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55 gallon oak barrel big batch ?s

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mead

NewBee
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Aug 5, 2014
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So i picked up a 55 gallon oak barrel from a friend of a friend recently that was used to make red wine. It smells incredible. I filled it up with water yesterday and lo and behold, still full today.

I asked a little about this in another post but didn't really get an answer and I've tried to do a little searching with not much luck.

I've experimented with about 10 different kinds of mead so far. So I'm still pretty new at this. My main concern is how do i scale up a 5 gallon recipe to 55 gallons. The honey should be easy enough to scale but what about something like fermaid? if I use x amount in 5 gallons, do i just do x times 11? Is it that simple?

What about clarifiers like campden? if i use one tablet per gallon does that still apply at 55 gallons?

I haven't found the recipe I'm going to use for sure yet but it will likely be some sort of traditional. I think a traditional will take the oak flavor a little better. The two meads I've had before aged in oak were both traditional and they were delicious.

Thank you guys for any help!
 

mannye

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I'm not sure about the scale up of the nutrients but I don't think it should be that hard to find out for sure. Maybe sending an email to Lallemand (the producer of Fermaid products) will yield some info as to the correct amount for 50 gallons of mead. Just be aware that at those quantities you have to take ventilation into account. You don't want to walk into your fermentation area and pass out from lack of oxygen!
 

Riverat

Premium Patron
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I believe you will find that most things do scale up in a linier fashion, however at that volume you need to be on top of your temperature control. The little yeasties create heat while they work, not noticeable at the volumes most of us work at (I max out at 15 gal and have temp control) but at that amount, plus the insulating factor of the barrel your must may rapidly become warmer than ambient.
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
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I'd probably want to do the primary in a 55 gal drum and then age it in the barrel once I've racked it off the lees. Might make temperature control a little easier. Then again my biggest batch to date was 15 gal and I did the primary in 3 separate buckets.
 

mead

NewBee
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Aug 5, 2014
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Thanks guys. That's a good idea about calling the manufacturer. I don't know why i didn't think of that. Haha.

My plan is to do pretty much that. I'm going to look for a cheap plastic 55 gallon drum or if that fails a couple of new 30 gallon garbage cans for primary. The two separate 30 gallon primaries might be easier to control the temp also now that i think about it.

You guys are awesome! Thanks! I have been casually looking for a new house and i think i might have found one so I might have to stall a bit on this project until I'm sure I'll be staying or moving. I really don't want to try to move a 55 gallon barrel of mead...
 

mannye

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Don't you have to do something to the barrel to make sure nasty bacteria don't get a foothold in there?
 

Chevette Girl

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I have been casually looking for a new house and i think i might have found one so I might have to stall a bit on this project until I'm sure I'll be staying or moving. I really don't want to try to move a 55 gallon barrel of mead...

Good luck with the house, and no, you really DON'T want to move a 55 gallon barrel of mead...

And you might want to look up what you might need to do to the barrel to keep it sanitary if you're not using it immediately.
 

mead

NewBee
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Aug 5, 2014
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I've been doing a lot of reading about it. If it's kept full than should be good. When you drain it it's important to get it totally dry then you have to burn sulphur in it. Nothing too difficult.

When i got it i was careful to smell the inside as strongly as I can. If there's any funk in it your supposed to be able to smell it.

I've got it full of water right now sitting on two camping chairs in my bank yard. Haha.
 

mead

NewBee
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Aug 5, 2014
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Crap I misunderstood. Can't keep water in it for more than a couple days.... gotta drain it now
 

Chevette Girl

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Heh, either that or get going quick with a huge batch of BOMM so you can have it fermented out quick and store it in the barrel until just before you have to move, then you can bottle it before you move, and then you don't have to worry about having your barrel be empty for too long... Logistics!
 

mead

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 5, 2014
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I thought about doing that but the problem is my finances and my wife are probably only going to let me do this once so i want to make it count. I think a traditional is going to be the best.

I found one site that said to store it full of water and ten that say never to store it with water in it as organisms will grow. That makes sense to me. I found a company that sells barrels that says you can store it for a month or two half full of water with some whiskey in it so that's what i did. I had a little Chivas regal 12 from costco in the cupboard so i dumped it in. That should keep the gross stuff from growing until I can find sulphur sticks to properly sanitize.
 

