First time mead question

[Squatchy]

I would suggest to stay away from cheap imports . Especially anything from China. They add lots of HFCS and test have shown they have all sorts of industrial type contaminates, that in US would ban their consumption. One way to tell about the difference of real honey vs HFCS added honey it by pouring out of a container into hot water in a clear vessel. Real honey will pile up in a mound. HFCS added honey will fall down/ spread out flat with not much or no mound.

Lastly. Different yeast strains can add lots of mouthfeel/volume just from the byproducts of the yeast itself. Look for words like polysaccharides. These will make for a bigger bodied mead if you find Mango Jacks is too thin. Often times I blend different meads made from different yeast to get different attributes of the different yeast. I make all the same must but divide it up into different vessels. Run different yeast. Stabilize. Then blend back together.

Different types of oak will add structure/mouthfeel/volume as well without adding much as far as flavor of wood to your mead. Hungarian Oak in Medium or Medium+ would do that for you. French oak would do the same and also add some perceived sweetness to your mead as well without changing your gravity.

 

[eurobug]

Thanks again for all the great information. Nice tip about the HFCS honey, and how to detect it. I will try to buy me some local, or at least European, honey in bulk, instead of using the cheap imported stuff from the store. And I will post a recipe and planned procedure here BEFORE starting it, just to have it checked and avoid nooby mistakes. I will experiment a bit with the backsweetening. I guess I can pour a bottle into a decanter or carafe, and add some honey then. But I guess it wouldn't be the same a sweetening and letting it evolve in the bottle for a long time.
I would be happy to try the blending as well, but I must first practice a lot more, and learn the basics. Try to walk before running, you know. I have some EC-1118 yeast, and Wyeast 1388 Belgian strong ale (I am out of the M05). Am thinking of using one of those for the next batch. But first, gotta find me some good honey!

 

[dennis_knightdog]

Hello,

I know this is a older post and i am very new to mead but I have a question. Couldn't you adjust your SG and not have to back sweeten? M05 goes to 18% by what I see on the internet. so if you got good fresh honey from a local farmer and did the following
5tsp nutiriant
5tsp energizer
5gal water
honey to SG 1.13848
1pkg Mangrove Jacks M05 (good for up to 6gal)

Heat 1 gal water to 120, add honey (about 13lb), hold for 20 minutes. add remaining water to get SG from above. verify temp 105. reconstitute yeast, wait 10 minutes, pitch yeast.

if my calc is correct, and M05 goes to 18% then the FG should be about 1.006 = low end of semi-sweet/high end of dry then you would not have to back sweeten.

Or am I wrong?

 

[bernardsmith]

I am sure that many on this forum will disagree with me but just because something is possible doesn't mean that that outcome is something you want to achieve. Sure, if you enjoy sipping a wine with an ABV of 18%, but does that mean you sip this like a scotch or a vodka? Wouldn't quaffing a mead much like a cider or beer be preferable, or even drinking a couple of glasses of the mead at dinner.
At 18% ABV , how long would this honey wine take to become drinkable? One year? Five?

 

[darigoni]

Wouldn't it be nice if yeast cooperated like that.

The 18% number is probably an average, so you could end up with a 15% mead, with a lot of unfermented honey left over, or a mead that goes bone dry, giving you more than 18% ABV, in which case you either keep feeding it until the yeast finally give up or you cold crash, stabilize and then backsweeten.

Also, yeast have a tendency to stall or not even start fermenting at high OG's.

 

[Dadux]

Hello,

I know this is a older post and i am very new to mead but I have a question. Couldn't you adjust your SG and not have to back sweeten? M05 goes to 18% by what I see on the internet. so if you got good fresh honey from a local farmer and did the following
5tsp nutiriant
5tsp energizer
5gal water
honey to SG 1.13848
1pkg Mangrove Jacks M05 (good for up to 6gal)

Heat 1 gal water to 120, add honey (about 13lb), hold for 20 minutes. add remaining water to get SG from above. verify temp 105. reconstitute yeast, wait 10 minutes, pitch yeast.

if my calc is correct, and M05 goes to 18% then the FG should be about 1.006 = low end of semi-sweet/high end of dry then you would not have to back sweeten.

Or am I wrong?

Welcome to the forums Dennis

Well apart from the fact taht you should not boil honey for meadmaking, and that you will need more than 13lbs:
Yeast is not reliable. IT might go over that 18% into 19-20%
I've had mixed results with M05, in polish sacks it stalls when i add more honey. But i've made ferments with M05 that went bone dry (lowest at 0.990) and ended at 17-18%% ABV. So you might end with an FG of 1.000 or even lower, or higher at 1.015 or so if you f**k up slightly. Why do that when backsweetening is easier and much more accurate? Well fed yeast and not stressed will usually go past their ABV tolerance. Also anything at 18% needs to be aged for at least 6-8 months in my experience to be enjoyable in a glass (but you can make pretty decent stuff in that timeframe if you backsweeten a bit and oak, bernard). I like those high ABV meads, but that is the drawback. Of course you wont quaff it like a beer or even a wine with food, but it makes for a fancy liquor, and a tasty one at that.

SO could you adjust as you say? well you could try. And even after a few tries, you might even manage to get it right were you want it. But backsweetening is easy and reproducible. That being said some people specialize on one strain and know exactly how it works, and yes, they do exactly that, because they have proven recipes or know exactly how many points it will chew in their given case. But if you vary the temps, the nutrients, or anything else, the result might not be the same.

 

[Squatchy]

As a newbee I would encourage you to do as Bernard has said and make a lower ABV that will become drinkable sooner. And as has been said already. Just run it dry at a chosen ABV. Stabilize it and back sweeten. This is so much more controllable.

 

[eurobug]

Thanks for reviving this old thread. Just as a FYI, the mead that this thread started turned out very good, it simply needed some time for aging. I took it to work yesterday for an afternoon tasting, and got very good feedback (one wanted to buy bottles, another one couldn't believe you could make this yourself). Patience indeed seems to be the secret ingredient.

 

[bernardsmith]

You gave away the secret, Eurobug. Patience is always the best unkept secret ingredient :3some: