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Dan McFeely has previously posted a link that explain how the alcohol calculation is determined from the hydrometer readings here. These formulas you listed are both variations from this same methodology. I found that this explanation finally helped me to understand the root of all these different formula shortcuts.

I hope this helps.

Medsen
 
Ok, lets talk.
The primary measured at 1.000 (possibly 1.010, I can't read the hydrometer very well.)
I racked the 6.5 gal of mead into 2 5 gal carboys with fruit. (one has 2 bags of oranges and 2 bags of tangerines frozen and mashed the other has five honeydew frozen and chopped). So each carboy has some empty space on top (about 1/4 or less each).
I tasted the mead before racking and it tasted very strong and, says my wife, like cough syrup.
I plan on bulk aging it in the secondary for maybe six months. I added no chemicals or anything else as the fermentation was dead when I racked...
Why is the mead so "strong" tasting and is there anything else you guys would like to add from here?
 
Its strong becuase its dry and young. be careful with those citrus fruits, if the skins were tossed in as well as the rest of the fruits then you might pick up a pithy flavor, to me it tastes like a weird bananna, and i hate banannas, so keep tasting and rack off if things go in a bad direction. you will probably get a bit of a secondary ferment due to the extra sugars from the fruits but time will tell....
 
Thanks.
I peeled all the oranges and tangerines first. Then I pounded and chopped the orange...no peel went in. I assume peel=skin in this conversation? My cuticles are killing me! I figured that there would be signifigant secondary fermentation as I used the EC-1118 and my OC was 1.085 and the SG prior to racking was 1.010 on the conservative side. The yeast can withstand up to 18% so I figured it would start bubbling again pretty soon. How often should I taste the mead do you think?
 
Thanks!

Just like Mead Sweetening for Dummies! You gotta love it when they post it in such easy, simple terms! Thanks again!

wayneb said:
I'll just tell you what I do to backsweeten... it's quicker that way, ;) and everyone who has done it has their preferred method. This is what works for me:

Make up a solution of one part by volume of honey and 3-1/2 parts by volume of water. So, that could be 1 cup of honey mixed into 3-1/2 cups water. This will yield a liquid that has roughly 1.092 SG. Adding exactly one cup of this solution to a 5 gallon batch of mead will raise it's specific gravity by approximately 0.001 (commonly called 1 gravity point). Thus a dry mead at 1.000 SG will be 1.001 SG after the addition of one cup of this solution. I just add this liquid, one cup at a time, to the bulk of my batch until I get to the sweetness that I desire. ;D

NOTE: you are slightly changing the overall volume of must with the addition of each cup, so the cups that you add after the first will each make progressively less than 0.001 change in net gravity, but that difference doesn't amount to much until you exceed, say, 8 cups or so. If you are after a sweet mead to begin with, I'd suggest changing the ratio of honey to water in your addition liquid to get to your final gravity quicker. For example, a ratio of 1 cup honey to 1.75 cups of water will yield a gravity change of 0.002 per cup when added to 5 gallons of bulk must.
Click to expand...
 
ender said:
Thanks.
I peeled all the oranges and tangerines first. Then I pounded and chopped the orange...no peel went in. I assume peel=skin in this conversation? My cuticles are killing me! I figured that there would be signifigant secondary fermentation as I used the EC-1118 and my OC was 1.085 and the SG prior to racking was 1.010 on the conservative side. The yeast can withstand up to 18% so I figured it would start bubbling again pretty soon. How often should I taste the mead do you think?
Click to expand...
So there has been almost no fermentation in either carboy. It looks like it is clearing up, but want some input. Should I worry?
 
Hmm. I'd worry if "all clear" is not what you were hoping for, but otherwise I think you're ok. Secondary fermentations are not necessarily as active as primary ones, so the extra sugar may have been chewed up without much fanfare. Alternately, the yeast could be out of its comfort zone and thus done fermenting.

What is the current SG? The other big variable to check at this point would be the pH; since you added citrus you may have dropped the pH enough to knock out the yeast.

How's the taste?
 
AKueck said:
Hmm. I'd worry if "all clear" is not what you were hoping for, but otherwise I think you're ok. Secondary fermentations are not necessarily as active as primary ones, so the extra sugar may have been chewed up without much fanfare. Alternately, the yeast could be out of its comfort zone and thus done fermenting.

What is the current SG? The other big variable to check at this point would be the pH; since you added citrus you may have dropped the pH enough to knock out the yeast.

How's the taste?
Click to expand...
1. Haven't tasted it.
2. Should the yeas be done given it was ec-1118
3. Should the ph be an issue in the melon carboy?
4. How do I take the sg in a carboy? Remember, the carboys are only 3/4 full each, so I wouldn't be able to get my hydrometer back.
 
ender said:
4. How do I take the sg in a carboy? Remember, the carboys are only 3/4 full each, so I wouldn't be able to get my hydrometer back.
Click to expand...

