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Starting SG help...??

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IrishMonk

IrishMonk

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 30, 2010
97
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Mesquite, Tx
Hey all... It's been a couple years since I've been on here, and the same amount of time since my last mead batch. So, I've forgotten some key things and cant seem to get my question answered through searching.

I want to get a batch bubbling, and I want it to be medium sweetness. No honey or wine yeast this time, just juice, sugar and Fleischmann's yeast.

So the question is, with Fleischmann's active dry yeast what should the starting SG be to get it to end up medium ?

Maybe someone can just refresh my memory as to how to figure this out... Thnx for any help, and glad to be back on here...:)
 
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I'll take medium to mean 1.01-1.02, so since Fleischmann's gets 12-14%, OG should be around 1.105-1.125. If I'm off with the numbers/you know what FG you like, just play around with the mead calculator to the left under the Potential Alcohol Conversion section.
 
Heh, your Fleischmann's out-performs my Fleischmann's... I usually start around 1.125 - 1.130 and finish 1.025-1.030 with my JAO's and variants...

If you want a bit more control over your endpoint, start a little lower (I'd probably start around 1.110), and if it goes too far, add a little more honey when it's done.
 
Well I have 2 batches... both starting at 1.100. But, it's actually somewhere higher than that since the must is warmer than 60 degrees. I don't have a thermometer so... Hopefully it won't be super sweet.
 
Well the must is room temp, which is about 74 degrees. So I'm guessing the real SG is about 1.300 rather than 1.100. Am I figuring that right ?
 
I don't think that's quite right...

The way I figure out how to adjust for hydrometer readings is first I measure pure water, and then, from whatever the deviation from 1 is, you can figure out what other measurements are. Hydrometers are usually set to be equal to 1 in water at either 60 or 68 degrees, I can't quite remember, but it's not that important. So for example, if you measure water and it is .998 at your room temp, it needs to be shifted up by .002 to equal one, so when you measure your mead, just add .002 to your reading to get the adjusted SG. If water is over 1, you would subtract by that amount. It is not 100% the correct method for adjusting, but for temperature to effect it that much, you would need to be measuring at 40F or below, or 100F or above. Even then it would just be something like an additional .001 or something. Since I assume you like normal living temps, adding/subtracting the difference from 1 is just fine.
 
IrishMonk said:
Well the must is room temp, which is about 74 degrees. So I'm guessing the real SG is about 1.300 rather than 1.100. Am I figuring that right ?
Click to expand...

It'd be more around 1.101-1.102 from what I can tell. A SG as high as 1.300 is getting to be more honey than water. :)

Edit: Ah, beaten by dingurth. Nice method, btw. I'll have to give that a whirl next time I brew.
 
That's right... dunno what I was thinking. It's gonna be completely dry... oh well. Now I know.
Good thing is this was cheap... just juice with sugar (not honey) fermenting in the bottles the juice came in ( already sterilized ).

Anyway... I misunderstood the chart, but I get it now. Thanks all... and that's pretty nifty dingurth. Im gonna do that now and see exactly what the SG was.
EDIT: 1.102 sigh... I guess I could always freeze it before it goes dry, or just back sweeten as already suggested.
 
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Well the Fleschmann's did the job pretty quick... from 1.102 to 1.002 in 11 days. somewhere between 13 and 13.5 % ABV. I thought it would have a strange taste because of the Fleschmann's but it taste pretty damn good right out of the primary. A little dry and heaty... but that will smooth out.
Blueberry is right behind it...that will be interesting, as I started it out at 1.130 and used Lalvin 71B-1122...
 
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