Should It Be This Hard to Make a Hydromel

Hydromel Recipe:

• 1 gal. spring water
• 1-1/2 lbs honey (actually, 25 oz)
• 5 g Fermax yeast nutrient
• 4 g Safale US-05 yeast
• 1/2 tsp Bentonite
• 1 tsp wine tannins
• 1 tsp acid blend

I keep wanting to make a low alcohol mead around 7%-8%, but so far my meads keep hitting double digits.

Today I made a hydromel using just 1-1/2 lbs of honey, but try as I may, it still came out at a potential ABV of 10%. It may be the yeast won't chew it all up, but I'm not so hopeful.

As I always do, I started off boiling a pot of water to put the honey container into. While that was underway, I added 4 c of spring water to the kettle and heated it for 1-1/2 minutes, which got the temp to 121F. When rehydrating yeast, you want the GoFerm water as hot as possible and then have it cool to the temp you need to rehydrate your yeast. Unfortunately, by the time I figured out how my Fermax I was going to need, the water had cooled to 112F. Not bad, just not as hot as I was hoping for.

To calculate how much yeast nutrient you'll need, you take how much yeast you're using (4 g), multiply by by 1.25 (5g), then multiply that answer by 20 to determine how much yeast you need, or 100 ml. I took the hot kettle water, poured 100 ml into a bowl, and added the 5 g of Fermax.

In the meantime, I completed making the must. I added a cup of hot water from the kettle to the fermenter, and then added a 1/2 tsp Bentonite. The fermenter I'm using this time is actually one of the 1 gal. apple juice bottles from the cyzer I made because it has a wider mouth on it. But it also has a pronounced hump in the bottom so the Bentonite hit that and the water didn't reach over it, plus it had grooves in it and the clay became a stick mess in there. I was able to pry it out using my bottling wand, but almost gunked that up with the clay. In the end, most of the clay was incorporated into the water.

I next added more hot water from the kettle and then added the honey, which was actually 25 oz, instead of 24 oz. Not a big deal. I added all the hot water, added reserved spring water, then put in 1 tsp of wine tannin and aerated the hell out of it with my whip. However, the must temperature was 91F so I put it into the freezer to bring the temperature down.

I took a gravity reading beforehand though and got 1.074, or about 10% ABV, or a Brix reading of 18. I need the Brix reading to determine how much nutrient I need for the step nutrient additions. You take the Brix, multiple by 10 and then multiple by a factor based on how much nitrogen it needs. I couldn't find the info for US-05, so I chose a middle of the road number of 0.9. You then divide the answer by 100 (for ppm) and that is the number of grams of nutrient needed for the SNA.

In my case that meant (18 x 10) = 180 x 0.9 = 162 / 100 = 1.62 grams, which is a very teensy amount. I'll need to recheck these calculations.

Interestingly, I found out that 1 tsp of US-05 equals 3.7 g, not the 2 g I had been assuming; but also 1 tsp. of Fermax equals 5.1 g. Without my new gram scale, I'd never have known all this.

I also took a pH reading of the must and was surprised to see it at 5.22. I've been reading lately not to worry about pH so much in primary and simply adjust for it at the end, if at all, but I've also read that high pH's like this can affect the fermentation so I added 1 tsp of acid blend and that corrected it to 3.50, which is good.

To rehydrate the yeast, US-05 calls for adding the yeast to water that's between 77F-84F (not over 100F like most other yeasts I've used). After letting it sit for 15-30 minutes, you then gently stir it for 30 minutes before pitching it into the must.

I did all this, then pitched the yeast into the must and instead of adding an airlock, I'm going to try an open ferment during primary. Ryan Carlson on a GotMEad Live podcast recommends this as it helps get oxygen into the must and improves the quality of the ferment. I covered the opening with a do-rag to keep out bugs so we'll see how this goes.

One other thing is Safale says US-05 really likes temps between 64F-82F to ferment so keep it in that range. I raised the fermentation chamber temp to 19C (66F). It's the low end of the temp, and I'll keep an eye on it to see if it needs to be raised, but I'm still operating on the cooler is better for fermentation.

Mango Habanero Mead

This mead marks my first attempt at being super "professional" with my mead making. I'm going to try to use a many best practices as possible for this batch..

What that entailed was first rehydrating the yeast using a nutrient. Previously I either just rehydrated the yeast in water or pitched it dry into the must. This time around I heated up 4 c of water in my electric kettle for one minute which allowed it to attain temperature of about 113F. Then using calculations which said to use 1.25x of Fermax the grams of yeast you're using, mix the nutrient in 20x the amount of water heated to 107F.

Now the rehydrating process is actually for using Fermaid-O or -K (the Fermaid-O calculation is slight different), but I've read that Fermax can reliably be substituted for Fermaid-K, so I went with that.

Since I'm using 2g (1 tsp) of D47 yeast, that meant I needed to use 2.5g (1-1/4 tsp) of Fermax in 50 ml of water. When the temp of the Fermat-Infused water drops to 104F,  pitch the yeast into it and let it stand for 15-20 min. The Lallemand yeast website says the entire rehydration process should last no more than 45 min.

With the yeast rehydrating, 1 added 1 c of kettle water to the fermenter and added 1/2 tsp of Bentonite. I then shook vigorously to mix.

The honey had previously been placed in a saucepan with boiling water to liquefy and I now measured out 1-1/2 lbs of honey. I might have been justified in using only 1 lb because the mango juice I'm using also has sugar.

I took a hydrometer reading of just the juice and it read 1.050, which is where I was shooting for, and I knew I would be adding water as well, but I couldn't quite figure out how much honey would be needed. It was all a guessing game and as we'll see, I was a bit off.

I added the remainder of the hot water and shook vigorously to incorporate the honey. I then emptied two 33.8 oz. containers of mango nectar (from concentrate) into the fermenter. I also add 1 tsp of wine tannin. With the fermenter approaching full, I took some readings: the original gravity was 1.080, a little above what I was shooting for as it gives me a potential ABV of 10.5%. the pH was 3.82, which seemed okay and the must temp was 89F.

