Stringy Bark - Us05

[pdilley]

You'll get there!

Follow my bee's, they'll lead the way
to the Mead Hall where many shall stay,
and rejoice and while away the day,
and some never to return.



Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

Following on with the fermentation:

10th May to 16th May See Previous Postings
----------

17th, May
----------
Time: 4:20PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 17.8
Temperature: 18 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.057
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 14.0

18th, May
----------
Time: 8:20PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 16.9
Temperature: 16.5 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.051
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 12.5

Ok, the 3rd and last Nutrient Addition went in as we are just about right on our 1/2 sugar break.
4.07g DAP, 4.07g Bintani Yeast Nutrient added to the primary fermenter.

From here on out its leave it alone as the Stringy Bark US-05 Mead cruises on in to the finish line in 1st place.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

Following on with the fermentation:

10th May to 16th May See Previous Postings
----------

17th, May
----------
Time: 4:20PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 17.8
Temperature: 18 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.057
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 14.0

18th, May
----------
Time: 8:20PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 16.9
Temperature: 16.5 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.051
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 12.5

19th, May
----------
Time: 7:30PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 16.2
Temperature: 17 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.046
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 11.4

20th, May
----------
Time: 6:20PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 15.6
Temperature: 18 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.042
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 10.4

21st, May
----------
Time: 8:30PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 15.2
Temperature: 17 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.039
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 9.7

22nd, May
----------
Time: 8:20PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 14.5
Temperature: 17 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.034
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 8.6


As we get nearer to the end of fermentation you can see the larger effect ethanol has on the refraction of light through the Refractometer tool. Observed reading of 14.5 degrees BRIX when the real reading would be 8.6 degrees BRIX if the ethanol was removed from the sample.

This is the greatest problem new comers from Beer brewing who use the Hydrometer have when trying to use a Refractometer. The Refractometer approaches but will never reach zero at the end of a fermentation because of the effect of ethanol on bending light.

As you can see fermentation is happening perfectly fine and progressing as expected with us now 2/3rd through fermentation, just need to cruise on in to the finish line now.

ABV is currently 8.4% and climbing, go go US-05 go!

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[brettprevans]

for us poor bastards who cant afford a refractometer, any suggestions on how to work out sugar break? just guess im expecting.

 

[pdilley]

for us poor bastards who cant afford a refractometer, any suggestions on how to work out sugar break? just guess im expecting.

$26 AUD and then about $12 shipping from Hong Kong for the same exact one that can be charged up to $160 in Vic?

Get it from AussieHomeBrewer Refractometer Post


Cheers,
Brewer Pete


PS. You can use hydrometer to measure you just will be losing a lot more of your expensive Mead to the larger sample size of a hydro since you take daily readings.

 

[pdilley]

I missed a reading due to relatives coming over and a long night including some local market bought Mead (Pyement) which I can not recommend as it was pretty bad so I'll leave the label nameless.

Stringy Bark leaves some medicinal tastes known to Eucalyptus honeys so I'll be blending it with fruits and spices in my small batch experimentation, put some on long term aging to see how it may improve as a pure Mead and clear the fermenter to get the bucket of Iron Bark honey fermenting out. I should end up with 80+ litres of Mead to play with over the next year.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

Following the fermentation:

22nd, May
----------
Time: 8:20PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 14.5
Temperature: 17 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.034
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 8.6

23rd, May
----------
Time: 10:50PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 14.0
Temperature: 17.5 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.031
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 7.8

24th, May
----------
Visiting relatives, no reading

25th, May
----------
Visiting relatives, no reading

26th, May
----------
Time: 8:25PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 12.8
Temperature: 17 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.023
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 5.8


Coming up to the end. Visiting relatives so no weekend readings, sorry about that.
Still tastes pretty damn good even with the slight medicinal taste, most likely the residual pollens, saps, and plant bits of Stringy Bark in the honey.
Compared to the market stuff its excellent, market mead was choking with oak in it that there was no flavour and quite watered down. This still has lots of honey flavour, residual sweetness, and no hot fusel alcohols all this with no aging; its quite drinkable! I'm sold on 1/3rd Sugar Break and Standard Nutrient Additions method of fermenting Mead.