I sanitize a piece of sewing thread and tie to the top of the hydrometer. I could see heavy twine affecting the reading...
 
Your yeast is a strong strain (18% tolerance I do believe) and probably should not be done, but if the PH level is not right it will make them less likley to repopulate. Does that make sense? Imagine trying to live in a highly acidic envirement. PH is an important level to check in a fruit mead because of the amount of acid they have.

I bought a turkey baster and theive samples out of my carboys with that. Make sure to sanitize them first of course.
 
Yup, invest in a wine thief or turkey-baster equivalent. Invaluable for sampling your mead. You can also check the gravity, pH, etc of your samples before you drink them. :drunken_smilie:

Anybody know the pH of melons? I have no idea....
 
vanoob said:
ender said:
4. How do I take the sg in a carboy? Remember, the carboys are only 3/4 full each, so I wouldn't be able to get my hydrometer back.
Click to expand...

I sanitize a piece of sewing thread and tie to the top of the hydrometer. I could see heavy twine affecting the reading...
Click to expand...

Or get a few little hydrometers and leave them in the batches... They cost a couple of dollars each and have been discussed in another thread in the forum...
 
Actually, you can use either a peeler or a zester on the fruits to get just the skin which has all the essential oils. The white stuff is the pith, which is bitter and needs to be peeled off. The sections of the fruit can be used for the flavoring fluids and such.
Hope this helps.

:cheers:

DD

ender said:
Thanks.
I peeled all the oranges and tangerines first. Then I pounded and chopped the orange...no peel went in. I assume peel=skin in this conversation? My cuticles are killing me! I figured that there would be signifigant secondary fermentation as I used the EC-1118 and my OC was 1.085 and the SG prior to racking was 1.010 on the conservative side. The yeast can withstand up to 18% so I figured it would start bubbling again pretty soon. How often should I taste the mead do you think?
Click to expand...
 
Ok, tasted the melon....absolute crap. i think "young" was the term used before. Pretty much the same as when it was without the fruit right out of the primary.
The orange is the same. It is clear there has been absolutely no chemical change since primary was finished. you can taste none of the fruit it is a dry wine/cough medicine taste.
 
Before you decide that those batches are trash, backsweeten and let it sit for a month or so, then decide. Sweetening fruit batches make a world of difference. You can also put more fruit in them and let it sit for a while. The flavor will get stronger over time.
 
ender said:
the sg of the orange is 0.996
the sg of the melon is 0.993
Click to expand...

Both batches are incredibly "dry" according to the SG measurements. Lack of sweetness tends to result in lack of fruitiness as well.

The batches are awfully young but should give you an opportunity to do an experiment.... Take a small glass of one of the batches. Taste and note the level of fruitiness. Add a teaspoon of sugar, stir, and taste. More fruitiness? Continue to add sugar, a teaspoon at a time, stirring and tasting until the sweetness is pretty strong. In general, the additional sweetness is likely to bring out the flavor of the fruit. If you try it, please post your results/thoughts...
 
Ok, Finally have the results to the experiment..muahh muahhhh muahhhhhh (see: evil scientist)

The melon batch: 1 cup of batch required 3-4 tbsp of sugar to be improved
The orange batch: 1 cup of batch required 4-5 tbsp of sugar to be improved

Since this is new to me I am pretty sure that the negative taste that my wife describes as robotussin (even after sugar) is from the newness (youngness) of the batch. I can taste a "mellowing" of the mead since last tasting. Yes, both were fruitier and "better" with the sugar.
Any thoughts? How much would I add to back-sweeten to this level? My thought was I could put 1 gallon of water/honey mixture in each vessel (using 6lbs. honey in each batch) and let sit in carboys until june before next tasting....
 
Hello Ender,

Because you were using EC-1118, there is a pretty good chance that if you add more sugar in, the yeast may once again become active and chew it up, raising the alcohol level and making the "Robitussin" character worse. You probably want to stabilize the mead before adding sugar if you want to backsweeten, especially with this yeast. You can read a good post on stabilizing mead or find others using the search tool.

As for the sweetening, I like the approach Wayneb describes above. Also, you can take the cup that you sweetened to taste, and measure the Sp Gr, then you can add the honey in larger amounts to get you close to that level, then slowly add more. It is good to remember that if you undershoot, you can always add more honey in, but it you overshoot, then you can't take it back out will have overly-sweet mead.

By the way, at what temperature did you run the fermentation? I ask because that can be a big factor in producing "Robitussin" qualities.

Medsen
 
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