I checked the yeast slurry temp, which had been sitting for about 30+ minutes and it was 87F. That's good because you want the yeast and must to be within 10F of each other, but you also want to pitch the yeast when the must is between 75-80F. I hope it doesn't effect the yeast, but I pitched it nonetheless.

Last, I aerated the must with my whip and realized I really should have done it prior to pitching the yeast, but as I'll be aerating for the first 3 days perhaps it's not a big deal.

I'll also be adding nutrients in a staggered fashion over the next few days, but since it will amount to about 1/8 tsp each addition, who knows whether it will amount to anything significant. I'll also be degassing the mead until it hits the 1/3 sugar break (1.026), which should be within the first few days.

And airlock was added to the fermenter and it was placed in the fermentation freezer.

UPDATE (10/9/17): Little to no airlock activity for most of the day. Perhaps if I had more patience it would have been okay, as there was one bubble popping every minute, but I decided to pitch another teaspoon of yeast.

I rehydrated it in the typical manner (no nutrients, just water) and acclimated it to the lower must temp before pitching. A few hours later I went to check on it and it was clear there was significant activity: there was a lot of bubbly crud on top and some relatively clear must below. It looked like it was going to bubble up through the airlock,  so I added a blowoff tube to it: my siphon hose into a pitcher of StarSan.

Initially I had it sitting on top of the freezer in a Wal-Mart bag to keep the light out, but then remembering D47 yeast doesn't like warm ferments (over 70F) I moved it and the blowoff tube into the freezer. Using the Thermowell, it seems like the must temp was around 23C, which is north of 70F, so it looks like it was a good move. We'll see how it has progressed tomorrow when I make the second nutrient addition.

A New Cyzer

This past weekend I pitched a new cyzer. The last one was an abject failure as it developed a pellicle and then turned horrible in taste. But it had been made with real apples that I had neglected to wash and sanitize properly so I guess it's not surprising it got infected.

This time I went with an all-juice recipe. Since the juice already has preservatives in it, it should inhibit any wild yeast from taking hold.

I made the cyzer just as I would a regular mead, but I used my new juice-only kettle to heat up the nice. It's a different design  than the other (the other is better), but it did the job. I added a cup of heated juice to the fermenter along with a 1/2 tsp of Bentonite and shook vigorously. Then I added some more juice and added 1 lb. of the liquefied honey and mixed it well.

The rest was as it normally is, filling up the fermenter with the rest of the reserved juice and adding the adjuncts to it. Gravity readings, temperature readings, and pH were all taken. An airlock was added and then it was placed in the new fermentation chamber.

A converted upright freezer, the fermentation chamber has been laid on its back (the compressor was rotated to remain upright) and a new digital thermostat was added to regulate the temperature. It fluctuates between 19.5C (67.1F) and around 17C (62.6F). I'd like to dial it in a little more to narrow the range, but once the compressor kicks on it drops the temp a certain amount, and if I lowered the upper level it would dip down into the 50F range, which would be too cold I think.

The fermentations of the cyzer (and of the orange creamsicle I also have in the chamber) and going well, however, so I'll leave it as is.

A Traditional Hydromel

I'm trying my hand at making a lower ABV mead, so I used 2 lbs of honey and will go for a traditional mead with no other flavors.

As per my usual routine, I heated up water in the pot to liquefy the honey and heated up 4 cups of spring water in the kettle. It came out at around 114F,  so pour a small amount into a glass bowl I added spring water to it, reducing it to a temp of 104.5F, which is in the range of 104F-109F for the D47 yeast for rehydrating. However, the kettle water temp had dropped, so I heated it again.

Setting the yeast aside, I took a cup of hot water, added it to the fermenter, and added 1/2 tsp of Bentonite and shook thoroughly. I then added the 2 lbs of honey to the fermenter, the rest of the hot water and shook thoroughly. Because I had reheated the water, it seems the must temp was very hot because after adding the 1/2 tsp. of energizer, the 1 tsp of nutrient, and enough reserved water to fill the fermenter, the must temp was still in the high 80s, too hot to pitch the yeast.

It actually took about 2 hours to lower the must temp enough and I was worried the yeast may have been damaged or killed by rehydrating so long without nutrient.

I took a hydrometer reading and it was 1.094, higher than I anticipated because it suggests an ABV of 12.5%, higher than what I really wanted. I'm also guessing the D47 will ferment it dry, so it will need back sweetening. May need to go to 1-1/2 lbs. of honey next time.

The pH reading, though, seemed exceptionally high at around 5.60. I initially added a 1/2 tsp of calcium bicarbonate thinking that would lower the pH, but it actually raised it to about 6.50. Of course, I needed to add acid blend to increase the acidity and lower the pH. It required adding 1-1/2 tsp of acid blend to get it down to around 4.38.

UPDATE 9/24/2017: I had an MEA during the night because I had filled the fermenter too high, and knew it was too high, but hoped against hope it would not do so. Wrong! Also degassed the mead and took readings of temperature, pH, and gravity. Temperature of the mead was around 73F, the pH was 4.11, and the gravity was down to 1.074.

Making the Orange Creamsicle Melomel

I began making the orange creamsicle mead and videotaped the process though it makes the whole thing more complex and confusing.

As usual, I heated up 4 cups of water in the electric kettle for 1 minute and raised the temperature to 113F. Next using some of the hot kettle water and some of the reserved spring water, I poured it into a bowl to begin rehydrating the yeast. The temp was 103F, which was right in the middle of the recommended 100F-105F for the Cote des Blancs yeast.

Next I poured about 1 cup of the hot water into the spring water bottle and added a 1/2 tsp of bentonite which I vigorously shook to mix together. Once that was done, I took the 3 lbs of honey (exactly 4 cups) that I had heated up in building water and poured it into the fermenter,, again shaking vigorously to blend the two together. I then added a 1/2 tsp. of yeast nutrient, 1 tsp. of yeast energizer, and a 1/2 tsp. of pectic enzyme, again mixing thoroughly.

