+ days, I fear it is lost.
So long story short. I’ve never fermented at thing before. In 3 months my business will have a winery license and we are going to be making an aperitif style wine (wine bought in bulk from a local winery) with a large part of the blend being a off-dry traditional mead. Therefore, I have 3 months to knock a traditional mead out of the park before I start doing this in larger 500L batches….. https://youtu.be/NHkArPyVa-U?t=20
I know this is crazy, but I feel it can be done. My business produces craft soda concentrates so we already have a lot of the necessary equipment and I’ve been a long time lurker on the homebrew/wine/mead/distilling forums for a number of years so I’ve got a pretty good understanding of things.
I made my first mead 3 days ago. So far its been fermenting quite nicely. I would LOVE to know if there is anything in this recipe or my procedure that you think I can improve upon that would make a big impact on the quality of my mead or if I’m doing something really wrong.
Thanks!!
Off-Dry Traditional Mead - Blueberry Blossom Honey. 18.9L batch. Aiming for 14%ABV.
Ingredients
7.4kg honey (5.138L)
10g dry yeast (71B)
13.76L water, minus amount needed for rehydration of yeast (250ml)
Total SNA amounts
12.52g Go-Ferm /4
7.6g Fermaid K /4
14.5G DAP /4
Target OG: 1.114
Actual OG: 1.118 at 25C
Procedure
1. Warm honey to 40C for easy transfer to water bath
1. Sanitize all equipment that will come into contact with must or yeast
2. Weigh out all ingredients
3. Add honey and 24C water to mixing tank. Reserve some of this water for yeast rehydration (250ml).
4. Stir to dissolve
5. Test PH/OG
6. Aggressively aerate must (ideally need 12-15ppm O2, achieved with pure O2 1L/min through at .5 micron stone for 120sec )
7. Transfer to fermentor
8. Oxygenate with pure O2 (see notes below for why this was done again)
9. Rehydrate/temper yeast (10g dry yeast)
-Dissolve Go-Ferm in 250ml 43C water (20x it’s weight in water)
-When water reaches 40C, add dry yeast
-Gently stir to break up clumps
-Wait 15min (no more, no less)
-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)
-Stir to suspend
-Pitch yeast into fermentor
10. Test OG, PH and temp
11. Seal with airlock,
12. Store in Ferm Chamber at 18C
13. After 12 hrs, dose again with pure O2 for 120sec
14. Test PH
15. After 24hrs degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must (this prevents excessive foaming)
16. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
17. After 48hrs degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must
18. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
19. After 72hrs 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. 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
22. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
23. Rack when fermentation complete (no drop in SG after 2 weeks) Do not let stand on yeast cake for more than 3 weeks.
24. Stabilizing?
25. Age for ~3 months
Degas x2 per day for first week.
Meadlog:
PH before pitch: 4.38
OG before pitch: 1.118
PH after pitch (did not shake up carboy too much so doubt yeast got all the way to the bottom where I got my sample from: 4.23
Pitch temp: 25.5C
I’m nearly confident that the increase in OG after pitch is due to the aggressive stirring/aeration I did after the first OG test. There were still a few clumps of honey remaining that I think dissolved later and bumped the OG.
The reason I aerated with the drill stir and then pure O2 is because my .5 micron carb stone did not arrive via amazon today but the O2 regulator did and I needed to get this fermenting before we leave for a few days so I can do my SNAs. 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. Did this for 2.25min.
The carb stone arrive the next day….
No traditional airlock on carboy. Using orange carboy cap to jar with star san via silicon hose.
Must at pitch was a little warmer than I’d like, but I think still acceptable.
No signs of fermentation after 15hrs. Lots of sediment (yeast) Though so I gave the carboy a good swirl to incorporate. Better to just leave it be? Nervous newbee mead maker…
23hrs sg 1.121 !? Higher than the OG. But this is at 18C
Ph: 3.98
Dosed with pure O2 again, this time with the .5 micron carb stone for 2min. Generated lots of foam
37hrs.
