Hey everyone. I've been wanting to make mead for a long time, and when I saw a pretty straightforward recipie posted on another board I decided to go ahead and jump into it. Well, since then I've done some reading on a few forums and gotten Ken Schramm's book on the subject. Now I'm a week into fermentation and I have a few questions since I'd like to do this right. First off here is my recipe:
Honey: Clover Honey, 10 lbs
2 vanilla beans, boiled with the honey
Yeast: Lalvin EC-1118 Saccharomyces Bayanus
Total volume: ~4 gallons
I realize now that boiling the honey may not have been the best approach, and I didn't add any additional nutrients/take an additional hydrometer reading or any of the other things I know in retrospect I ought to have done. My primary fermenter is a 5 gallon glass carboy, which is about 2/3 full with the must. Here are my questions:
1. A week into fermentation, I have no foam but can see a few bubbles rising from the sides. The airlock bubbles about once every 8 seconds, and has been bubbling at this rate since about the second day of fermentation. I know it's hard to tell without hydrometer readings, but does this seem normal or slower than it should be? Is it too late to add nutrients? I should be getting my hydrometer in the mail tuesday so hopefully I'll have a better idea then.
2. The original recipie said to let the must ferment about a month and then bottle it. Now everything I've read says that once fermentaiton is done I should rack to a secondary fermenter and let it sit for six months or so. the problem is that in two months I'll be moving and don't know how easy it will be to transport a 5 gallon carboy 800 miles or so. I only started now because I thought after a month I'd be able to let it age bottled. Is that in any way possible, or will the bottles explode if I don't let it sit in secondary for a few months? Can I at least split up the mead into a couple smaller carboys and maybe leave them sealed for the day or two it will take me to move them?
3. I understand that the yeast I'm using ferments a very dry mead. Is the recipie I've used OK for that yeast, and if not is there anything I can do now to fix it up a bit?
Thanks for any help. Sorry this is so long but I'm trying to atone for a lot of early mistakes. I don't want to lose my first batch if I don't have to!
Honey: Clover Honey, 10 lbs
2 vanilla beans, boiled with the honey
Yeast: Lalvin EC-1118 Saccharomyces Bayanus
Total volume: ~4 gallons
I realize now that boiling the honey may not have been the best approach, and I didn't add any additional nutrients/take an additional hydrometer reading or any of the other things I know in retrospect I ought to have done. My primary fermenter is a 5 gallon glass carboy, which is about 2/3 full with the must. Here are my questions:
1. A week into fermentation, I have no foam but can see a few bubbles rising from the sides. The airlock bubbles about once every 8 seconds, and has been bubbling at this rate since about the second day of fermentation. I know it's hard to tell without hydrometer readings, but does this seem normal or slower than it should be? Is it too late to add nutrients? I should be getting my hydrometer in the mail tuesday so hopefully I'll have a better idea then.
2. The original recipie said to let the must ferment about a month and then bottle it. Now everything I've read says that once fermentaiton is done I should rack to a secondary fermenter and let it sit for six months or so. the problem is that in two months I'll be moving and don't know how easy it will be to transport a 5 gallon carboy 800 miles or so. I only started now because I thought after a month I'd be able to let it age bottled. Is that in any way possible, or will the bottles explode if I don't let it sit in secondary for a few months? Can I at least split up the mead into a couple smaller carboys and maybe leave them sealed for the day or two it will take me to move them?
3. I understand that the yeast I'm using ferments a very dry mead. Is the recipie I've used OK for that yeast, and if not is there anything I can do now to fix it up a bit?
Thanks for any help. Sorry this is so long but I'm trying to atone for a lot of early mistakes. I don't want to lose my first batch if I don't have to!