Having opened and poured off the contents of two 12 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate cans into a pitcher, I poured the melted contents into the fermenter and added the rest of the hot water to the fermenter, which altogether gave me approximately 3/4 of a gallon of must at a temperature of 75.4F.

I took a hydrometer reading and was shocked to see the gravity reading was so high: 1.170, or so I guessed because it was literally off the scale of the hydrometer. I've read that a gravity reading that high can cause problems getting the yeast to ferment, and though the must temperature was a little high for where I wanted to pitch my yeast, I did so anyway.

I'll see if there's a ferment going tomorrow. If not, I'll repitch more yeast, some EC-1117, which has higher tolerance for high gravity meads. I may also split the mead in two and make 2 one gallon batches, presumably it ought to cut the gravity in half.

I did check the mead about 8 hrs later and it seemed some fermentation was occurring. There was foam on the surface if the mead and some weak bubbles in the airlock.

UPDATE: 9/23/2017: Fermentation is going fine, and I began degassing the mead twice daily and had two foam overs on day one. I decided (temporarily at least) against dividing the mead, but that is subject to change.
UPDATE: 9/24/2017: Sheesh! Another foam over when degassing. And I barely did it for a few seconds, so I'm going to have to be super careful going forward because a lot of mead has been lost in the process. Gravity reading is starting to drop, down to what I think is 1.164, but it's still off the scale. pH is also at 4.07.

Making Fermenter Gaskets

Wal-Mart carries a terrific 2-1/2 gallon clear glass jar that has a barrel look to it. It makes for a terrific secondary fermenter when adding fruit to a one gallon carboy would increase the volume too much to fit. I used it for my blueberry mead and it worked out great.

The one problem is the lid that comes with it is a thin metal type with no gasket. Air can easily enter and escape. I saw on a Jack Spirko video where he talked about making your gasket using one of several methods.

The first one he mentioned he picked up from the Underground Meadery page on Facebook where it was recommended cutting out a disk from a plastic coffee can lid. I tried that and it seemed to stiff to me, and since my cut wasn't perfect it didn't solve the problem.

The second method he suggested was using a rubber can opening gripper. It's a floppy disk that you would use to open lids on stuck jars. Jack said he got one at his local dollar store, but I checked out quite a few such stores and couldn't find anything.

Today while at Wal-Mart I happened to see some Contact brand shelf liner. It seemed to be a plastic-y type material (the packaging didn't say), but was very flexible. It was also thin too so it didn't seem like it would get in the way of closing the lid. For $6 for a roll, I figured I'd give it a try.

I traced the top of the lid onto the shelf liner and using an X-acto knife I cut out the shape. Slipping it into the lid, it seemed just slightly oversized, which I thought was good because it would allow the gasket to fully contact the rim of the jar.

With the shape cut out, I slipped it into place and poured about a half gallon of water in and turned the bottle upside down to check for leaks. There were none. That convinces me it will be able to prevent air from leaking or allowing it to enter, and because it is plastic, it is washable so I can clean it after each use.

I then drilled a 1/2" diameter hole in the center of the lid to fit a bung and airlock. I think tomorrow I will use it to continue the aging process with the pineapple pepper hydromel (Mead No. 2017-6).

Pitched the Metheglin Yeast

I created a starter for the Montrachet yeast by heating 50 ml of water to about 107F (maybe hotter) then added in 1-1/4 tsp Fermax nutrient. I waited until the water temp fell to between 100-104F and added 1 tsp. of yeast and let stand for 20 minutes.

I'm following the protocol that says to add GoFerm nutrient to the water, but since I didn't have that I went with the Fermax. But followed all the other directions as indicated.

I did initially forget to add the DAP and energizer to the must after pitching the yeast, but added it a few hours later. Since it had nutrient from the starter I'm not too worried it will be a problem.

I also bottled my Raspberry Pomegranate mead (No. 6). Got 4-1/2 375 ml bottles out of it. The first 4 were very clear while the last picked up some sludge. I put that one in the refrigerator for current consumption and the other 4 were corked and will be stored.

I also tasted my sack mead (No. 7) and it was very sweet with a slight caramel flavor to it. I'm considering carbonating this one at bottling, but need more information about the process before proceeding.

My First Metheglin

It's a year of firsts...my first hard cider, my first hydromel, and now my first metheglin.

I got the recipe off of the American Homebrew Association (I think) and it was called Fall Spice Metheglin. For some reason, although I've been wanting to make a metheglin for awhile, this recipe struck a chord with me. Maybe it was the unofficial end of summer with the Labor Day weekend, but it seemed like the right recipe to make now.

Although there were a few minor changes, I basically stuck to the recipe:

• 2 lbs honey (I used Great Value clover honey)
• 3/4 tsp Bentonite (recipe did not call for it)
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp ginger (recipe called for ground ginger, but I used fresh)
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2/3 c fresh squeezed orange juice (recipe said juice from 1 large orange, but also 1-1/2 c of juice. My large orange gave me only 1/2 c of juice, so I squeezed 2 small tangerines and it gave me about 2/3 c altogether)
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 tsp acid blend
• 1 tsp Montrachet yeast (recipe called for the whole packet, but I add only 2g or 1 tsp per gallon)
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1/2 tsp yeast energizer (recipe doesn't call for this, perhaps because of the other additions, but I'm adding some anyway)
• 1/4 tsp wine tannin (recipe called for grape tannin, not sure if that's the same thing)
• 1 campden tablet

As I noted, I made a couple of changes, and though I've started not adding acid blend at the outset based upon what I've read from Ken Schramm and Denard Brewing, as the recipe called for it I figured I'd follow the instructions. Also, since my juice addition was somewhat less than what was called for, I thought it might help.

But also as I've begun doing with all my recipes, I'm following my step-by-step checklist and it helps me to standardize the process. 

