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Goomba
Please be aware: abv is dependent on the amount of honey, amount of water, quality of honey, health of yeast etc.
The only way you can assume loans has a higher abv is to measure the gravity before and after.
Brewer Pete did a test and used lowans. I'm sure he'd have mentioned if it were highly tolerant. Check out his thread on JAO yeast off or whatever it was called
IMHO for some reason you had a lower grav must.
Also the raisins are so few that you wouldn't taste them. They're in the recipe as yeast fodder.
My yeast managed 13.5% and it was still sweet. Even using EC-1118 it still would have been semi sweet.
What were your honey to water measurements. I could estimate you SG from that, but all honeys are different.
Please be aware: abv is dependent on the amount of honey, amount of water, quality of honey, health of yeast etc.
The only way you can assume loans has a higher abv is to measure the gravity before and after.
Brewer Pete did a test and used lowans. I'm sure he'd have mentioned if it were highly tolerant. Check out his thread on JAO yeast off or whatever it was called
IMHO for some reason you had a lower grav must.
Also the raisins are so few that you wouldn't taste them. They're in the recipe as yeast fodder.
My yeast managed 13.5% and it was still sweet. Even using EC-1118 it still would have been semi sweet.
What were your honey to water measurements. I could estimate you SG from that, but all honeys are different.
Lord Raja Goomba I
Prisoner of Sobriety
It was a total of 15L from 4kg of honey, I went slightly under the 3.8L per kg suggested. I forgot to take a SG reading, so didn't bother with FG, but from the taste (having brewed other non-beer drinks), it'll be around .98 to 1.000. It is quite high in abv - very high - the alcohol taste is there and it packs a mean punch.
The other thing is that the weather here in Bris-vegas (not flooded, too high, but couldn't get to work for a week) has been unbelievably warm and humid. I pitched the yeast, with only minor aeration (taking into account the weather) and the yeast took like a rocket - I thought I was brewing beer for a minute.
Next time, to get a sweet batch, I'll choose a wine yeast with a specific alcohol tolerance.
It tastes great - but given I fairly well followed the recipe, gave myself a bit of leeway by reducing the amount of water by a couple of litres to get a slightly higher SG (just to reduce that possibility), I'm putting it down to the yeast brand. Plus some research on my friend google seems to indicate that Lowan's has a pretty high tolerance.
My OP was purely an FYI post.
I get that, but I just can't help discussing. ;-)
4kg of honey @ sg 1.4 (average) = 2.86 Litres.
So you had 15 - 2.86 = 12.14 litres of water = 12.14 kg so 16.14 kg with the honey.
16.14kg /15 litres = 1.076
So your SG by my calc was low. My bread yeast drops 100 points, as do most wine yeasts. So this must would have fermented out dry with all but a 6% or less yeast.
I will have to consult the recipe, but something here appears askew.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, I'd like to nail down the math in my head...
Provided the honey weighs 1.4kg/litre your values will give an OG of 1.120
Which is in the ballpark.
If your yeast like mine will drop 100 points, you'll het a semi-sweet mead.
If lower abv tolerant yeast is used like fleishmans then you'll get a desert wine finishing at more like 1.040
As bread yeast is not documented for brewing, you will need to test the alcohol tolerance yourself. Your second batch should be spot on how you like it if you took good notes the first time.
moogusty
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while we're on the subject though does anyone have preferred methods of consumption i.e straight up @ room temp or warmed on a cold night perhaps?
I only ask because i'm getting near to bottling time and i still have no idea what to expect or what is common place in mead drinking
I only ask because i'm getting near to bottling time and i still have no idea what to expect or what is common place in mead drinking
It's really up to personal preference. Generally I like a room temp wine, however if it's too sweet, then chilling it reduces your ability to perceive sweetness so it makes a refreshing drink.
I normally wouldn't drink anything warmed, unless it had a bucket load of spices in it.
Unfortunately you'll just have to try it and see.
I normally wouldn't drink anything warmed, unless it had a bucket load of spices in it.
Unfortunately you'll just have to try it and see.
Lord Raja Goomba I
Prisoner of Sobriety
You're right, I didn't take SG reading. My stupid mistake - I had a beer on at the same time, and this was just a cheap-ish experiment (I paid $7 per kg).
I've had two people drink half a bottle and not remember much the next day (one drinks a bottle of white, without any noticeable side effects). It is dry, it is high in abv. That I can assure you of.