SG at 48 hrs: 1.118
ph: 3.77
Thanks for all you help!! This forum has been a god-send
So long story short. I’ve never fermented at thing before. In 3 months my business will have a winery license and we are going to be making an aperitif style wine (wine bought in bulk from a local winery) with a large part of the blend being a off-dry traditional mead. Therefore, I have 3 months to knock a traditional mead out of the park before I start doing this in larger 500L batches….. https://youtu.be/NHkArPyVa-U?t=20
I know this is crazy, but I feel it can be done. My business produces craft soda concentrates so we already have a lot of the necessary equipment and I’ve been a long time lurker on the homebrew/wine/mead/distilling forums for a number of years so I’ve got a pretty good understanding of things.
I made my first mead 3 days ago. So far its been fermenting quite nicely. I would LOVE to know if there is anything in this recipe or my procedure that you think I can improve upon that would make a big impact on the quality of my mead or if I’m doing something really wrong.
Thanks!!
Off-Dry Traditional Mead - Blueberry Blossom Honey. 18.9L batch. Aiming for 14%ABV.
Ingredients
7.4kg honey (5.138L)
10g dry yeast (71B)
13.76L water, minus amount needed for rehydration of yeast (250ml)
Total SNA amounts
12.52g Go-Ferm /4
7.6g Fermaid K /4
14.5G DAP /4
Target OG: 1.114
Actual OG: 1.118 at 25C
Procedure
1. Warm honey to 40C for easy transfer to water bath
1. Sanitize all equipment that will come into contact with must or yeast
2. Weigh out all ingredients
3. Add honey and 24C water to mixing tank. Reserve some of this water for yeast rehydration (250ml).
4. Stir to dissolve
5. Test PH/OG
6. Aggressively aerate must (ideally need 12-15ppm O2, achieved with pure O2 1L/min through at .5 micron stone for 120sec )
7. Transfer to fermentor
8. Oxygenate with pure O2 (see notes below for why this was done again)
9. Rehydrate/temper yeast (10g dry yeast)
-Dissolve Go-Ferm in 250ml 43C water (20x it’s weight in water)
-When water reaches 40C, add dry yeast
-Gently stir to break up clumps
-Wait 15min (no more, no less)
-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)
-Stir to suspend
-Pitch yeast into fermentor
10. Test OG, PH and temp
11. Seal with airlock,
12. Store in Ferm Chamber at 18C
13. After 12 hrs, dose again with pure O2 for 120sec
14. Test PH
15. After 24hrs degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must (this prevents excessive foaming)
16. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
17. After 48hrs degas must and dissolve 1.9G Fermaind K and 3.6g DAP into 1 cup must
18. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
19. After 72hrs 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. 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
22. Add nutrients to must (use sanitized funnel)
23. Rack when fermentation complete (no drop in SG after 2 weeks) Do not let stand on yeast cake for more than 3 weeks.
24. Stabilizing?
25. Age for ~3 months
Degas x2 per day for first week.
Meadlog:
PH before pitch: 4.38
OG before pitch: 1.118
PH after pitch (did not shake up carboy too much so doubt yeast got all the way to the bottom where I got my sample from: 4.23
Pitch temp: 25.5C
I’m nearly confident that the increase in OG after pitch is due to the aggressive stirring/aeration I did after the first OG test. There were still a few clumps of honey remaining that I think dissolved later and bumped the OG.
The reason I aerated with the drill stir and then pure O2 is because my .5 micron carb stone did not arrive via amazon today but the O2 regulator did and I needed to get this fermenting before we leave for a few days so I can do my SNAs. 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. Did this for 2.25min.
The carb stone arrive the next day….
No traditional airlock on carboy. Using orange carboy cap to jar with star san via silicon hose.
Must at pitch was a little warmer than I’d like, but I think still acceptable.
No signs of fermentation after 15hrs. Lots of sediment (yeast) Though so I gave the carboy a good swirl to incorporate. Better to just leave it be? Nervous newbee mead maker…
23hrs sg 1.121 !? Higher than the OG. But this is at 18C
Ph: 3.98
Dosed with pure O2 again, this time with the .5 micron carb stone for 2min. Generated lots of foam
37hrs.
SG at 48 hrs: 1.118
ph: 3.77
Thanks for all you help!! This forum has been a god-send