I warmed up my honey to thin it out, and then added 1 c spring water to the fermenter and 3/4 tsp Bentonite which I shook vigorously to incorporate. With the honey liquified, I added it to the fermenter and then added 4 c of spring water that I heated up for 45 seconds in my electric kettle. The temp of the water only got to 95F though, so 1 minute will be my standard in the future.

I again shook the fermenter vigorously to mix the honey and water together and then began adding the spices. I followed that with my orange juice and then topped it up with the rest of the spring water, leaving enough room for the yeast that will be pitched tomorrow. 

That's another first for me, not pitching yeast the same day, but since we also added 1 crushed campden tablet, it's necessary. I took a hydrometer reading and got 1.090. The temperature of the must was 81.7F, so adjusting for the temperature I'd have an SG of 1.091. Of course, I'll take the temp again before pitching the yeast to get the correct SG, but I wanted to get an idea of the potential ABV, which will be right around 12%.

I also took a pH reading just to see what it was. I just bought a digital pH meter so I first took one using a strip and estimated it came in between 3.2 to 3.6, and figured it would be close to 3.5. After calibrating the pH meter, I took another reading and it came out at 3.34, within the range, but a little lower than I thought. Still it's all good and the must ought to provide a healthy environment for the yeast.

UPDATE (9/4/17): I made a yeast starter by heating 1 cup of water to about 107F (maybe hotter) in my electric kettle then poured off 50 ml of it into a mixing bowl and added 1-1/4 tsp of Fermax yeast nutrient. I let the temperature come down to between 100F - 104F (it was 103F) and I added 1 tsp of yeast and let stand for 20 minutes before pitching.

I'm following the yeast starter protocol that says to use GoFerm nutrient to the starter then add the yeast, but since I don't have GoFerm I used Fermax.

The formula for determining how much nutrient and water to use is nutrient in the amount of 1.25x  the amount of yeast and then 20x the weight with water. So for 2g of yeast, I used 2.5g of Fermax (2 x 1.25 = 2.5) in 50 ml of water as 1ml = 1g (2.5 x 20 = 50). That translated into 1 tsp of yeast, 1-1/4 tsp Fermax, and 50ml water.

I took the must temperature and it was 70.4F and so tempered the starter with the must until it was within 10F of the must (it got to 77.8F) at which time I pitched the yeast into the must.

I forgot to add yeast nutrient and energizer at pitching, but added 1/2 tsp energizer and 1 tsp nutrient several hours later. Since the yeast was pitched with Fermax, I'm not too concerned it will be a problem.

UPDATE (9/5/17): I began degassing the mead, and it was already enjoying a rigorous ferment. While in the morning I did a basic shake of the one gallon fermenter, which seemed to work, in the afternoon I used a whip I made.

The whip was actually the handle of a large flat stirrer. While one end was large and wide, like a spatula, the other end had a small flat square that could be used to hang the utensil up. First I tried using that flat end as a stirrer, and though it worked, was not really efficient. So what I did was drilled 2 small holes on either side of the small flat end and tied two short pieces of thick fishing line to each hole (weed wacker line would be better, but fishing line is what I had on hand).

With that in place, I proceeded to cut of the big spatula end and while I originally intended to use a ceiling hangar bolt as the rod to insert into my drill, that surprisingly bent. So instead I drilled out a hole with a 3/8" drill bit and left the drill bit in place and used that as the road. I was then able to insert it into the container and get much better degassing action than if I had just used the paddle. I degassed for approximately 5 minutes.

UPDATE (9/6/2017): The ferment is going full boil and the spices are actually swirling around in the fermenter. The color of the must is a cream-like color.

Backsweetening the Raspberry Pomegranate Melomel

I backsweetened the raspberry pomegranate melomel (Mead No. 6) with1 cup of honey. The taste is perfect and the gravity was raised from 1.000 to 1.024, just above my target of 1.020. The reason for the overshot is the back sweetening calculator determining how much honey to add to raise the gravity.

According to the calculator, with the mead at 1.000 and my target at 1.020, I needed 0.59 lbs of honey, which equates to 0.74 c, just shy of 3/4 c. Since I have my digital scale, I figured I'd weigh the honey out to make it precise.

Turning to the internet, I calculated 0.59 lbs as the equivalent of 9.44 oz. So I tared out my 1-cup measuring cup and began filling it with honey. I got to 9.4 oz and that was almost a full cup. So when I added it all in, it raised it slightly above my target gravity. So the measurement portion of my calculator seems correct; the weight appears off.

Using generally accepted weight for honey off the internet shows 1 cup of honey weighs 0.80 lbs, which my real-world example suggests is slightly too high. Obviously there are many factors that go into that, but I may adjust my calculator since the honey I'm using seems to be "lighter."

Regardless, this mead tastes awesome! I'm going to let it sit for a week and then bottle.

My First Hydromel

I made my first true hydromel today, a traditional one to get a base reading for the process, but in anticipation of making a number of melomels off of it.

I followed the step-by-step guide and added only 1 lb. of honey to the must. When I took a hydrometer reading, it was almost exactly 1.050, which is what I was shooting for, and after adjusting for the temperature of the hydrometer, it came out right on the button. The taste was also very nice as well, but I wonder how it will finish.

If it's anything like the last two traditional meads I made, I'll be very pleased. Using this new step-by-step method so I don't screw anything up, these two meads tasted delicious after a month. Interestingly, one of them had an FG of 1.006 while the other had a 0.996. I did use two different yeasts -- Red Star Premier Blanc and Lalvin EC-1118, respectively -- but I was still surprised at the difference between the two.

I racked them both to a secondary though as they had both turned crystal clear. The benontonite definitely stripped all the flocculant out of the mead and seemingly some of the color as they were now a bright yellow in the glass carboy. I'm looking forward to tasting these in a few months because they were very good as is and I want to see what happens to them as they age.

Similarly, this hydromel should be drinkable with 45-90 days so I'm looking to see how this turns out. The next one I'm going to make is a peppermint one, maybe using candy canes, because it will be ready right in time for Christmas.

