requesting feedback on recipe/mead calculator

I kinda disagree that 1.140 is hard for EC-1118. I have a batch going that started at 1.147 and the EC-1118 started chomping away on it almost right away. After a week it was already down to 1.040. I think people that have trouble with hi-OG musts and 1118 must not be aerating or using enough nutrients or something.

That said, I do agree that if you want to hit the yeast's max ABV tolerance, step-feeding is the way to to.

You can still stir it up and aerate at this point, so no it is not a complete loss.

IMO, if you are just starting out making adult beverages, don't shoot for the stars. Hitting 18% ABV on an 18% yeast is like never having seen a dartboard and hitting the bullseye on the first throw. Keep it simple and you'll be a lot less disappointed and maybe enjoy the hobby instead of stress about it.

That being said, Chevette covered all the bases for what you need to do to get a sack mead but, you need to start by having sound brewing processes (aeration, nutrient additions, temp control, recipe). No one makes "great" mead by just dumping it together and waiting to "see what happens", you can make drinkable mead but not something at 18%.

Thankfully you can save this batch no problem. Stir/shake it up and get it mostly mixed. Or, if you have an aeration system get it aerated.

What you are making is a show mead, go ahead and search show mead on these forums and you'll soon find out this is a very difficult style to manage. Honey, unlike fruits and grain, has very little nutrients to help the yeast stay healthy and happy, therefore, you need to supply them or the yeast will be very slow, stressed, and possibly just stop early.

A good solution would be to add in some fruit or fruit juice(if you have the head space). If you don't you might want to pull some water off the top before you mix it up. Just pull off a half to a full gallon and replace it with some juice(orange, grape, apple, etc). Add some spices too if you like, heck, go for a Joe's Ancient Orange maybe, it's always a crowd pleaser.

IMO make a few batches to just work on your process. Get a good process in place that produces the best mead you can and THEN try for an 18% ABV mead, if you still think you need to try for it. Personally, I'd rather make a very drinkable mead rather then just try to make a really high ABV drink. You want a high ABV mead, just spike it with a shot of vodka, viola.

Although getting a dry mead at 18% ABV is a challenge, with some good fermentation management practices you can get there, and you can still get there with this batch. As others have already noted you should aerate the must to get as much oxygen dissolved into it as possible. I would also recommend that you pitch some more EC-1118 yeast, but rehydrate it first. To find out more about rehydration (using either plain water or water with a rehydration nutrient like GoFerm added), have a look at the Newbee Guide to Meadmaking. There's a link to it over on the left side of this page. You'll learn a lot about managing fermentation there that will really help to maximize the chances for success with this batch. You might also want to consider adding some yeast nutrient to the batch once your yeast do show some signs of fermentation - without nutrients, any yeast including EC-1118 will have a difficult time fermenting to complete dryness starting from a high initial gravity batch like this one. As someone else noted you can get some of those nutrients from fruit additions, or you can make your own "poor man's" nutrient from boiled baker's yeast. There are many ways to go with nutrient additions, and if you poke around the forums here a bit you'll learn a lot, including various staggered nutrient addition methods. Use the Search tool (link is near the top right of this page, in a menu bar), and you'll uncover a wealth of info.

One other thing to keep in mind - a dry mead with that high of an ethanol concentration will likely take a long time (many months) to mellow out and become easily drinkable. Don't be surprised if your first taste, once fermentation is over, reminds you more of paint thinner than anything else. That is common with high proof meads, since the yeast will produce more than ethanol when they are stressed by such a challenging environment, and those other byproducts of fermentation (fusels, etc.) are very harsh tasting at first - they take some time to break down into things that are more pleasant.

But don't be discouraged - you've chosen quite a challenging first batch, but since it is a dry traditional mead (where there will be no residual sugar or fruit flavors to hide behind) you'll learn a lot about meadmaking regardless of how it turns out.

Surprisingly no one has yet said it, but if you don't already have one than get yourself a Hydrometer. Without it you will never know when your mead has reached its conclusion. Even if it looks like it has stopped it could have just stalled and you could be sitting on a cloyingly sweet mead instead of the dry mead that you want. Airlock activity is not a true indicator of fermentation activity, sometimes a mead will ferment and you will see very little activity in the airlock and activity can continue due to gasses leaving the must and changes in atmospheric conditions.