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TOSNA and session meads

Barrel Char Wood Products

Grigori

NewBee
Registered Member
May 4, 2020
6
0
1
I’m making my first ever session mead, inspired by root beer recipe.

It has a OG of 1.052, and I’m following a TOSNA nutrient protocol. I wonder with the much lower OG than meads I’ve made previously, is it likely that the usual 24, 48, 72 hours for staggered nutrient additions may not be as reliable, and if the 1/3 break may happen a lot sooner with less sugar the go through?

Or by starting with smaller amounts of yeast, does the timing end up similar to a higher OG must?

I’d not normally measure the gravity for several days, but wondering if I perhaps should so I can’t adjust timing, in case I go to measure in a week and find it’s already well past the 1/3 break.
 

Foothiller

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Apr 1, 2015
77
12
8
Sierra Foothills, CA
Depending on your type of yeast and fermentation temperature (for example, wine yeasts often having higher temperature ranges than beer yeasts), your fermentation temperature may go much faster than 24, 48, and 72 hour steps. When my time permits, I measure the specific gravity at least daily and adapt the nutrient additions based on the mead’s progress. My time around things like work might mean that I do this in the evenings, rather than being able to hit specific attenuation targets. I might target a nutrient addition at 10% attenuation, but after 24 hours it might already be at 15% or more, and doing it then still produces a good mead. I don’t reduce my amount of yeast based on the mead’s strength (given that I do not go beyond the “standard strength” range).
 

Grigori

NewBee
Registered Member
May 4, 2020
6
0
1
Depending on your type of yeast and fermentation temperature (for example, wine yeasts often having higher temperature ranges than beer yeasts), your fermentation temperature may go much faster than 24, 48, and 72 hour steps. When my time permits, I measure the specific gravity at least daily and adapt the nutrient additions based on the mead’s progress. My time around things like work might mean that I do this in the evenings, rather than being able to hit specific attenuation targets. I might target a nutrient addition at 10% attenuation, but after 24 hours it might already be at 15% or more, and doing it then still produces a good mead. I don’t reduce my amount of yeast based on the mead’s strength (given that I do not go beyond the “standard strength” range).
Thanks heaps Foothiller, I’ll measure each day at least then and see how we go!
 
Barrel Char Wood Products

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