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2010 hhhc

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Congrats!

I love the no mix technique, but I just need a clearer idea of what SG/ABV I'm working with. I wish there was a way to have the best of both worlds.
 
Congrats! And I too would like to see brew logs for the award winners :) We recently made our first batch using your "no mix" technique, and the early results are incredible.

*goes off to search for all of DaleP's brew logs*
 
I'll try to put up a few of mine as well...even though you will all think I am nuts with some of my ingredients (or amounts)! Apparently, I did something right, though!! ;D
 
One other thought I'll put out here. My mead is less than a year from the mixing the honey water and yeast. I don't think any STLBrewer's are any older. Food for thought.......
 
So I've gone back and read every thread you've started, Dale, but one question I didn't see answered: what specifically do you use for nutrients? If it's a store brand, do you happen to know the composition?

I'm curious, because I think a lot of the nutrient additions may be what lead to some of the off flavors in young mead. I've been thinking of trying a "no mix" and using just yeast hulls for nutrients, and a little Fermaid K at yeast rehydration time. Yes, with a low nutrient-needs yeast, of course.
 
icedmetal said:
I'm curious, because I think a lot of the nutrient additions may be what lead to some of the off flavors in young mead. I've been thinking of trying a "no mix" and using just yeast hulls for nutrients, and a little Fermaid K at yeast rehydration time. Yes, with a low nutrient-needs yeast, of course.
Click to expand...

This could use some experimentation - because I would infer exactly the opposite, nutrient additions should lessen yeast stress significantly enough to make mead drinkable younger. Unless you're overdosing on nutrients it shouldn't in any way be effecting the taste of the mead once it has cleared (whether it's clearing with time, cold crashing, fining or filtering).
 
A couple of things interacting here though; in a "no mix" method, *I think* the stress on the yeast is significantly reduced, and I would assume, the need for nutrients would be less as well because of that.
 
I use Fermaid K, was sure I mentioned this admistered at the container directions. I also over pitch using 3 packs of yeast in a five gallon batch. Mead really is easy to make.
 
Interesting, that'd mean you're using 18.75g of Fermaid K, so you're getting a fairly decent dose of nutrients up front when you pitch your yeast. I'll look around for the nutrient content info and try to figure out how many ppm YAN that'd end up being in a 5 gallon batch. I'm guessing it's on the low end, but plenty for a low nutrient needs yeast being given little to no osmotic shock or other stress factors.

I'm liking this more and more! I'll probably run a couple test batches side by side so I can do early taste tests between the two. One with stepped nutrient additions as per usual and 10g of yeast pitched (my usual at least), and another with 15g pitched, the Fermaid K to match it per instructions.

Thanks for the info Dale!

*update* Based upon this info... see next post. Removed stuff here due to me getting my GoFerm and Fermaid K mixed up.

Dale, can you confirm that your yeast packets are of the 5g variety?
 
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Err, hmm, I think I'm getting my GoFerm and my Fermaid K mixed up here. :o

*does some more math*

The instructions on my Fermaid K say 1g per gallon of must. So, if you're adding 5g to a 5 gallon batch at the 1/3 break, you're introducing only 34ppm YAN in total.

You don't rehydrate the yeast using GoFerm or anything?
 
I guess I should put together a learning experiment for myself, because as much as I hate not knowing SG, Dale keeps winning prizes!. 2 one gallon batches, identical amounts of the same honey (from same container), one mixed up and done according to my normal process, one done Dale's way exactly (more or less, I'll be going dry and I don't think Dale does). I've done no-mix before to try and hit high ABV, but this'll be just a normal 13% or so mead.
 
If you wanted a better handle on the OG, you could mix up a smaller must with the same ratio of ingredients and get the OG from that. Use it as the base for the main must or do something else with it, whatever suits your fancy. Example: 15 lbs of honey, water to 5 gallons becomes 15 oz of honey, water to 40 fl oz (a 1/16th scale model!).
 
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