First mead

[welly2]

Bit experimental but been wanting to give a mead a bash for a while. Bought 2kg of Beechworth honey from Woolies today, Mangrove Jack M05 mead yeast - rehydrated - added some yeast nutrition and topped up with water to about 4.5L. Got 1.098 OG. So that'll sit for a month or so before I transfer to secondary and then leave for 3 months. I hope it's alright after all that time. Planning on getting some more honey this weekend and doing another batch with a different type of honey and a different yeast to compare and contrast.

 

[Blind Dog]

Before you do the next one, do a search for TOSNA. Staggering the nutrient additions seems to make a big difference both to the quality of the finished product and the time to get there (or maybe just the latter as I'm an impatient bar steward)

 

[Airgead]

What you are doing is fine. I've been doing much the same for the last 25 years.

Staggered nutrient additions might help speed fermentation but mead is a patient persons sport anyway. Reducing fermentation by a couple of weeks is immaterial when you are adding for a couple of years anyway....

 

[welly2]

I'm happy to let it just sit and do it's thing. The airlock is bubbling away like a beauty so that will do what it needs to do for the foreseeable future and I'll just sit and wait to enjoy the fruits of my (15 minutes) labour.

 

[Airgead]

Let it finish fermenting and start to clear. Once it starts to drop clear rack to secondary. Let it bulk age there for 3-6 months then bottle and let age in the bottles.

If you want to add fruit, add to the primary one the main fermentation is done. Then leave on the pulp for 7-10 days then rack. Fruit made may need an extra taking to get them clear of pulp.

Oak add during bulk aging.

That's been working for me for many years.

 

[NickyJ]

What's the advantage of bulk ageing rather than bottling sooner?

 

[barls]

it ages quicker in bulk. as you don't have to deal with the bottle shock.

 

[niftinev]

i left my last one fore about 9-12 months maybe longer (forgot about it and thought it might be ******) before bottling and it has been bottled for about a year and was taste tested on friday night.

Was told yesterday that they thought it was better than previous ones only left in the fermenter for about six months, so leaving it on the trub doesn't appear detrimental.

 

[Vini2ton]

it ages quicker in bulk. as you don't have to deal with the bottle shock.

I believe with wine it's the opposite. Half bottles reach their peak faster than 750s and if you want to age and store wine, bulk is better. Plus a bulk body of booze is far more stable to any unseen temperature fluctuations. Everyone hates bottling. It's like death and taxes. I stored mead in 5lt demi-johns for 12 months. If I did it again I'd leave it somewhere temp stable and bottle after 5 years. Good mead is a long term commitment. Drink too much of it and you may well be committed.

 

[boonchu]

Bulk is best if possible and you have enough fermenters.
I am interested that you only got 1.098 frim 2kg in 4.5L.
That is essentially 1 part honey to 2 water which when we do it is about 1.14ish.

 

[Airgead]

Yeah... That is a pretty strong brew. My usual recipe is 1kg honey in 4.5l plus half a kilo of fruit. That gives me a nice easy 9-10%ABV.

If I'm making a sweet mead I'll shoot for 15% (the 71B yeast I use tops out around 14%). That works out around a kilo and a half. 2 kilos you will be up around the 20% mark and most yeasts won't go there.

I wonder whether your relatively low OG reading was due to the honey sitting at the bottom of the fermenter and not fully dissolving.

 

[welly2]

Bulk is best if possible and you have enough fermenters.
I am interested that you only got 1.098 frim 2kg in 4.5L.
That is essentially 1 part honey to 2 water which when we do it is about 1.14ish.

Actually, I've a feeling I mis-measured a bit. In my rush to get this mead going, I pitched the yeast and then realised I'd not taking a gravity reading. So in a bit of flap I tried to get something out of the carboy into my pipette so probably got a bit of yeast and foam and all sorts rather than just the honey/water mix. I suspect it'll actually be higher than I measured but it's a starting point.

 

[welly2]

I wonder whether your relatively low OG reading was due to the honey sitting at the bottom of the fermenter and not fully dissolving.

Probably this and my pissing about, trying to get some of the honey/water into my pipette as described above. I don't think it's an accurate measurement.

That said, I gave the honey/water a really, really good mix with a stick blender.

 

[boonchu]

Reading up on M05 it looks loke it will hit 18% so sounds like a champers yeast and says it is a high ester producing yeast. I will be interested to hear the results.
You should still have a sweet mead, just a really strong one

 

[LiquidGold]

Racked my first traditional mead to secondary the other day. It was sitting in primary for 5 months, having fermented with 71B. Tasting pretty good at this point but will bulk age and add some oak to a few litres.

 

[boonchu]

Looks good may need another racking from the pic

 

[kaiserben]

Once it starts to drop clear rack to secondary.

Looks good may need another racking from the pic

Hey you guys who know what they're doing; when you guys rack do you do anything else? (like add a campden tablet, or flush the O2 out of the vessel with CO2, or anything like that? Or is it fine to just transfer to the secondary vessel without doing anything special?)

 

[Airgead]

The missus is allergic to sulphites so I never use campden tablets. You could flush with co2 but I have never done it. I tend to add oak after racking which adds tannins which apparently sorta kinda have an antioxidant effect.

Just be careful. Don't splash. And don't rack too often. Once when primary fermentation is finished is all I ever do unless I used a lot of very pulpy fruit when it might need a second racking. No need to rack until there is no sediment. For a start you will end up with no mead left. Second each racking increases the risk of something going wrong.

Honestly though, that mead looks OK as it is. I wouldn't bother racking again. Particularly after 5 months sitting on lees in the primary. If you were going to have autolysis you would have it by now.

 

[boonchu]

I mostly agree with Airgead, except I tend to rack at least 2 - 3 times

 

[Deepregret]

Everyone hates bottling. It's like death and taxes.

I personally enjoy bottling. It’s what you make it. I wait till after the kids have gone to bed, throw some tunes or a podcast on and sample my last brew or a nice beer I picked up at the bottle-o. To each their own I guess...