I plan on making a new batch of mead. I am in Belgium, and have to use alternatives to fermaid and goferm. I would like to combine lessons learned from the BOMM protocol and SNA. I made many mistakes on my first batch, got lots of good advice from you amazing people, learned much much more since then about mead making, and would like to post my plan for my second attempt for scrutiny and comments. I do not want to mess this one up.
- 19 lbs raw unheated honey from a local apiary, harvested from Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera). This is a rather brown, liquid honey with strong floral and river smells.
- Wyeast 1388 liquid yeast, one smack pack.
- Erbslöh vitaferm F3 nutrient, 30 grams (=6 tsp)
- DAP?
- Kalinat (=KHCO3, potassium carbonate). 5 grams (=1 tsp)
Target volume: 6.5 gallons, target initial gravity: 1.105, target final gravity: anything around or below 1.005 makes me happy.
Honey will be dissolved in warm water, and brought to room temperature.
I will make a one gallon starter in a two gallon bottle first, using 2.5 lbs honey, 1 gram of the Kalinat, 1 tsp total of the nutrient (staggered over 2 1/2 tsp additions: upfront and at 1/3 break), and the liquid yeast pack, smacked one day before addition to the must. This will be dumped in the 5.5 gallon must at 2/3 break, in a brewing bucket.
The large must will have the remaining Kalinat added upfront, and the nutrient in 3 equal additions of 2 tsp: upfront, 1/3 and 2/3 break. Twice daily stirring for aeration and degassing and measuring SG, both for the starter and the main vessel, until 2/3 sugar break. Move to a glass carboy when SG drops below 1.02. Degass daily as long as SG>1.005, then leave alone for 1-2 months. Rack and vacuum degass, and age for several months in carboy.
I have some questions:
- Is this too much honey?
- I have this nutrient called Erbslöh vitaferm F3, which is a brown powdery substance, based on killed yeast with nitrogen, thiamine, and other nutrients, lipids and vitamins added. I cannot find assimilable nitrogen numbers on this stuff, but it seems to be designed for wines, max. allowed dosage under EU law is 1 gram/liter due to B1 content, recommended 0.3-0.4 gram / liter twice (once in the beginning, once at 1/3 sugar break). This sounds a lot like Fermaid K or O. After reading about many people leaving out the DAP for better mead, would it be acceptable to use only this product (no additional pure DAP), up to its max dosage of 1 gram/liter? Or would DAP really be beneficial here?
- Is adding nutrients containing nitrogen a good idea at the 2/3 break? The alcohol level should be around 9% here.
- Should a yeast hull nutrient addition be scheduled in somewhere?
- Should I use any sulfite or sorbate at any point, or before bottling?
The aim is to create a decent dry or off-dry traditional, without any additions of spices, oak, etc... This would give me some benchmark mead to compare the rest to. I will await any feedback before starting this in about 2 weeks.
- 19 lbs raw unheated honey from a local apiary, harvested from Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera). This is a rather brown, liquid honey with strong floral and river smells.
- Wyeast 1388 liquid yeast, one smack pack.
- Erbslöh vitaferm F3 nutrient, 30 grams (=6 tsp)
- DAP?
- Kalinat (=KHCO3, potassium carbonate). 5 grams (=1 tsp)
Target volume: 6.5 gallons, target initial gravity: 1.105, target final gravity: anything around or below 1.005 makes me happy.
Honey will be dissolved in warm water, and brought to room temperature.
I will make a one gallon starter in a two gallon bottle first, using 2.5 lbs honey, 1 gram of the Kalinat, 1 tsp total of the nutrient (staggered over 2 1/2 tsp additions: upfront and at 1/3 break), and the liquid yeast pack, smacked one day before addition to the must. This will be dumped in the 5.5 gallon must at 2/3 break, in a brewing bucket.
The large must will have the remaining Kalinat added upfront, and the nutrient in 3 equal additions of 2 tsp: upfront, 1/3 and 2/3 break. Twice daily stirring for aeration and degassing and measuring SG, both for the starter and the main vessel, until 2/3 sugar break. Move to a glass carboy when SG drops below 1.02. Degass daily as long as SG>1.005, then leave alone for 1-2 months. Rack and vacuum degass, and age for several months in carboy.
I have some questions:
- Is this too much honey?
- I have this nutrient called Erbslöh vitaferm F3, which is a brown powdery substance, based on killed yeast with nitrogen, thiamine, and other nutrients, lipids and vitamins added. I cannot find assimilable nitrogen numbers on this stuff, but it seems to be designed for wines, max. allowed dosage under EU law is 1 gram/liter due to B1 content, recommended 0.3-0.4 gram / liter twice (once in the beginning, once at 1/3 sugar break). This sounds a lot like Fermaid K or O. After reading about many people leaving out the DAP for better mead, would it be acceptable to use only this product (no additional pure DAP), up to its max dosage of 1 gram/liter? Or would DAP really be beneficial here?
- Is adding nutrients containing nitrogen a good idea at the 2/3 break? The alcohol level should be around 9% here.
- Should a yeast hull nutrient addition be scheduled in somewhere?
- Should I use any sulfite or sorbate at any point, or before bottling?
The aim is to create a decent dry or off-dry traditional, without any additions of spices, oak, etc... This would give me some benchmark mead to compare the rest to. I will await any feedback before starting this in about 2 weeks.