Chevette Girl

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You'll have to tell us all about this batch when you finally get to it :) I've used unrinsed scotch empties for meads and it's pretty amazing. Do check on it from time to time to make sure nothing's smelling weird, and look up whether you can hit it with sulphites?
 

mead

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 5, 2014
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All the bomm recipes I read had fruit in them. I didn't realize the original was a plain mead similar to what i wanted to do in the barrel. Now I am thinking of doing it in the barrel. I'm going to make a small batch first to make sure i like it but this might be the one i do 55 gallons of.



Recipe and Instructions-

BOMM Recipe - 1 gallon
(Updated for clarity & post fermentation options)

Start with 1 gallon spring water.*
Remove 1/2 cup water to compensate for smack pack volume.*
Draw line on jugs at this water level.*
Remove an additional 3.2 cups of water from jug (757 ml).
Add Orange Blossom honey (or your favorite varietal honey) back to line.*
-About 2.5 lbs. SG 1.099ish.

Add 1/4 tsp DAP and 1/2 tsp of Fermaid K. Add these again at 2/3 (1.066) & 1/3 (1.033) sugar break.*


Add 1/4 tsp K2CO3. One time addition.
-Potassium carbonate (K2CO3) is preferred due to high K+ levels, but potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) will work fine. This is for pH buffering and to provide K+ for the yeast.*

Shake with the top on until honey is fully dissolved. It will require some effort! You're earning your mead!
Add activated Wyeast 1388 yeast smacked for about 2 hours.*
No water in airlock for 7 days or the gravity falls below 1.033. Whichever comes first, add water or vodka to airlock.*
Ferments dry in about a week.
 

loveofrose

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Nov 9, 2012
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All the bomm recipes I read had fruit in them. I didn't realize the original was a plain mead similar to what i wanted to do in the barrel. Now I am thinking of doing it in the barrel. I'm going to make a small batch first to make sure i like it but this might be the one i do 55 gallons of.

For 55 gallons, there are some special considerations to take:

1. Pitch rate - if you look at the 5 gallon batch recipe, you will see I use a 2 liter starter. For a 55 gallon batch, I would use a 5 gallon starter. That is, make a 5 gallon BOMM and pitch it in the 55 gallon batch at day 4 or so.

2. Nutrients - You must scale up a lot! For 5 gallon batches, I use 1 TBSP DAP + 2 TBSP Fermaid K for each of the 3 additions. That's roughly 15 and 30 grams of each times 3! You would need 165 grams DAP and 330 grams of Fermaid K per addition for your batch plus ~8 TBSP K2CO3.
Medsen is testing a completely upfront Fermaid O addition minus K2CO3 currently (Lazy mazer thread). If that works out, then you would need ~1100 grams or 1.1 kilograms of Fermaid O.

3. Temperature - 55 gallons of active yeast makes a lot of heat. You need to pick your time of year right or have a temperature controlled environment to avoid extreme temperatures. So far, 70-80 F has worked with small batches, but you had better stay closer to 60-70 F for a batch this size to avoid any nasty fusels.

4. Aeration - I hope you have a drill powered stirrer and a concrete surface you can spray down. This MEA could be epic!

5. Ventilation - This will make a lot of CO2. Please make sure you don't accidentally suffocate yourself while aerating.

I eagerly wait to see how this turns out! Please do a meadlog!

I would definitely suggest Orange Blossom honey for this. The link below is my source which has very good OB honey at a very reasonable price (60 lbs for $200)

http://www.sweetwatercreekhoneyfarm.com
 
Last edited:

mead

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 5, 2014
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Awesome! Very helpful!!!!

I'm going to do it in my garage where it stays pretty cool. I have a portable air conditioner if it starts to get warm in there that works pretty well.

My garage is detached from my house so no co2 poisoning. :)

I was just wondering how big the starter should be. I can do that. I ordered an attachment for stirring with my drill a few days ago. Up until now I've been doing it manually, which sucks. Haha.

I'll check out that site for the honey. Thanks again!
 

mannye

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Oct 10, 2012
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If you're iffy about the honey then make a gallon before you spend umpteen dollars on a bunch of it. Then if you like what you get, go for it! Pictures must be taken!!


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G
 
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