I've made a couple of meads in the past but they take so damn long that I still consider myself a bit of a newb, so I want to make sure this all sounds good. Plus, I'm going to have a crack a carbonating half of it to make a sparkling mead, which I've never done before.
1.5 kg honey
water to 4.5 litres in a glass demijohn
VR44 Yeast
Yeast nutrient 2 g + boiled yeast 1 g at the time of pitching. I was thinking of boiling some old kit yeast for this step. Is that a good idea?
Additonal yeast nutrient additions: 2 g at 24 hrs, 2 g at 48 hrs, 2 g at 72 hrs
Once I hit FG (Beersmith predicts about 1.024), I figure about 6-8 weeks, then cold crash for 1 week at 4 degrees.
I'll bottle half of the mead in swing top bottles and age.
I'll add 22 g dextrose (per Beersmith) to the second half and bottle in champagne bottles at continue to age at 16 degrees for a month or so to get sparkling mead.
How does this all sound?
1.5 kg honey
water to 4.5 litres in a glass demijohn
VR44 Yeast
Yeast nutrient 2 g + boiled yeast 1 g at the time of pitching. I was thinking of boiling some old kit yeast for this step. Is that a good idea?
Additonal yeast nutrient additions: 2 g at 24 hrs, 2 g at 48 hrs, 2 g at 72 hrs
Once I hit FG (Beersmith predicts about 1.024), I figure about 6-8 weeks, then cold crash for 1 week at 4 degrees.
I'll bottle half of the mead in swing top bottles and age.
I'll add 22 g dextrose (per Beersmith) to the second half and bottle in champagne bottles at continue to age at 16 degrees for a month or so to get sparkling mead.
How does this all sound?