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Made first batch today - quick question

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scubasteve

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 17, 2015
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Made my first batch of mead today - I think my biggest question is did i screw it up using too much honey and if so what can i do to correct it?? I used 10lbs of local honey in a 3 gallon batch. (from what I've seen it seems rule of thumb in 3lbs per gallon)


this is how I made it. Let me know if I did anything else wrong.

6- miniture oranges
10lbs of honey
1 ounce of raisons
3- cinnamon sticks
1 pkg lalvin ec-1118 wine yeast (recommended by my local beer/wine supply shop)

its been 6 hours and I am getting about one air bubble a minute through the air lock.

any insight positive or negative is appreciated.

thanks
 
The starting gravity is about 1.133 and that means that the potential gravity is greater than 17 percent. I suspect that so much sugar at the start and such a high concentration in alcohol towards the end will create a great deal of stress on the yeast. I would add some nutrient and perhaps add some water to reduce the gravity a little. The addition of oranges in the primary may increase the acidity (that is, reduce the pH) to a level that stalls the fermentation...
 
You might get a stall as bernardsmith describes. If you don't, you'll eventually (likely still a slow ferment) end up with a 17% abv mead with zero sugars which will taste like rocket fuel with citric acid. The homebrew shop shouldn't have offered ec-1118. Yeast nutrients wont hurt, that's for sure. Raisins will offer some nutrients but perhaps not enough for such a high gravity.
You weren't in err using 10lbs of honey, but dry, it will take a while to age into a drinkable mead. You can always back sweeten or blend if you end up with too harsh a product. Or you may like it. Time will tell.
 
Thanks for the responses - I am definitely not looking for "rocket fuel" but something less harsh and more smooth to enjoy with my wife.

I am thinking that the solution might just be dilution now vs blending when done. If I take 2/3 of a gallon out and use this in a one gallon jug I can then top off the one gallon batch with water and the 3 gallon batch with water. I am thinking I would probably need to add raisons to the 1 gallon batch. Can one overdue it with the raisons. (is 25 raisons/gallon sufficient or should I use a higher amount?)

do you think this would work or would it be better to just wait this batch out and blend in the end??

Also for future reference what do you recommend for a yeast?

thanks again
 
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