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dukegarda

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 5, 2015
5
0
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Hello everyone!

New to making mead, and new to this forum!

I have a few questions about my first batch. Here are some details.

I aimed to make a 1 gallon batch of sweet mead.
4lbs buckwheat honey
1 gallon spring water
1 tsp energizer
Lalvin yeast (I'll get the name off the pack when I get home and edit it here) half a pack.

I sanitized everything thoroughly. In a large pot I dissolved the 4lbs honey on low heat into a litre of water. Let to cool, and added energizer. Meanwhile prepared yeast in a glass bowl as per the instructions on packet. Mixed in a litre of water to help cool the must a bit faster. After it was room temp I added it into the 5 gal carboy. Shook it all up to aerate the must. Mixed in yeast. Added remainder of water. Shook again to aerate it further. Put an airlock on it and put it in a dark room with average temp of 21C.

July 18th is the brew date. A lot of foaming, some brown on the foam, looks like brown sugar almost. Everything is read days this is good. The smell when you smell above the airlock can only be described as what I imagine Valhalla smells like. I want to eat the airlock. Hahaha. It bubbles roughly every 16 seconds.

I'm wondering how close to racking I'm getting. Also, should I rack into a 1 gal secondary, or another 5 gal secondary, both glass carboys. Also, I didn't account for the volume of honey, so I have a gallon, plus the volume of honey I added, roughly a litre.

Looking to your insight, thanks.


P. S. The must tasted glorious before I put it in the carboy, is this any indication of the final product?
 
Two things I should ask. What type of Lavlin yeast and what temperature are you fermenting? These play a big role. If you're using D47 and fermenting above 70 degrees, you're going to have a mead tasting like rocket fuel in the end. Check out the newbee tab... I hope there is one. It explains the why and whats. It will help you through your first batch.
Also, if you want, type in Joe's ancient orange into the search column. Go to the first post to view the recipe. It's a very easy recipe for a sweet mead. Another great one to check out is a BOMM on Love of roses' post.... just type BOMM. This one involves step feeding but you will learn about that soon I'm sure.

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Keep it on the cool side. Plus you'll need to add nutrient and aerate for the first 1/3 of the fermentation. You'll need to stagger the nutrient additions to keep nice healthy yeast. Nutrients to choose frome include fermaid o, fermaid k, or DAP. Yeast love O2 for the first 1/3 of fermentation so aerate frequently. I aerate 3 times a day.
Read the newbee guide ASAP

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Two things I should ask. What type of Lavlin yeast and what temperature are you fermenting? These play a big role. If you're using D47 and fermenting above 70 degrees, you're going to have a mead tasting like rocket fuel in the end. Check out the newbee tab... I hope there is one. It explains the why and whats. It will help you through your first batch.
Also, if you want, type in Joe's ancient orange into the search column. Go to the first post to view the recipe. It's a very easy recipe for a sweet mead. Another great one to check out is a BOMM on Love of roses' post.... just type BOMM. This one involves step feeding but you will learn about that soon I'm sure.

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I meant staggered nutrient feeding not step feeding.... oops

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Okay, good info. I didn't know I was supposed to be aerating a couple times a day. It's started to settle and there is a layer of dead yeast on the bottom, maybe 1/2 inch layer. Should I start aerating it still, or just rack it, add nutrient and aerate it then.
 
Do you have a hydrometer? Check the level and post the reading. That should tell us how far along it is.

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Yes i do. I guess I just syphon some into a glass and take a reading from there? Obviously sanitize everything. What do I do with the sample afterwards? Pour it back, drink it, sink it? I will take the reading when I get home.
 
Sanitize a turkey baster and use that. Might be a little easier. As long as everything is sanitized, you can return it to the batch.

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