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First Trad Batches (tupelo and meadowfoam) and ?? new location for Gotmead Calculator

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sdrilling

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 29, 2013
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Midwest USA
Good afternoon all:

We think we are ready to try our hand at making a traditional mead. We have ordered (2) gallons of each meadowfoam and tupelo honey. We will make two batches. One of each type of honey.

Q1 - Are there any suggestions for the best yeast to preserve/enhance the aromas of the Tupelo Batch and the Meadowfoam Batches? I saw a series of posts from Loveofrose about his meadowfoam but did not see the yeast identified.

Q2 - Second, we were going to use the Gotmead Calculator to see if we could back into our recipes but I am not sure where is has been relocated to.

Q3 - Would you suggest fermenting dry and backsweeting or ending the fermentation when the FG came in range?

Batch 1 Tupelo
Yeast - TBD
Honey - 12 Pounds
Water - unknown - goal to end with a FG of 1.005-1.010. What OG should I am for?


Batch 2 Meadowfoam
Yeast - TBD
Honey - 12 Pounds
Water - unknown - goal to end with a FG of 1.005-1.010 What OG should I am for?


Thank you all!
 
Last edited:

GntlKnigt1

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Mar 17, 2004
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Chicago area formerly Netherlands
We have mead calculator downloaded....its around here somewhere....

Sent from the Nexus of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which has been infected with Vogon poetry, some of which leaked out here.
 

loveofrose

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Nov 9, 2012
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Texas
First Trad Batches (tupelo and meadowfoam) and ?? new location for Gotmead Ca...

Q1 - Yeast
First, tupelo is my favorite honey. I've tried DV10, KIV1116, and Wyeast 1388 (BOMM) with this honey. By far the best is Wyeast 1388 with a bonus of being ready in a month. DV10 has good flavor, but the aroma is lost more. KIV1116's ester profile actually fights the tupelo instead of enhancing it.

Meadowfoam. I've only tried Wyeast Dry mead. So far, I cannot recommend it. As soon as I can get some more meadowfoam honey, I will go with Wyeast 1388.

Q2- Calculator
Site is under renovation so it may be a while.

Q3 - FG
It is best to ferment dry then:
A. Step feed honey until your yeast give up and you have the FG you want.
B. Stabilize and backsweeten.
I can only do A. Due to a sulfite allergy.

Tupelo is best in the FG of 1.005-1.010 in my hands.
I would say meadowfoam will definitely need some backsweetening as well.

Hope that helps and welcome to gotmead!


Better brewing through science!
 

danr

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Aug 2, 2012
432
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San Diego, CA
I am sure loveofrose's advise is excellent; I have not tried Wyeast 1388 - a Belgian Strong Ale yeast. I will need to try it soon.

loveofrose does not mention the alcohol tolerance of 1388, but I believe that it is good for an ABV of at least 12%, as are all of the wine yeasts I have used. If you put your entire gallon of honey in your primary, it will ferment dry with most yeasts at an ABV around 11.5%.

If you are making 5 gallon batches, it seems you will need to hold back some honey, stabilize after primary and backsweeten. 1-1/2 pounds of honey will get you about +0.010 SG. If you ferment 10-1/2 pounds of honey dry, your mead will be about 10% ABV.

The other option would be to make smaller batches and use loveofrose's step feeding option.

I believe this is a clone of the GotMead calculator: http://meadcalc.freevar.com/

And Noe saved a copy of the GotMead calculator HERE.
 
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