I realize that this post regenerates itself several thousand times a year, but I'm excited about having my first batch bubbling away.
I have some very general questions, I have looked through the forum, but need more basic information.
I want to make a very simple, probably boring, standard mead for my first batch. I used 15# clover honey, that was already "clean", but not processed. I used filtered water so I did not boil anything, I only heated the water up to dissolve the honey into solution.
I used the disodium phosphate as a acid balancer, as I'm not too horribly worried about becoming a purist quite yet, and a normal yeast nutrient packet from the local brew shop.
All the yummy goodness went into the carboy (6.5gal for a 5 gallon batch) and I pitched dry champagne yeast when the temp dropped into the mid 80's.
In my excitement, and due to my sheer mastery of beer making ;-) I forgot to take an OG reading.....my bad...any guesses at what 15# of clover honey in a 5 gallon batch comes in at?
I did oxygenate though...I use an airstone and pure oxygen from the hardware store. I also use Star San for sanitation, it has never failed me...great stuff.
It has been about 16 hours and my little carboy of happiness is bubbling away, so I must have done something right.
I got 2 packets of yeast, thinking that at some point, I will probably want to repitch to keep things moving.
It seems that some people rack compuslively, while others let their mead sit for months. Some age/ferment for eons, while others bottle inside of a couple of months.
With a plain, standard mead, nothing fancy, what kind of a timeframe am I looking at? I am expecting about 4 months til bottling, but know from experience that it can very dramatically. I talked to one person this past week that indicated that he had made mead in the past and it wasn't very good...of course, he did a 3 week primary, a 3 week secondary, bottled and drank it...that doesn't seem like it would have been anywhere near done yet...
Is there anything I can do as time goes by to possibly give 'er a little zip without diverting too far from the path of a basic mead?
How many times do people rack on average? My brew shop recommended racking every month for 4 months. That seems excessive, but I won't really know until I see how much stuff I get at the bottom.
Any general pointers wold be greatly appreciated. I know that I have plenty of time to poke around and figure things out, but I'm impatient.
It's a good thing that I have been making beer for a while and have developed the ability to ignore the carboys for months at a time. Beer was bad enough for an impatient person, mead would have killed me.
Thanks...
Paul.
I have some very general questions, I have looked through the forum, but need more basic information.
I want to make a very simple, probably boring, standard mead for my first batch. I used 15# clover honey, that was already "clean", but not processed. I used filtered water so I did not boil anything, I only heated the water up to dissolve the honey into solution.
I used the disodium phosphate as a acid balancer, as I'm not too horribly worried about becoming a purist quite yet, and a normal yeast nutrient packet from the local brew shop.
All the yummy goodness went into the carboy (6.5gal for a 5 gallon batch) and I pitched dry champagne yeast when the temp dropped into the mid 80's.
In my excitement, and due to my sheer mastery of beer making ;-) I forgot to take an OG reading.....my bad...any guesses at what 15# of clover honey in a 5 gallon batch comes in at?
I did oxygenate though...I use an airstone and pure oxygen from the hardware store. I also use Star San for sanitation, it has never failed me...great stuff.
It has been about 16 hours and my little carboy of happiness is bubbling away, so I must have done something right.
I got 2 packets of yeast, thinking that at some point, I will probably want to repitch to keep things moving.
It seems that some people rack compuslively, while others let their mead sit for months. Some age/ferment for eons, while others bottle inside of a couple of months.
With a plain, standard mead, nothing fancy, what kind of a timeframe am I looking at? I am expecting about 4 months til bottling, but know from experience that it can very dramatically. I talked to one person this past week that indicated that he had made mead in the past and it wasn't very good...of course, he did a 3 week primary, a 3 week secondary, bottled and drank it...that doesn't seem like it would have been anywhere near done yet...
Is there anything I can do as time goes by to possibly give 'er a little zip without diverting too far from the path of a basic mead?
How many times do people rack on average? My brew shop recommended racking every month for 4 months. That seems excessive, but I won't really know until I see how much stuff I get at the bottom.
Any general pointers wold be greatly appreciated. I know that I have plenty of time to poke around and figure things out, but I'm impatient.
It's a good thing that I have been making beer for a while and have developed the ability to ignore the carboys for months at a time. Beer was bad enough for an impatient person, mead would have killed me.
Thanks...
Paul.