The must still has a decent layer of krausen.

EDIT: 9.8% ABV and climbing. If we reach 1.006 we'll hit our 12% mark, lets see where she stops.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

Following the fermentation:

22nd, May
----------
Time: 8:20PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 14.5
Temperature: 17 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.034
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 8.6

23rd, May
----------
Time: 10:50PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 14.0
Temperature: 17.5 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.031
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 7.8

24th, May
----------
Visiting relatives, no reading

25th, May
----------
Visiting relatives, no reading

26th, May
----------
Time: 8:25PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 12.8
Temperature: 17 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.023
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 5.8

27th, May
----------
Time: 8:05PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 12.2
Temperature: 18 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.019
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 4.8



Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

Following the fermentation:

26th, May
----------
Time: 8:25PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 12.8
Temperature: 17 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.023
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 5.8

27th, May
----------
Time: 8:05PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 12.2
Temperature: 18 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.019
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 4.8

28th, May
----------
Time: 9:23PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 11.8
Temperature: 17 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.016
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 4.1

29th, May
----------
Time: 7:30PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 11.8
Temperature: 16 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.016
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 4.1


Ok Gentlemen, I do believe we have reached the end of the primary fermentation in a record 18 days. The next reading or two will confirm it.

Plenty of big honey aroma and flavour in the Mead with a very clean fermentation with no hot fusel alcohols quite drinkable and tasty as it is straight from primary fermentation. The medicinal quality of the Stringy Bark is not offensive, nor is it the most lovely thing in the world--somewhat akin to like how hops are to beer.

Time will tell how this plays out. I'll rack to all the glass secondaries for some aging. Already I can see this will be a candidate to blend to make braggot.

We just hit a hair shy of 11% Alcohol by Volume depending on whose formula you wish to use.

All in all we have a winner in the process. I'll get Iron Bark Honey going next, perhaps this Sunday if all goes well with tomorrows refractometer reading.


Fermentation Statistics for Stringy Bark - US05 are as follows:
Original Gravity: 1.098
Final Gravity: 1.016
Initial Gravity (Brix): 23.31 B RDS
Final Gravity (Brix): 4.08 B RDS
Real Extract: 7.55 B RDS
Apparent Attenuation: 82.5%
Real Attenuation: 67.6%
Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 10.9%
Alcohol By Weight (ABW): 8.5%
Joules per 350mL: 940

Lesaffre lists no Attenuation nor Flocculation data for US-05 (formerly US-56) on their data sheet so we have to be happy with the fermentation results.


Iron Bark Honey will be using Lalvin ICV-D47, stay tuned for the next turbo clean Mead fermentation with Standard Nutrient Addition (1/3rd Sugar Break) method.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[flattop]

You're dedicated, i'll give u that...
I passed up on a Demijohn at the LHBS as my grain bill was climbing but i think i will collect one in the next 2 weeks so my mead is ready for summer

 

[pdilley]

You're dedicated, i'll give u that...
I passed up on a Demijohn at the LHBS as my grain bill was climbing but i think i will collect one in the next 2 weeks so my mead is ready for summer

Cheers for that, I'll have to recalculate out all my SNAs for the 5 litre demijohns. I'll then run a few TJAOs (Turbo JAOs) and see how it effects the JAO recipe as the long time with the exposure to pith gives bittering balance to that recipe and 18 days might just not give enough time to steep. Now that I have a .1 gram resolution digital scale I'm now able to work out small SNAs for small fermentation vessels.

It doesn't hurt that I have an APA already fermented out two weeks ago but still in the primary as part of Basic Brewing Radio's great 'longer time in the primary' experiment.

Have to put the Iron Bark through the 60 litre fermenter next as it doesn't do me much good sitting around. Its best fresh, and although it seems to last forever, honey slowly breaks down over time, creating its own hydrogen peroxide in the process! and I want to capture the essence in the fresh Iron Bark as much as possible in the resulting Mead. This is only important for aging it to drink it straight with no mixing.

