New and so confused!?!?

[Beekeeper_Dale]

I have been a beekeeper for almost 20 years and decided to use some of my honey to have a bit of fun! I have seen my grandad make mead loads of times and done well in competitions but I never asked for any of the stuff when he passed and never got any recipies or advice!

Reading loads all over the internet and got a few books etc to help and I thaught I new what I was getting into!? Maybe!

I wanted to keep things very "simple" but what I think I mean is "Traditional?" Just honey, water and yeast.

Down to the technical bit...
15lb of honey
4 gallons of water
1.090 starting
Yeast was a mead yeast with a top end of 12%
Gravity now is (I think) 0.9
It's been about 2 weeks, it's still bubbling away nicely, but it was made in a bucket and the lid doesn't seal tight enough for the bubbler to work!

So now to the point of the topic.
I wanted to make a sweet mead with as close to the 12% as I could! I didn't have enough of my own honey when making the must to get the gravity over the 1.100 mark as I think it should of been?

Can I add more honey now that I have it and how to add it? Diluted or pure?
Can I add honey that's started fermenting in the frames?
If I want to transfer the current mix to a new better sealed container do I worry about oxidation?

All else fails could I just get a link to a good and simple place to start reading
TIA

 

[Crispy]

Welcome to the Forums @Beekeeper_Dale

Could you please clarify some numbers for us?
What is your total volume right now ? Did you dissolve 15LB of honey in 4 gallons of water ? Calculating from your Original gravity 1.090 you should have about 6 gallons of mead right now, correct ?
Final gravity - please provide this reading in the correct four digit and dot format, example 0.999.
What yeast exactly did you use ? Did you rehydrate them before pitching ? Was it a liquid or dry yeast ? How much yeast did you use ?

You can make a sweet mead in at least two ways.
One of them is to start with higher gravity and lower alcohol tolerance yeast. Your 12% yeast might have worked just fine if your gravity was higher. If you have fixed amount of honey, use less water next time, this will give you higher Original gravity must to start with. You should also keep in mind that the alcohol tolerance of the yeast stated by manufacturer is theoretical. In real life yeast will tend to make more alcohol than stated on the package.
Another method of getting sweet mead is to let yeast convert all fermentable sugars into alcohol, cold crush your mead to settle as much yeast biomass on the bottom of your fermenter, rack cleared mead from the lees and stabilize it with sulfites and sorbate. After that you add more honey to the sweetness level you prefer.
Read more on this in the NewBee Guide.

Edit: Forgot about your other questions.
You should not be worried to much about oxidation at this stage. It becomes more important when aging and storing finished mead.
I would be very careful with adding partially fermented honey to this batch, it may ruin almost finished mead. Why risk it ? On the other hand I would hove no problem using this fermented honey to start a new batch.
When adding honey to already fermented mead keep in mind that any addition/change of volume will lower your alcohol content. So, the less volume the lesser change - used pure honey when making additions, dissolve it in the mead already made, do not use water.

 

[Beekeeper_Dale]

@Crispy thank you so much for your reply, I will try and answer all your questions as best I can!
I used my own honey and used all the maths I could find. I should of got a higher starting gravity than I did, my assumption is that my honey was light on sugars (it was taken midsummer and very funny but with correct % for bottling) and Stayed liquid all winter.

To be honest now IV slept on all this my maths may all be wrong?! So... my bucket has a scale on side that says it's not accurate just for a guide, my mead is at about 4.5galons so I don't know how much water I put in!
All I can say for sure is that my first gravity reading was 1.090 and is now at 1.015
I must have been way to tired last night when checking on it and just really messed everything up! I know I need to take better notes and check! IV always been more of a hands on learner so having to read so much is boring for me, I have read all of the newbies guide on here before I started I now realise but I don't think much sunk in so will give it a second read through.

It's all the second fermentation, aging, oaking, breaks in fermentation, difference between aeration and degassing. I want a good mead at the end and it's just so much to consider and know if I even need to do half of this.

I will update in a few hours with any info I may have missed and have a good read and come back with some better questions.

Thank you again so much Crispy and sorry if this has been a bit of a waste of your time but it's deffinatly calmed me down

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[Beekeeper_Dale]

@Crispy I can't apologise enough for basically wasting your time yesterday, and thank you again for the reply.

I think I went into panic mode because it wasn't what I was expecting to find, I was under the impression that the mead would clear when fermentation stopped, the fermentation stops when the gravity hits 1.000, combined with the miss conseption that it would take months for the bubbling to stop!

I now remember that I tried to reduce the amount of water to compensate for a slight lack of honey but calculated it wrong and my gravity was stuck at 1.090 to start and not the 1.130 I wanted, all to do with converting gallons to litres or then multiplying by 0.032!?