Also, I bottled the other hard cider. This one tasted better than the other, but not really what I was expecting. It didn't have as much of a cider-y taste as I expected, but it did taste good. I also broke one of my beer bottles capping one as I didn't realize exactly how the capper was working and I cranked down on it which broke the neck. I was still able to get 3 full bottles from the jar though. In reality, I don't think I should have bottled them yet, but rather transferred them to a secondary. I'll have to keep an eye on these because I may not have sulfated them to stop the fermentation. Of course, from one YouTube video I watched, that seemed to be the way to carbonate them, so we'll see.

Cider Disappointment

I bottled the hard apple cider (No. 14), taking it from the single 750 ml bottle it had been in and putting it into 2 375 ml bottles. I probably should have used the 12 oz beer bottles instead, but I have the other cider cold crashing in the refrigerator so I'll use the beer bottles for that one.

However, I was really disappointed in the flavor of the cider in that it tasted like -- dry mead. There was no apple or nice or cider flavor whatsoever. It simply tasted like ever other mead I've made. When I bottle the other cider I'll see if there's any difference between them in flavor, and if so, perhaps it was the exposure to air that made the difference.

At any rate, I'll age these in the bottles for a few months before opening, maybe around Thanksgiving or Christmas, and see how they taste. Maybe I'll just let it sit for even longer.

I was also going to bottle the other mead I had backsweetened the other day (No. 4), but it still wasn't as clear as I wanted it so I'll keep waiting. It is getting clearer, but really needs to go further. I may try cold crashing it if it fits in the refrigerator after I bottle the cider.

Well That Was Fast

After pitching the yeast on the tart cherry melomel on Monday 8/14, the airlock seemed to have gone still by Friday, 8/18. I was degassing every day, so I degassed it and checked it again on Saturday and the airlock was still quiet. I took a gravity reading and got 1.006. That seemed pretty quick to get all the way down there -- less than a week -- and now I checked it again on Sunday and the hydrometer reading has not changed.

I had checked on the Got Mead? board on Facebook what this might mean, and was basically told the yeast had run through the available sugars and was done. That is the fastest I've ever gone through fermentation, which I rather like as I can now rack it to a secondary, sulfite it, and add actual cherries to sit for several weeks to give more flavor. I imagine within a month it will be ready for bottling.

The mead tastes good too. A lot like tart cherry juice to be sure, but it has an ABV of just below 12%, so giving it some time to age may improve it even further.

But today will be a big mead day. I have several meads that will be bottled (Nos. 4 and 5), though after back sweetening No. 4 it hasn't cleared yet so I may hold of awhile longer. No. 5 is perfectly clear and ready to be bottled.

I'm hoping a mini-freezer I have in the basement can work as a cold crashing refrigerator. I was looking into modifying it, but saw it had a "Warm" setting on it which supposedly should put it in the 37F range, which would be perfect, and while I've turned the temp way down on it (moved it to "warm" today) it has remained at about 30-32F. It could use be because it has been so cold previously it is just taking time to get to that level, but assuming the temp does rise above the freezing mark, I'll add mead No. 4 to it and let it sit in there for a week to see if that speeds up clarification.

Potential Cherry Melomel Problem?

I started my cherry hydromel today (Mead No. 2017-4), but it was quickly clear it  was going to be a melomel anyway. I used two 32 oz containers of tart cherry juice from Stop & Shop and two 12 oz containers of honey figuring 1-1/2 lbs in a 1 gallon carboy would make for half the alcohol.

Of course, I didn't account for the sugar in the cherry juice, so the starting gravity was 1.092, or an expected ABV of 12%. Hardly hydromel territory. I just didn't realize the juice plus the honey would take up all that space; I was only able to use 5 cups of water. I wonder If I split it between two carboys and add water to make up the difference would that work?

I may try that, but first I want to see if my yeast reactivates. I pitched Lalvin 7B-1122 yeast and it seemed to do nothing. When I rehydrated it, the yeast sank right to the bottom of the bowl and didn't seem to mix at all. I stirred it a few times, but no activation seemed to occur. I'll give it a day or two and if nothing happens I'll split the must and pitch additional yeast and see if that can get a ferment started.

UPDATE: At around 8:00 pm I checked on the fermentation, and though it wasn't a rolling boil, it was fermenting, so now I just hope I don't wake to an MEA tomorrow.

Backsweetening Joe's Ancient Orange

I backsweetened Mead No. 4 and I made it more complicated than it needed to by ensuring everything was properly cleaned and sanitized. It's incredibly difficult to find large enough tubs cheaply that I can lay my racking cane in the tub without it sticking up, so everything just seemed more of a problem today when cleaning my utensils.

Then, when racking from the carboy to the one gallon pitcher, the hose came out and poured a quantity on the floor. Of course. I forgot the rule to put the container you're racking into into a catch basin of sorts just in case something like that happens.

In the end, I had to add twice as much honey as I thought I was going to need. According to my calculator, it should have taken slightly less than half a cup of honey to raise the gravity to 1.020, but it ended up taking a full cup to do so. I'll be searching for why that was.

The taste of the mead isn't terrific, though it's not bad. I really need to pay more attention to my technique, though this was one of my first meads and I was experimenting. I'll never use dehydrated orange slices again, however.

Mead updates

With my new meads I'm brewing now, starting with a base mead and then using the secondary to flavor them, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. However, I think my next mead will be using fruit in the primary and secondary as I'll be following a recipe from Ken Schramm from his book.

My second batch of hard apple cider seems to have come to an end of its fermentation, or is close to it. After degassing it daily for a week, the balloon airlock isn't standing up anymore so it may be time to set it aside for aging. I think I need to rack it first, then do that.

The first base mead I made, No. 15, also seems to be winding down fermentation, while No. 17 is still going along. Today or tomorrow is the last day that I'll be degassing it.From then on only having one mead a week to degas will be easier. I would like to automate the process so I want to see if I can build something to do that using the small spray paint compress I have.

