Making my first mead. Critique my process!

Only comment I would make is to use bottled drinking water or spring water rather than distilled. Some of the minerals in drinking water are good for the yeast...

Like you, I am waiting for one of our equations people to show me exactly how to figure out the amount of honey to add to a batch to get the desired SG...

Finally, go easy on the spices... you can always make a tea and add more later... they are hard/impossible to remove once overdone... I learned this the hard way making cordials...

Here's some links to SG calculations:

http://gotmead.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=process;action=display;num=1094168740;start=0#0

http://gotmead.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=newbees;action=display;num=1091482600;start=1#1

http://gotmead.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=ingredients;action=display;num=1098201582;start=6#6
(See Joe Mattioli's post at the bottom of the page)

http://www.meadmadecomplicated.org/science/specific_gravity.html

Your equipment looks fine but why pasteurize your honey and lose all that flavor and aroma. Try it with no heat. You can warm your water enough to dissolve the honey but not pasteurize it. Any potential infection will be overrun by the rampant reproduction of your yeasties.

I'd hold off on your rose petals until you rack to secondary. Then you can rack your must/mead on top of it to preserve that really delicate and wonderful rose flavor (I have a good rose garden myself) that you will lose a significant measure of when you pasteurize, and in initial fermentation during the venting of CO2.

I've found over my past several batches that the preservation of the honey characteristics, aromas, and tastes, along with the flavors and aromas of the other ingredients I've used is very noticable when using the no-heat method (thanks Joe Mattioli and ScottS).

As an alternative to yeast nutrients you can use raisins, dates, and other dried fruits like currants, blueberries, cherries, cranberries etc. which add plenty of character and have the nutrients to feed your hungry yeasts as they ferment away.

Personally I prefer the D-47 yeast, but I usually pitch 10 g (2 sachets) for each five gallon batch. You'll find that the D-47 will climb to almost 15% (I have an Orange Blossom Show Mead sitting at 14.4% ABV right now made with D-47)

I'd wait with the other chemicals till the end to balance your flavors. I would only use the bentonite if your mead does not clear by itself after several weeks/months.

Just my particular idiom. Joe Mattioli might suggest some grape tannin up front (.6 tsp per gallon) it helps balance your flavor and aids the natural clearing of your mead without having to fine or filter it. Since you have the tea up front you could probably adjust that grape tannin level down. Joe is more knowledgeable in that area than I am.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

I concur on not using pure distilled water. Minerals are good for fermentation. Just use water that tastes good, and minimize the chlorine.

1 lb of honey in a 5 gallon batch is 0.008 to your SG. So 12 lbs of honey (1 gal) will start you off at 1.096. It's only a rule of thumb, it will vary a bit depending on your honey. But I've really only noticed the variation being between 0.008 and 0.009 / lb.

Most purified water like DI and reverse osmosis tends to a lower Ph (5.5-6.0). Spring water might be a better choice for you next batch. I'm thinking about using spring water and reusing the cute little 8oz bottles to keep track of how the mead is aging. Beeboy

haha slow down a bit...one step at a time! ;D

-You may want to consider using bottled spring water if your tap water is that offensive.
-Honey, water, and a pinch of nutrient is an excellent starter.

-people use plastic pails for a few reasons. First of all, sometimes the vigerous fermentation that happens in the first few days can blow the top off a carboy, and second the wide mouth pail allows things like fruits and spices to be added and removed with ease. I personally do not like using plastic but many swear by it.

-Primary fermentation is the initial, vigerous fermentation that produces most of the alcohol that will be in the final product, it also produces A LOT of sediment. The mead/wine/beer is then siphoned off leaving the sediment behind (this is known as racking) and it is put into a clean vessel where the slow phase of the fermentation (secondary fermentation) can finish. The problem with your plan of leaving it in the primary for an extended period of time is two fold. First of all it will be sitting on the sediment (also known as lees) and after a while (exactly how long is debatable) the lees start to break down and produce off flavors in the mead/wine/beer. The other problem is that when you go to bottle some of that sediment will end up in the bottles which can be unattractive, and to some, untasty.

-once sorbate is added a mead/wine cannot be carbonated naturally as the yeast will no longer ferment. Your idea of adding dry ice is interesting, however, the amount of carbonation will vary greatly from bottle to bottle and would be unpredictable. Also corked wine bottles are not suitable for sparkling meads/wines. The glass is not meant to withstand the pressure and nether are the corks. best case scenario the corks pop out...worst case the bottles explode.

For sparlkling mead you will need either champagne bottles (which can either be capped with beer caps or corked with champagne corks), regular beer bottles with beer caps, or grolsch style swing top bottles.

Yes you oculd feed your yeast for a few days to grow more for two batches. However you must be careful that your starter doesnt become infected. If there is a homebrew supply store near you it may be eeasier and safer just to buy a few more packets.

As far as the yeast i only have experience with EC-1118. this has a very high alcohol tolerance (one of the highest) of 18%. it can ferment to complete bone dryness and produces very clean flavors, but in my experience can produce a strong alcohol flavor that sometimes does not age out well. personally i would not suggest it for a first mead unless you are aiming for something very strong or very dry.

A note of caution on the grolsch style bottles. I've known them to explode - bottle bombs - with carbonated mead. The brand was EZ Cap.

I'm planning to use them for my still mead but the bottles I have are much heavier than the EZ Cap bottles and would probably withstand the pressures of carbonated mead.

Hi Fortuna,

If you're aiming for a lower alcohol level then I would recommend a different yeast like D-47 which will put you in that general ball park. D-47 is listed at 12 - 14% alcohol. I've used it several times and it is a great yeast for that alcohol range.

The lees compact well, and it leaves a good residual sweetness with the characteristics of the honey really showing through.

Here's a link to the yeast information chart at Lalvin:

http://consumer.lallemand.com/danstar-lalvin/refchart.html

The EC-1118 is an aggressive yeast and if you are going to top off or backsweeten it will gobble up any additional fermentables you add to your mead during the aging process. It will top out around 20% or above when you "feed" it. It will go to bone dry and be very "hot" on the palate.

I don't make starters for the Lalvin yeasts, I just rehydrate as per the information on their website and have not had a problem. The D-47 takes off in about 6 - 8 hours and bubbles away happily.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

Fortuna_Wolf said:

k, I made up the rhodomel and some cyser.
The cyser was 1 gallon of apple juice, some juice was removed and 2 lbs of honey was added along with spices. The readings are 11.5% potential alcohol and 22 brix. Density, 1.090

The rhodomel had 13 lbs of honey in 5 gallons of spring water. The reading for that is 7% potential alcohol and 15 brix.

This is an old hydrometer that my goduncle used many years ago to make wine. What's going on?

I thought that the 13 lbs of honey should give me about 15%alcohol with 5% sugar.

Click to expand...

Fortuna,
Check out the bottom of the page on this link and it will fill you in on amount of honey, hydrometer readings and Potential alcohol. 1 lb of honey is equivalent to 1 lb of sugar by weight. (not by volume)

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp

Joe

Sure could be. I'm sure your reading is inaccurate. It is best to dissolve the honey in more than 1/2 galllon of water. (Note from brewlogs many use up to 2 gallons) With only 1/2 gallon water, the shaking will oxygenate it but not really mix the honey well enough for an accurate reading. Use the calculations for your OG and ignore your reading. It is always best to completely dissolve the honey and then mix the honey thoroughly in the entire must by stirring well.
Joe

P.S. Your calculations are right on.