I contacted the yeast breeder(?) Their mead yeast is unique to them and its top end ABV tolerance is no higher than 15%
(Don't want to advertise them by saying who, if that counts as advertisings)
The yeast came with nutrients included in the packet.

I think everything is going fine if I'm understanding everything correctly now and with a clear mind (lol)
My starting gravity was 1.090
The gravity now is 1.010 (I have no idea why I thaught it was 0.990)
I used 10g of dry yeast rehydrated in 1 cup (250ml) of must after it had returned to room temperature of 18C (sorry I'm in the UK and only so much I can convert to imperial in my head) Rehydration of the yeast was left for 30mins before I pitched it into the rest of the must.
I aerated the mix vigorously twice a day for 3 days then left it alone for 17 days in a dark cupboard that stays between 18-20C. (Active temps for this yeast are 16-30C)

I have transferred what was 4.5 gallons into a new wide neck barrel fermenter with a much better seal.
During this process I added an extra 2lb of honey (my maths being that 2lb of honey into 4.5gallon of must would add about 0.015 to the gravity)

After doing the transfer and adding extra honey my bubbler now works and produced lots of bubbles just after moving and have slowed down now (yeast conditioning to the new sweeter environment?)

Does this seem ok for 17days?
I also have other questions if you wouldn't mind to try and answer them!?
What's the difference between aeration and degassing?
You said "cold crush" I assume this is why my grandad had a fridge in his garage? Can it be done in a freezer? As I don't have access to a separate fridge but, I do to a very large chest freezer!
When oaking mead (I need to do loads of reading) are any other woods used? Other than the types of oak.
Is Ageing and second fermentation the same thing? Or can you explain the difference.

And once again I am really thankful for any help anybody can offer.

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[Crispy]

@Beekeeper_Dale There is no need to apologize, we are here to help after all
That said, the more info you provide and more accurate and precise it is the better. So far you are doing quite well

Lets start from answering your questions:
1. What's the difference between aeration and degassing?
The difference is in the intent. When aerating you are vigorously mixing your must to absorb as much air/oxygen into your mead to aid proper yeast development at the beginning of fermentation. When vigorously mixing your mead to release buildup of carbon dioxide in your ferment, than it is called degassing.
2. Cold crushing.
Some people use this technique to help with removing yeast biomass before racking and back sweetening. Low temperature helps with suspending yeast activity, puts them to sleep so to speak and settle to the bottom of your fermentation vessel. Any fridge, freezer or cold outside temperature will help doing this. You would need to lower the temperature of your ferment close to water freezing point for a few days or maybe a week. The idea is to remove as much active yeast as possible so when stabilizing agents and additional honey are added fermentation does not start again.
3. "Oaking" mead.
I do not know of anyone using other wood but oak. There are different ways to introduce oak to your mead tough. Barrels, toasted oak chips and spirals, oak barrel staves and qubes are used for that purpose.
4. Is Aging and secondary fermentation the same thing?
No. Aging begins when your mead has finished all fermentation, dropped down all sediments, was stabilized if you chose to do so, was back sweetened if you used that step, etc. Secondary fermentation is what the words mean, mead is still fermenting however slowly, there is still sediment, there are any other steps of the process you chose not done and finished. So, secondary fermentation will add age to your mead but it is not the aging process by itself.

I have transferred what was 4.5 gallons into a new wide neck barrel fermenter with a much better seal.
During this process I added an extra 2lb of honey (my maths being that 2lb of honey into 4.5gallon of must would add about 0.015 to the gravity)

Did you "transfer" everything to the new vessel or did you "rack" only liquid part without sediment ?

Do not be afraid to use hydrometer. Calculations help, but to be sure you need to verify it and measure gravity after honey addition. That way you remove any ambiguity and avoid guessing what the actual gravity may be at this point.
While on the hydrometer subject - always measure gravity, do not count numbers of bubbles in your airlock
When few consecutive readings on your hydrometer do not change anymore, that will mean the fermentation is over. Airlock activity might be still there but it will only mean that remnants of CO2 are being released.

So, lets wait for a week or two and see what happens. Do not hesitate to measure gravity every 3-4 days.

 

[Beekeeper_Dale]

@Crispy thank you again,
I did transfer everything and realised after that it probably would have been a good idea to rack off the lees but I didn't!

I wanted to wait before taking a hydrometer reading to ensure the honey had properly dissolved into the must
It's currently at 1.020/22

Am I rite in thinking that when the hydrometer gives the same reading over and over that the active fermentation is done and would be a good time to the rack? What I mean is if it's 1.000 for a week for example.

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[Crispy]

Yes, when you no longer see gravity dropping down it means fermentation is over but I would do measurements for at least two weeks to be sure.
I strongly suggest that you taste your mead now to see if the level of sweetness is where you would like it to be when fermentation is done. 1.020 should taste as semisweet or even sweet for some people. You can use this info later to determine how much honey to add if fermentation progresses all the way down to 1.000.