So, notwithstanding my stupid mistake to not measure, and therefore throw the maths out (sorry), the fact that it is unbelievably potent still leads me to believe that the yeast attenuates higher than the specified variety.
Still, damn good, nonetheless. I'll make another dry and try a sweet at the same time.
Goomba
I've had two people drink half a bottle and not remember much the next day (one drinks a bottle of white, without any noticeable side effects). It is dry, it is high in abv. That I can assure you of.
So, notwithstanding my stupid mistake to not measure, and therefore throw the maths out (sorry), the fact that it is unbelievably potent still leads me to believe that the yeast attenuates higher than the specified variety.
Still, damn good, nonetheless. I'll make another dry and try a sweet at the same time.
Goomba
I would attempt different sugar levels well before I changed to wine yeast. From my calculations, the ABV of your must would probably be simmilar to what a JAO should be, but you just had no residual sugar. I'd increase your honey by at least 50%.
Buy a hydrometer. ensure your must is >1.100 and <1.140 and I think you'll do well.
The other thing about mead is that it hits harder than many other alcohols. It gives a MEAN hangover.
@ 14% it acts a lot higher. This is hypothesised to be because especially in younger meads the fusels and other higher order alcohols that may be present have a more debilitating effect on the imbiber.
By the above logic, nicely aged mead should be as polite as commercial wine WRT hangovers and ability to knock you senseless
Lord Raja Goomba I
Prisoner of Sobriety
Thanks for the tip. I do have a hydrometer, but like I mentioned, I was in the middle of brewing beer at the same time, and didn't really give the attention to the mead I should have.
I didn't even think of the fact that there would be no residual, simply because all sugar was eaten up due to the thinness of the must. I suppose it is because I generally control the fermentability of beer with mash temps, something I don't have the capacity to do with mead so much.
I was going to get a 12% wine yeast, and see how I went, but I'll take a gravity reading and make sure it is in range, rather than just chucking it on.
Having said that - like I said, I've stumbled across a nice drink, that is cheap to make.
Hangover is mean - I've had one person (not me - I'm smart) tell me that. I've heard another theory relating to honey being naturally preservative, and therefore having a similar effect to sulphites. However I react to even a minor amount of preservative in alcohol, so that theory may be wrong.
Thanks again, much appreciated and hopefully this will educate others as well.
Goomba
Hi guys thanks for sharing your recipes and thoughts, I am about to make a small batch soon but have a question.
Are the oranges there for flavour or do they serve another purpose. Can I leave out the oranges altogether but keep the rest of the recipe the same or substitute for pineaple or pears.
Regards pete
Are the oranges there for flavour or do they serve another purpose. Can I leave out the oranges altogether but keep the rest of the recipe the same or substitute for pineaple or pears.
Regards pete
Simply: no. You can't.
This recipe is carefully balanced. It is designed by a meadher with mor skill and experience than anybody posting here in the last 6 months.
It is recommended that you try it as per recipe before you alter anything.
That being said, the answer to your question is: yes. The pith in the orange imparts bitterness to the mead, carefully offsetting the sweetness. If you cut the orange into quarters, it will be overpoweringly sweet. If you cut it into sixteenths it will be overpoweringly bitter.
Make the recipe, do some research, then try a modification. But don't change anything until you have a baseline, or else you might as well just experiment blindly from scratch.
The raisins also play a part in feeding the yeast nitrogen. They won't impart much flavor, as there's nit enough in the recipe for that.
Hi guys
If I, for example, forgot to buy bread yeast when i was doing my shopping and used an aprox 15% wine making yeast I had lying around instead, any idea roughly how much extra honey I should add to get the sweetness level the same?
If I, for example, forgot to buy bread yeast when i was doing my shopping and used an aprox 15% wine making yeast I had lying around instead, any idea roughly how much extra honey I should add to get the sweetness level the same?
With mead making a use a factor of 133-135 for my calculations.
So 15%/135 = 0.110
so you're going to drop about 110 points.
you want this to finish between 1020 and 1040 so mix your must to a gravity of 1130 - 1150 (personally I'd suggest the lower value - as your yeast may not reach it's full potential following the JAO guide)
the low side will give you a sweet mead, the high will give a desert or sack mead.
If this makes no sense, and you don't have a hydrometer - Go buy one <-- this is my best piece of advice to anybody making booze.