By the heart of Winter I'll have so much Mead coming out my ears I might not remember much until after Spring comes around

I might ending up putting 34 Litres of Mead in one of my two 34 Litre glass demijohns and the remainder in 5 Litres to keep more 5 Litres handy for all the small batch brewing recipes I'm itching to try out so I won't know until racking which way my Winter brewing will go.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[sanmerah]

BP a great thread well done. I'm glad I'm not alone in my passion for mead.

23 ltr Glass secondary: Orangeblossom & Grape & clove & Cinnamon (with Oak coming later) experiment
5ltr: Orangeblossom (OB)
5ltr: OB & New Zealand Manuca
5ltr: OB & New Zealand Clover
5ltr: Blue Gum
5ltr: Mixed bag of my first fruit honey experiments (hoping that a few years may help)

All of the above using US-05 (Safale) American Ale yeast. OG 1.100 hoping for approx 12%abv

I followed the hightest spreadsheet for nutrient additions but also used Potassium Bicarbonate for buffering. My digital scales arrived recently so was using approximations for my additions of DAP and Nutrient based on analogue kitchen equipment.

Can I ask where did you get your yeast nutrient from in Australia? I seem to have missed it in the thread. I did contact the makers of Fermaid K and they could supply it to me in 5kg bags that a local winery in Adelaide uses (slightly more than I needed).
Also how much yeast did you pitch for your 60ltr ferment. Did you fire up a starter?

Thanks

 

[pdilley]

Hey AB,

Fermaid-K is difficult to get locally, very expensive if ordered in overseas, and limited shelf life. Not trusting the treatment it would get on international post and figuring it will end up in some hot warehouse I went with a local alternative. I used Bintani Yeast Nutrient; my LHBS operator got the ingedients and amounts for me and they match Fermaid-K enough to use it 1:1 in place of.

Impossible to find so far is GoFerm so I did a standard yeast hydration in boiled tap water that was cooled to ~102F. I used ~8 grams US-05 for every 23-25 litres of honey must rehydrated to 30 minutes; no stirring during hydration; no feeding. I pitched this directly into the fermenter and added 1st Stage SNA and beat the living snot out of it with my electric drill + paint stirrer until out of batteries. (GMC so that wasnt too long to wait).

If not an oak nutter go easy on the oak with mead; my local markets oaked mead pyment and oaked mead were aweful that I pitched both bottles down the sink. Im not a fan of oaked chardies either where you can not taste anything but oak. Wish the guy let me know both were oaked on the label before buying.

Orange Blossom is a great honey to start making mead. Blue gum I believe is the same as Iron Bark but im making my way through the eucalyptus varieties as no one has published any data on them used for meads so Ill need first hand experience and its easier to taste and determine what would go nice blended with actual resulting mead than reading words and trying to do the same. I'll pick up ~30-40kilos next time the farm has supplies in.

With my Kenyan Top Bar beehive plans it will still be another year before the colonies are established and going strong to start harvesing my own backyard wild flower honey to brew out into meads.

Ill have to post my plans if I can get them digitised.

Best luck with the mead, sounds like you are right on track for some great mead in no time at all, don't let any nay sayers steer you wrong, you'll be fine.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

I'd be damned, US-05 still has quite the bit of spunk left in it, which is good as it has higher protein count per cell than yeast does under the normal fermentation methods employed.

Looks like we got another drop.

30th, May
----------
Time: 10:00PM
Observed Refractometer Reading (AB): 10.8
Temperature: 15 Degrees C
Adjusted SG (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 1.009
Adjusted Brix (Ethanol Effect & Temperature): 2.4

We are now punching 12% ABV range. Excellent, its where I was hoping to reach with US-05.

