This will be my second mead, but I don't know where else to ask this. When making my first mead, I probably made exactly 5 gallons of must. Made sense at the time, but my first racking to the carbouy brought me to less than 5 gallons, and stupid me, I topped off the carbouy with water - weakening my mead I suppose.
This time, I'm making four 1 gallon batches to try four different honeys, but I'm thinking I'm smarter this time. For each one gallon batch I'm going to make 1.25 gallons of must, so when I rack of the lees or sludge, I'll still have 1 solid gallon for the carbouy. Is this right? or should I make the 1 gallon of must, and mix more honey and water to top of the carbouy? The problem with this decision, is even in Ken Schramms book, he never says to make more than (in the case of a 5 gallon batch) 5 gallons of must in his recipes, and I certainly don't want to waste honey.
Just another question before I start my next batch. I've made my yeast starter just a few hours ago, so I need to clean up the loose ends of any questions before tommorrow.
Thanks alot!!
This time, I'm making four 1 gallon batches to try four different honeys, but I'm thinking I'm smarter this time. For each one gallon batch I'm going to make 1.25 gallons of must, so when I rack of the lees or sludge, I'll still have 1 solid gallon for the carbouy. Is this right? or should I make the 1 gallon of must, and mix more honey and water to top of the carbouy? The problem with this decision, is even in Ken Schramms book, he never says to make more than (in the case of a 5 gallon batch) 5 gallons of must in his recipes, and I certainly don't want to waste honey.
Just another question before I start my next batch. I've made my yeast starter just a few hours ago, so I need to clean up the loose ends of any questions before tommorrow.
Thanks alot!!