New Lemon Mead

I started the must for a new mead (No. 17), which I think will be a lemon mead. I saw the Making Mead channel on YouTube had made a Lemon Clove mead, but I'm not sure if I want to add the clove or not. We'll see after I get through the primary fermentation.

Like all my meads from now on, I will make a traditional mead to start following my step-by-step checklist, and after primary fermentation and racking to a secondary, I'll add the fruit or whatever adjuncts need to go in.

This must was almost identical to the cherry mead (No. 15) I'm making, the only difference being I used 3/4 tsp of Bentonite instead of 1 tsp., and I used a generic yeast nutrient instead of DAP. However, the original gravity between the two meads was vastly different: the cherry mead had an OG of 1.115 while the lemon had 1.082 so the expected ABV differed, 15% to 11%.

I did use different yeasts, too, but the gravity readings were taken before the yeast was added.

As a side note, I'd like to make meads going forward that represent the fruit that's in season. So although No. 15 is listed as a cherry mead and No. 17 a lemon, that may switch by the time fermentation is done, depending upon how I feel. Blackberries are in season now (I use picked a good 5 cups worth from my two bushes to make a terrific blackberry pie) and I have a whole bunch left to pick still so one of the meads may become a blackberry. Also, peaches are in season too, along with a number of other fruits so these meads might change.

Of course, I'll be starting another mead next week and could use begin with that one. I do want to get Fermaid-O and begin doing a step nutrient addition regimen following the TiOSNA plan, but that may have to wait a bit yet. While I never thought I'd try to be so precise, the more mead I make, the better I want it to be.

De-gassing Joe's Ancient Orange

I was going to bottle my Joe's Ancient Orange (No. 4), but in looking over my notes, I saw that a month ago I had said I was going to add potassium metabilsulfite to the mead, but never did. So rather than bottling, I committed to do that instead.

Relying upon the Making Mead video on adding PM, I added 1/8 tsp to the mead and also 1/4 tsp of potassium sorbate. The metabisulfite is supposed to be added at a rate of 1/4 tsp per 6 gallons, but MM says adding more does not seem to be a problem so I did half that amount.

I then degassed for 5 minutes and while it foamed, there was never a fear it would bubble over. So I'll let it sit for a week then backsweeten it with honey. We'll see. Maybe I'll first add bentonite because it is cloudy, though it was super clear prior to degassing so maybe by the end of the week it will be clear again.

New Base Mead

I finally got around to make my next mead (No. 15), which is just going to be a straightforward traditional mead (UPDATE: This will be a cherry mead)(UPDATE 2: No, I've decided I'll be making base meads instead, of which this is one, and then in the secondary I'll be fruiting them up). I think all of my meads from now on will start out like this and then I'll use the post-fermentation period to create the flavors I'm interested in.

Essentially, this is a simple mead: water, honey, and yeast. While it's true that's the basics of it, I'm following some additional steps I learned from the Making Mead YouTube Channel (yeah, I'm watching a lot of mead-making videos these days). The differences between what Michael Jordan at the Underground Meadery is doing and what Making Mead is doing really comes down to additives.

Thus far, Michael Jordan hasn't added any nutrients or energizers to his yeast, though I believe he will as he progresses through the year, and Making Mead is making use of them, along with some other additives like acid blend and wine tannin. Making Mead's meads come out looking terrific, so I figured I'd give these additional steps a try.

After pitching the yeast in this batch -- a Lalvin EC-1118 -- I was surprised the must started fermenting within 15 minutes. I can say, however, that mixing and matching the various steps certainly makes making mead a much more complicated process, though I imagine as I do it more often it will get easier.

Step-by-Step Process:

Step 1: After cleaning and sanitizing everything, I poured off 4 cups of water into the electric kettle and heated for 1 min. 30 sec. The temp of the water rose to 130 F. I turned off the machine to let it cool down and went onto the next steps.

Step 2: I brought a saucepan of tap water to a boil, removed from heat, and placed bottle of honey in the water to liquefy.

Step 3: I poured the remaining water in the 1 gallon container into a pitcher, and then added back 1 cup.

Step 4: Swirling the water in the container, I added 1 tsp. of bentonite (it's 4 tsp. for 5 gal so I made it simple and went with 1 tsp.). Shake the container vigorously until the bentonite is well mixed. I then added an additional cup of water to the container and mixed again.

Step 5: With the honey more liquid I poured it into the container using the 2-liter bottle top "funnel." I then took 1 cup of the hot water from the electric kettle and placed it into the honey bottle and shook vigorously to dissolve all the remaining honey in the bottle and poured it into the 1 gallon water bottle. The kettle water temp at this point was about 123 F.

Step 6: I added the remaining hot kettle water to the 1 gallon container and shook vigorously to mix the honey and the water. The combination of the cooler bentonite-filled water with the hot kettle water allowed the honey to mix almost immediately.

Step 7: I filled the 1 gallon container to the shoulders with the spring water reserved in the pitcher and mixed the contents thoroughly.

Step. 8: In 1 cup of the reserved spring water, I mixed 1 tsp of liquid wine tannins and 1 tsp of acid blend and added them to the container.

Step 9: I added 1/2 tsp of yeast energizer and 1 tsp. of DAP yeast nutrient into 1 cup of reserved spring water and added it to the container and mixed thoroughly.

Step 10: Took temperature reading of the must (93.3 F) and hydrometer reading for starting gravity (1.112, or 15% ABV; temp-adjusted reading is 1.115 ).

Step 11: I added 1 package (5 g) of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast directly into the container, no starter created.

Step 12: I drilled a 1/2" hole in the center of the spring water bottle cap and added a rubber grommet to it. I then filled an airlock with StarSan and placed it in the hole and moved the entire container to a dark basement storeroom.

Step 13: I covered the container to block out any light.

Bottled the Blueberry

On Tuesday (July 25) I finally bottled the blueberry mead (No. 13) for the Canadian Sasquatch competition. I got 24 12 oz. bottles from it, along with one 375 ml bottle (and a glass or two to drink while I was bottling). I think I screwed myself out of another 375 ml bottle because of the way I had originally racked it.

