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I've just started my mead

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Zagor

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 31, 2005
11
0
0
Hello all, after reading and thinking for a few days, I have started my own mead today.
I have decided to keep it simple: honey, water, yeast and a little handful of raisins as a nutrient. It has been started 10 hours ago and it is burping at a frequency of 15 burps per minute. Do you think it's good?
I will keep you up to date.
Zagor (Torino, Italy)
 

memento

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 3, 2005
379
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0
53
www.flickr.com
Welcome! How much of each ingredient did you use? Maybe you could post your recipe. Sounds like it's fermenting, so you're definitely on your way!
 

Zagor

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 31, 2005
11
0
0
I use the Italian measures. Anyway in pounds and gallons it should be:

-4,40 pound of honey
-enough water to reach 1,3 gallon of total must
-a little handful of raisins (about 20 pieces)
- yeast (I can't remember the name, but it's the right kind)

Trying to make a mead with a residual sweetness.
Zagor
 

Zagor

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 31, 2005
11
0
0
Thank you all for your help.
I have a question: I have read in many posts that primary fermentation produces bubbles and foaming. Well, the airlock on my carboy is bubbling every three seconds or so, but I just can't see bubbles or foam on the liquid surface. Is this normal?
If the water in the airlock is bubbling constantly, this is certainly a sign that fermentation is occuring in the must, thus producing CO2. But I was expecting to see a little more mess on the liquid surface.
Is this normal?
Maybe it is not foaming because I scummed the foam produced when I boiled the honey at the start?
Or is the fermentation too slow?
Zagor.
 

Sander

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 30, 2005
228
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0
48
Some yeast strains produce more foam than others. Maybe you have a low foam producing yeast?
 

Zagor

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 31, 2005
11
0
0
Ok, maybe I'm just too paranoid, since this is the first batch I'm making. I am checking daily the bubbling frequency and I have found that today, after two days since activation, the bubbling frequency has delayed from 15 burps per minute, to 11 burps per minute. :-\
Maybe this is normal... maybe the fermentation is slowing down too early... It is meant to last for 3-4 weeks, isn't it?
Zagor.
 

WRATHWILDE

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 19, 2005
1,970
3
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Dubuque, Iowa
www.zazzle.com
Fermentation often starts off like gangbusters, then will continue to slow over the rest of the fermentation... it's normal, don't worry. You must not have been bitten by the mead bug very hard... there are a lot of obsessive types here. My first mead I was checking every morning first thing when I got up, again just before I left for work, again when I got home, then just about every time I passed and again before I went to bed. 2nd mead - slightly less often. 3rd to present batch - 3 times a day for the first 3 days. Then once a day till it's ready to rack, then I try to forget about it until it clears.

Wrathwilde
 

Zagor

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 31, 2005
11
0
0
Oh :D, glad to see that I'm not too obsessive, eheh!
The carboy is in one corner of my living room, and my mother said she wouldn't like me to scrape or consume the wallpaper in that corner, since I'm always sitting there to check my mead ;D
I was wondering what the daily alcohol increase is in the fermenting process. I suppose, starting from zero alcohol, and ending around 10%, for example, in a period of 20 days of fermentation, it should build up 0,5 % acohol every day, isn't it? So, after four days since activation, my must should contain about 2% alcohol, I guess.
Thank you again for your assistance.
Zagor.
 
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