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Barrel Char Wood Products
Ok guys,
I added 3qt. of water (all that would fit), tsp of nutrient, 1 pk of 1118 and stirred the bejesus out of it by spoon and beaters. SG at 1.10 and bubbleing at 2 to 5 seconds.
How much can the gravity drop after fermentation?

gonzo
 
From where ever you started to 1.000 (actually I have had some drop below that but I think that was a temperature thing, back then I wasn't correcting for that). An FG if 1.000 means all of the available sugars are eaten/converted. You are bone dry.
 
You can go below an SG of 1.000. Dry red wine can be 0.992, but often 0.996

Your SG starts with water of 1.000, you add "sugars" (honey) so goes up to 1.xxx,

but the final result has alcohol, which has a lighter density then water, so can end up BELOW the SG of water if fermented dry, hence 0.99? And the more Alc to Water, then the lower the resulting SG if ALL the "sugars" are fermented.
 
I have a "Mutiny on the Bounty" cyser that is 0.992 now. Gonna toss in some oak cubes and see what it does with those! ABV should be about 17-18%.
 
New issue,
If I'm making 4 gal batches and I have 5 gal. carboys for secondarys, will filling that much room up to the neck with water(in secondary stage) be bad for my batch?
 
Adding a gallon of water to a 4 gallon batch sounds like a significant amount of dilution. Maybe if one of your batches is a straight mead you can use it to top off the other ones so you dont have to water down all your batches.
 
Gonzo,

Use the search tool and look for Joe's Three Week Straight Mead recipe in the Recipe section. That's about as quick as it gets.

cheers,

Oskaar
 
Sure you can... it just might not (probably won't) be finished as soon.
 
I need to get ready to clean my bottles. I have a dishwasher, will this be the best way. Do I need to remove any lables first?

Any suggestions would be great.
 
You might want to clean your bottles by hand using a bottle brush. The dishwasher might leave resedue or something. Personally I wouldn't trust the dishwasher...

You can remove the label, you will be glad you did, but doing so wont effect the mead in any way.

The best advice any of us could give you would be to just keep starting new batches and learn from it. Experience is the best teacher. ;)
 
I remove labels from the bottles with a razor blade. Some recommend bleach or just soaking in warm water, then rubbing the labels off. Whatever works for you is fine.

I like to remove the labels so that no false impression is given. Making your own labels can also be rewarding - the icing on the cake.

If there is still a residual aroma in the bottle, leave a bit of stong meta-bisulfite solution in the bottles (with a lid on) for a few days, then wash and drain.
 
I let the bottles soak overnight in PBW. They get good and loose and are easy to remove with a plastic putty knife. I sanitize them and then bottle, cork, label and shrink the capsule onto them.
 
Oskaar said:
I let the bottles soak overnight in PBW. They get good and loose and are easy to remove with a plastic putty knife. I sanitize them and then bottle, cork, label and shrink the capsule onto them.
Click to expand...

PBW?
 
Powdered Brewery Wash. It's great stuff, chews up the crud and crappola inside your carboys pretty well so that you can just rinse most of the time. It's good policy to hit them with a brush too. I use it mostly to get the residual red wine out of my carboys it works like a champ.

Here's a link:

http://www.morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16015

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
By the way, Goo Gone works to get the gummy stuff off the after the label has been removed!
 
Oskaar said:
Powdered Brewery Wash. It's great stuff, chews up the crud and crappola inside your carboys pretty well so that you can just rinse most of the time. It's good policy to hit them with a brush too. I use it mostly to get the residual red wine out of my carboys it works like a champ.
Click to expand...

Oskaar
Do you reuse this PBW? When you mix up a 2-5 gallon batch do you have to use and dispose of all of it right away?
2-5 gallons seems like a lot for those of us who do not do 40 gallon batches! :P
 
It depends, I reuse it when I'm doing bottles and label removal. But when I'm blowing the crud out of my carboys I pitch it.

I usually mix up a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff with hot water (the sink in my brewhouse puts out 160 degrees F) and plunk the bottles into the stuff and let them sit for a bit. Then I scrape off the lables, gum and all.

For normal sanitizing I use Star San, Idophor or Bleach, depeding on my mood. LOL

Wonder Drug 40 (WD40) works wonders on gummy sticky label goo too!

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
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