With about a half gallon left over between the two secondaries, I had combined them into one carboy and waited for the sediment to fall out again and figured I'd be able to bottle that as well. I'm not quite sure what happened, but while the sediment did settle to the bottom, it seems the remaining liquid separated too. There was a good 2 in. which layer of a very dark liquid under which was a rather light colored liquid that was about an inch or so thick. When I attempted to bottle it, the stuff coming through the racking cane was all very cloudy and rather than wrestle with it any further I discarded it.

In the future, when I'm going to rack into a secondary, it's all going to go into a single bucket.

Even so, I think the blueberry tastes very good. It's sweet, without being cloying, and it has the requisite taste of blueberry from the extract. I'm quite pleased with it since it was my real first attempt at backsweetening and adding extracts. I'm not sure what the ABV of it is though I suspect it's around 14% or so. I'm going to reach out to Canadian Sasquatch to see if he can help determine ABV after backsweetening.

Okay, I looked it up online and I'm going to try to figure it out here:

ABV, of course, stands for alcohol by volume. At the end before bottling, I had 2-1/2 gallons. SG was 1.108, FG was 0.998.

SG - FG = X * 135, or 1.108 - 0.998 = 0.11 * 135, or 14.85% ABV

The backsweetening raised the gravity to 1.002, but since there was no more fermenting it didn't increase the alcohol content. But it did increase the volume. So that's what I need to solve for.

There are 128 ounces in 1 gallon, so at 2-1/2 gallons I had 320 ounces. I added 12 oz of honey and 2 oz of extract, giving me 334 ounces total. There are two ways to figure it, basically doing the same thing.

Ex. 1:
Original Volume * Final ABV / New Volume (after backsweetening) = New ABV

320 oz * 14.85 ABV / 334 oz = 14.2% ABV

Ex. 2:
Original Volume / New Volume = X * Final ABV = New ABV

320 oz / 334 oz = 0.958 * 14.85% ABV = 14.2% ABV

Preparing to Bottle the Blueberry Mead

I racked the blueberry mead (No. 13) off of the bentonite into a 2-1/2 gallon glass jar I picked up from Wal-Mart for about $12. The lid is metal and needs to be modified or replaced, but for my purposes today it was fine as a vessel to hold the mead for bottling.

There was actually about 375 ml more than 2-1/2 gallons between the 1 gallon carboy and 2 gallon pail I had racked the mead into when I added the bentonite, so I combined the two leftovers into a one gallon carboy and will let it settle out again and then bottle into a 375 ml bottle. It will be drier than the 2-1/2 gallon batch because I flavored and backsweetened the larger batch, but it still tasted good.

Without sweetening, while the mead was dry, it did have a pleasant berry taste, but muted. So I backsweetened it with 12 oz of honey and 2 oz of natural blueberry flavoring and though it raised the mead to 1.002, and I thought it tasted great.

I'm going to let it sit for a day just to make sure fermentation doesn't restart, and it shouldn't since I had added the campden tablets, but just to make certain and then tomorrow I'll bottle.

Hard Apple Cider!

I'm attempting to make hard apple cider for the first time. If all the YouTube videos on it are any indication, it's a super easy alcohol to make, and it makes you wonder why brewers like Angry Orchard and Woodchuck charge so much. Sure, it's the time involved, but apple juice and yeast essentially ain't that difficult.

Anyway I mixed up a 1.5 quart batch to test using a recipe I found on Unemployed Redneck Hillbilly's YouTube channel. Although he's anything but those descriptors, he does seem like he knows what he's doing with so many things so I'm willing to trust him.

I saw a few other recipes, but instead of complicating things as I always seem to do, I'm going to follow his directions and see how it turns out.

No. 14 - Hard Apple Cider

1 1.6 qt. bottle Martinelli's Unprocessed Apple juice
1 pkg Red Star Premiere Blanc yeast
1/4 lb. light brown sugar
1/2 lb. white granulated sugar

I made the yeast starter according to the directions, heating up a bit of apple juice to between 95-100 degrees Fahrenheit and let stand for 15 minutes. I had wanted to use just half the pouch, but I ended up using the whole thing. I imagine it won't hurt things and may get it to ferment down quicker. I should also mention Unemployed Redneck Hillbilly (URH) used Premier Cuvee yeast in his, and though I thought I had some I didn't so I went with the Premier Blanc.

While that was percolating, I poured out about 3/4 of a cup of ice into a bowl and mixed in the two sugars. I stirred them until they were completely dissolved into the juice then poured the mix back into the bottle and shook vigorously.

URH was making 6 gallon batches and he used 2 lbs. light brown sugar and 4 lbs. of white granulated sugar in an attempt to achieve about 15% ABV. I simply reduced the calculations to approximately the amount of juice I had, and when I took my hydrometer reading the starting gravity was 1.062 or approximately 15% ABV, so it was perfect.

I poured off about 1/4 cup of juice to allow for some headroom and then added the yeast starter to the bottle. I gently mixed the yeast throughout, added a balloon as an airlock, and stored it in the basement.

I'll let it sit for 2 weeks then I'll rack it to a secondary to ferment for some 2-5 months.

Mead Updates

I've been stirring daily the two meads that I added the bentonite to and I can tell they're really clearing up. The blueberry melomel, even though it is very dark, when I hold it up to a light I can see through it. And when I stir it up again it becomes opaque.

I'm going to siphon the mead off the bentonite and attempt to backsweeten it with pure blueberry juice, then allow it to age for another month and a half before bottling. The melomel entry has to be submitted by Sept. 1 and Canadian Sasquatch has to receive like 20 bottles by October 1. I want them to be tasty by the time he gets it.

The cyser is very clear and smells delicious. I also see no hint of the pellicle forming again, although admittedly it is only a day I'm letting it stand. Still, I'm hopeful the campden tablets have killed off the wild strains.

