Hello all,
Since mid last year, I don't remember how exactly, but I got it in my head that I wanted to try making mead. As it happens, my now brother-in-law works in a micro-brewery and decided to make some with me. Raw honey, water and some liquid yeast is all we used and it turned out fantastically. Now I've started trying it on my own, first with a batch of JOAM, a raspberry mead, a plumb mead and I also found a 2L glass bottle of cider that I'm trying to do something with. Now one thing to mention is that I normally raging perfectionist... but I'm doing my best to curb that by just doing a lot of things rather than wait until I meet the perfect conditions (which almost never come)... so I've done things like buying packaged (though pure) honey rather than raw (There's also a honey shortage happening at the moment, so I'd have to import large quantities of honey interstate if I wanted it)... not precisely measured the amount of tap water used (Melbourne water is quite good though) and used a different strain of yeast than suggested at times.
My questions relate to some particularly high readings I've received when measuring my SG readings for the raspberry mead and the plumb mead (did not take a reading for the JOAM or the cider). The other is to do with the yeast I'm using... you see, I live in Melbourne Australia and finding the Lalvin D47 yeast that seems to be recommended everywhere was tricky. I did find one place sold it... however upon arriving there, I found they only sold 500g packets... enough for a few lifetimes. Resisting the urge to continue a massive search for the D47, I took the shop keep's suggest of the Lalvin EC1118 (only a 100g packet)... which I now know is quite an aggressive yeast.
So can I get some advice on whether my SG readings are likely to be way out (have I done something wrong)? And should I be desperately trying to stop the fermentation anytime soon?
Raspberry Mead (5L batch)
2.1 kg Wildflower honey
700g Frozen Rasberries, mashed
Juice from 1 lemon
Juice from 1 lime
3 tbsp of strong black tea
25 raisins
1 tsp Lavlin EC1118
SG reading: 1.198
Plumb mead
1.7 kg Wildflower honey
700g Black plumbs (quartered, frozen then mashed a little)
25 raisins
3 tbsp strong black tea
1 tsp Lavlin EC1118
SG reading: 1.121
These are both higher than what the calculator has said... though I haven't filled the demijohn all the way up... left a couple of inches or so.
Also, the cider is something along the lines of:
1.75L Pure apple juice
200g honey
1 Cinnamon stick
A slice of lemon peel
10 raisins
So just re-iterating... are my SG readings ok? And are these all just going to turn out as rocket fuel if I don't do something soon? Thanks.
Since mid last year, I don't remember how exactly, but I got it in my head that I wanted to try making mead. As it happens, my now brother-in-law works in a micro-brewery and decided to make some with me. Raw honey, water and some liquid yeast is all we used and it turned out fantastically. Now I've started trying it on my own, first with a batch of JOAM, a raspberry mead, a plumb mead and I also found a 2L glass bottle of cider that I'm trying to do something with. Now one thing to mention is that I normally raging perfectionist... but I'm doing my best to curb that by just doing a lot of things rather than wait until I meet the perfect conditions (which almost never come)... so I've done things like buying packaged (though pure) honey rather than raw (There's also a honey shortage happening at the moment, so I'd have to import large quantities of honey interstate if I wanted it)... not precisely measured the amount of tap water used (Melbourne water is quite good though) and used a different strain of yeast than suggested at times.
My questions relate to some particularly high readings I've received when measuring my SG readings for the raspberry mead and the plumb mead (did not take a reading for the JOAM or the cider). The other is to do with the yeast I'm using... you see, I live in Melbourne Australia and finding the Lalvin D47 yeast that seems to be recommended everywhere was tricky. I did find one place sold it... however upon arriving there, I found they only sold 500g packets... enough for a few lifetimes. Resisting the urge to continue a massive search for the D47, I took the shop keep's suggest of the Lalvin EC1118 (only a 100g packet)... which I now know is quite an aggressive yeast.
So can I get some advice on whether my SG readings are likely to be way out (have I done something wrong)? And should I be desperately trying to stop the fermentation anytime soon?
Raspberry Mead (5L batch)
2.1 kg Wildflower honey
700g Frozen Rasberries, mashed
Juice from 1 lemon
Juice from 1 lime
3 tbsp of strong black tea
25 raisins
1 tsp Lavlin EC1118
SG reading: 1.198
Plumb mead
1.7 kg Wildflower honey
700g Black plumbs (quartered, frozen then mashed a little)
25 raisins
3 tbsp strong black tea
1 tsp Lavlin EC1118
SG reading: 1.121
These are both higher than what the calculator has said... though I haven't filled the demijohn all the way up... left a couple of inches or so.
Also, the cider is something along the lines of:
1.75L Pure apple juice
200g honey
1 Cinnamon stick
A slice of lemon peel
10 raisins
So just re-iterating... are my SG readings ok? And are these all just going to turn out as rocket fuel if I don't do something soon? Thanks.
Yeast are funny creatures and usually only quit when you don't want them to. If you're seriously going to try, you'll want to cold-crash (refrigerate) for a couple days till everything's settled out, rack the clear stuff into a new demijohn, and add stabilizers (if it's not covered in the Newbee Guide, check out the glossary or do a forum search on stabilization, stabilizers etc), and hope like heck that it worked...
