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Water after racking

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hpereira98

hpereira98

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 17, 2017
34
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Braga, Portugal
If a recipe for a gallon batch tells me that the amount of honey is, for example, 3 1/2 lbs, and I want to top it with water after racking, what amount of extra honey should I put when I begin making the mead? Like 7 oz?

Thanks!
 
In my opinion, hpereira, it's better to begin with more than a gallon so that there is no real need to top up. If you assume the starting volume is, say , 1.25 gallons then rather than treat 1 lb of honey raising the gravity of 1 gallon by .035 points you assume that 1 lb will raise the gravity of 1.25 gallons by .028 points. If 3.5 gallons in 1 gallon will raise the gravity of that gallon to 1.1225 then to raise 1.25 gallons by the same amount you will need .1225/.028 or 4.375 lbs of honey. The idea is that if you ferment in a bucket there will be more than enough headroom and when it comes time to rack you can rack into a one gallon carboy and fill that vessel to the very top and any extra you can store in a mason jar or a 1.5 liter wine bottle and refrigerate.
 
Ok, thank you, but I didnt understand much of what you said :(
The thing is, I only have in my possession a 1 gallon demijohn. Where I live I dont seem to find one bigger than that.
 
OK - sorry that you didn't understand my post. But as to your point - They don't make food grade buckets in Portugal? You don't need the carboy for active fermentation (the first few weeks when the yeast is producing CO2 and making alcohol). A bucket that is suitable for food is fine.
 
Yes, they make it, but they are not as easy to find as a wine carboy for example. You don't find those food grade buckets on any store or supermarket. One thing I've noticed is that we dont have for sale products in those proportions, I mean, they are usually sold in small packages. I could only find those buckets on a wholesale, and they are not accessible to everyone.

Isn't it any way to solve this using only the carboy?
I wanted to know if adding more honey in the beggining was a good practice if a really wanted to make a gallon batch. And if so, how much honey more.

Thank you!!
 
If you are trying to make up the difference in space in your demijohn after racking and not change the alcohol level then use the same ratio of honey and water that you started with. So, how much honey depends on how much liquid you have to add. Just be aware that the yeast will ferment your added honey and there will be lees again.
 
For example:
If I'm making 1 gallon of mead, and the recipe is:
1.3kg honey
Water and Yeast

Assuming I want to keep the gallon jug "full" after racking, should I put 1.5kg of honey to compensate the water I'll add after racking? I dont want to add any more honey after racking, just water.
 
hpereira98 said:
For example:
If I'm making 1 gallon of mead, and the recipe is:
1.3kg honey
Water and Yeast

Assuming I want to keep the gallon jug "full" after racking, should I put 1.5kg of honey to compensate the water I'll add after racking? I dont want to add any more honey after racking, just water.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't add water. It will water down your mead. Stabilize first. Then add what ever honey you want to get your sweetness level you desire. Then age it.
 
Oh about the same amount as the length of string you use when you wrap a package... :hello:
I don't know that there is any way to predict how much loss you will have. But the amount of loss will also depend on your siphoning or racking equipment and the technique you use when you rack...
 
Cannot say whether this is good practice but it is my practice. Others may have a different approach.
I use an automatic siphon. That means I don't need to suck to create a vacuum but the siphon has an inner tube that if you "pump" will draw the wine up then gravity does the rest. The siphon I use has a fitting on the end that keeps the siphon above much of the lees or sediment but what you might want to do is make or find some device that will keep the siphon at a fixed height but a height that you can reduce as more of the wine is transferred to the secondary. I use a thin book or piece of wood to angle the fermenter so that I can siphon off more of the wine. and when I have racked all the wine I transfer what is left in the carboy to a tall but narrow jar that I store in the fridge for a few hours (sometimes that turns to days). In the fridge the wine separates from the solids and allows me to add more of the wine to the secondary.
 
Thank you for the tip!
Do you have any photos of the position you put the recipients? So that I can make a better image of the technique on my head ;)
 
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