More Racking

I continued to get up to speed on the racking of my meads that I've neglected. Yesterday I racked over my cyser (Mead No. 8) and the 3 gallons of my blueberry melomel that I hope to enter into Canadian Sasquatch's mead contest (Mead No. 13). Both were different than I expected.

Mead No. 8

This is the cyser that had the pellicle on it, or the wild strain of yeast, and I may have racked it once before because it seemed a little less than before. I'm not certain but I may have tried to use bentonite before because there was a sediment on the bottom of the bucket that seemed like clay but I don't recall having done so and my notes don't say anything about it. It also didn't seem to be particularly clear.

It smelled pretty good, however, very apple-y, though its taste wasn't quite what I was hoping for. Very dry, still a bit harsh. I added 1 tsp. of bentonite to the 2-1/2 gal. because the packaging wasn't very clear as to how much. It says 4 tsp. in 1-1/3 cup warm water "sufficient for 5 gallons" but elsewhere on other packages it says 2 tsp in 1/2 cup "sufficient for 5 gallons." The consensus on the Internet is it's the latter that's appropriate so I added the 1 tsp.

I also added 2 Campden tablets to it to try to kill the yeast and to allow me to backsweeten the mead. Perhaps I should have waited till after I was done with the clarification first, because I have to stir up the mead for the next couple of days, but the pellicle has me stressed and I want to be rid of it.

Mead No. 13

This didn't have a pungent aroma, but it had a very prominent blueberry taste, though it was still a bit more harsh than I would have liked or expected after so many months. I racked it to a 1-gal. jug and a 2-gal. bucket and also added bentonite and Campden tablets (3) to clarify and prevent any refermentation as I want to sweeten it up a bit.

The bentonite does seem to be working as I checked on the meads about 12 hours later and they seemed to have clarified a bit, the cyser more so than the blueberry, but both were clearer than they had been. There was also no sign of the pellicle on the cyser either, but that does take time to form so we'll see if the Campden tablets did their job.

I'll continue stirring the meads once or twice daily for about a week to allow the bentonite to swell sufficiently and strip out as much sediment as possible. Then I'll rack them over once more and allow them to finish aging before bottling.

A Little Hiatus and a Mead Update

I think I got overwhelmed by my mead making activities last year. The once-a-week mead, while not particularly difficult to achieve, taxed me a bit on storage and keeping track of what was what. And then when my cyzer got an apparent bacterial infection, I got disappointed. While I made a few more batches after that, the ardor that had been fueling my mead-making dissipated.

In the months since, I understand a lot more of what I was originally reading. It wasn't so much an infection, but rather the presence of wild yeast -- most likely Brettanomyces -- and I'd imagine it was because I didn't wash my apples nearly good enough while making the cyber. It's definitely not a killer for the mead, but it's something I'll need to control for and prevent in the future.

After some 9 months though, I accidentally stumbled across Michael Jordan's YouTube channel (no, not that Michael Jordan!). He had posted a link to one of his videos on the Got Mead? Facebook group page and I immediately liked his simple style of mead making. No fancy equipment, no complex formulas for nutrient additions. Heck, it seems he's drinking many of his meads after just a couple of months. In one video in particular, he says he basically just cold-crashes his meads and drinks them.

While I imagine some of those meads likely taste a little "hot" because they're still so young, and I'd probably age mine much longer to mellow the alcohol, there was a lot to learn from him. He's producing a series called "52 Meads in a Year" -- hmmm, where have I heard that before? -- and his videos provide step-by-step instructions on how he's making them. At the end, he plans on producing a book with all the recipes and more information. It's really an entertaining effort and I'm hooked.

Between him and making a dandelion wine, I got back into mead making. I was looking at my yard of dandelion flowers and wonder what, if anything could be done with them, and found you could make wine with them. So I whipped up a batch, and after the primary fermentation was finished I racked it to a secondary and took a sample and -- oh my gosh! -- it was good! Still young of course, after only 5 weeks, but surprisingly tasty. Now I'm going to let it age in the secondary till around Christmas, which is seemingly the traditional time to crack open the wine.

To be honest, though, I all but abandoned my meads. Other than drinking a few of my very first meads -- one in particular earned rave reviews from my friends who were not quite sure what to expect, and if you knew these guys you'd realize any praise is a superlative -- I basically ignored my meads. While it's probably not a terrible thing that I just let them sit there undisturbed, a few should have been racked off their lees a long time ago, and I'm finally getting around to doing that.

I've also bought the ingredients necessary to make more mead again. One I'm going to try is a simple hard cider recipe that I got from Michael Jordan. It's essentially just apple juice and yeast. Other recipes I've seen on YouTube call for adding sugar, but Michael, as I said, takes a more simple approach to many things. Another video I saw on hard cider also use used juice and yeast (well, and a bunch of different additives like wine tannin and the like), but then he back sweetened it afterwards with brown sugar and cinnamon. I may do something like that.

But in the main I think I'm going to follow Michael Jordan's 52 meads in a year recipes, following his video progression one by one, and see how they turn out. If nothing else, it gets me back into making mead.

With that, though, let's update on how my meads are progressing. "Mead," actually. I've only just begun racking the ones I have standing around, so I did just one. In the days ahead I'll be doing all the others.

Mead No. 4

This was an experimental mead that I used dehydrated orange slices in. I'll admit this had a very tiny amount of a film on top, and while I initially thought it may have been "contaminated" in some way by my cyzer, I think in reality it probably was from the oranges I used. The film's limited presence suggests the dehydration process may have killed most, but not all of the wild yeast. So once again, I'll only be using extremely well-washed fruit in the future.

I tasted it, and as before there's still a somewhat hard alcohol taste to it, much as there was when I initially racked it, and this one may require a lot of time. What I'm thinking of doing is adding potassium metabisulphite to it to kill any yeasts that may still be present, and then back sweetening it. It wasn't horrible, more like a very dry wine, and it's lost all the orange-y taste it had, so perhaps I can salve it by sweetening it.