Original Gravity: 1.098
Final Gravity: 1.009
Initial Gravity (Brix): 23.31 B RDS
Final Gravity (Brix): 2.31 B RDS
Real Extract: 6.1 B
Apparent Attenuation: 90.1%
Real Attenuation: 73.8%
Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 11.9%
Alcohol By Weight (ABW): 9.3%
Joules per 350mL: 1,304




Chuffed,
Brewer Pete

 

[sanmerah]

Hey AB,

Fermaid-K is difficult to get locally, very expensive if ordered in overseas, and limited shelf life. Not trusting the treatment it would get on international post and figuring it will end up in some hot warehouse I went with a local alternative. I used Bintani Yeast Nutrient; my LHBS operator got the ingedients and amounts for me and they match Fermaid-K enough to use it 1:1 in place of.

Impossible to find so far is GoFerm so I did a standard yeast hydration in boiled tap water that was cooled to ~102F. I used ~8 grams US-05 for every 23-25 litres of honey must rehydrated to 30 minutes; no stirring during hydration; no feeding. I pitched this directly into the fermenter and added 1st Stage SNA and beat the living snot out of it with my electric drill + paint stirrer until out of batteries. (GMC so that wasnt too long to wait).

If not an oak nutter go easy on the oak with mead; my local markets oaked mead pyment and oaked mead were aweful that I pitched both bottles down the sink. Im not a fan of oaked chardies either where you can not taste anything but oak. Wish the guy let me know both were oaked on the label before buying.

Orange Blossom is a great honey to start making mead. Blue gum I believe is the same as Iron Bark but im making my way through the eucalyptus varieties as no one has published any data on them used for meads so Ill need first hand experience and its easier to taste and determine what would go nice blended with actual resulting mead than reading words and trying to do the same. I'll pick up ~30-40kilos next time the farm has supplies in.

With my Kenyan Top Bar beehive plans it will still be another year before the colonies are established and going strong to start harvesing my own backyard wild flower honey to brew out into meads.

Ill have to post my plans if I can get them digitised.

Best luck with the mead, sounds like you are right on track for some great mead in no time at all, don't let any nay sayers steer you wrong, you'll be fine.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

Thanks for that - I think I'm going to use a starter for my next batch. a home beehive .. if only ;-)

 

[pdilley]

a home beehive .. if only ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/user/BeeGuardian

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[pdilley]

Got the camera downloaded onto the computer and had some Mead photos in there.

Picked the most impressive shot, the 34-L secondary fermenter, took the top basket cover off so you get a good look.

Mead racked and ready for the bulk aging and clearing phase before bottling.


Its now in the darkest, coolest part of the house having a nice long gentle aging.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Wolfy]

Picked the most impressive shot, the 34-L secondary fermenter, took the top basket cover off so you get a good look.

Looks just like the bunch of Demijohns we scored from Freecycle, they were even filled with Mead when we picked them up. :lol:
Seems it had been 'aging' outside under the gumtrees for about 2 years, but the airlock seals were broken so it got tipped down the driveway.

 

[pdilley]

Looks just like the bunch of Demijohns we scored from Freecycle, they were even filled with Mead when we picked them up. :lol:
Seems it had been 'aging' outside under the gumtrees for about 2 years, but the airlock seals were broken so it got tipped down the driveway.

Good score on the demijohns. Sad to hear about the Mead though

 

[pdilley]

Just a quick note. After seeing how well JAO meads did in the brew fridge. I've calibrated my second fish tank heater and sanitised it and placed it directly into the 34 Litre demijohn to have a warm bulk aging. I swear there is a colour difference for the mead aging when its cold and when its warm.

Temperature is around 22C, my second heater is a bit dodge on the reading on the unit itself to set it so I simply calibrated it to something between 20-25 and left it for a few days to confirm it was holding temperature.

We will see how it goes. Demijohn is isolated from the ground by the plastic basket. There is already some renewed action from the warming phase which quickly died down so it looks simply to be CO2 in solution being released as the cold mead could hold more CO2 in solution. Once temperature was reached the gas release stopped.

I'll check in from month to month and have a look at what its doing. Now that CO2 action has subsided I can keep an eye out for cheap children's doonas being sold and wrap the demijohn to keep the heat in and reduce the amount of time the heater switches on.



Cheers,
Brewer Pete