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Mead on a Heat Plate

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M

Mu

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 1, 2005
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Melbourne
I have a batch of mead sitting on a heat element (designed for brewing it sits at about 22C) and I was wondering how long it should sit on there (I did a search and couldn’t find anything on this). Now I know it will depend on the recipe and a range of other factors so ill give you as much information as I can.

1kg – Kamarooka honey
1kg – Grey box honey
1g yeast nutrient/energizer
1 blood orange (juiced and zest removed and added to carboy)
1 – clove
1- cinnamon stick
Water 3.8L
So SG was about 1.108 (I was aiming for about 15%ALC)
1 packed of champagne yeast (re-hydrated and added)

This was modeled of the Ancient Orange Recipe, however I tweaked it a little (indecently it smells very nice).

It has been fermenting for 15 days, stating vigorous (a blip every second) and now it has slowed to a blip every 3-4 seconds. The yeast is beginning to settle out (as of the last 3 days or so) so I was thinking now might be a good time to rack it of the lees and remove it from the heat, allowing it to finish what business it has left slowly.

Any recommendations?

Mu.

PS: oh I am still alive despite my lack of posting in recent times.
 
Mu,

Why the hot plate? If I've done the conversion correctly that puts the temp at roughly 72 degrees F.

That's probably fine for most wine yeasts, but I wouldn't want to keep it there too long.

What brand or strain of yeast did you use? I suspect most champagne yeasts will attenuate beyond 15% ABV leaving you with a dry mead. The Ancient Orange is best sweet or semi-sweet.

You should check your specific gravity and at about 1.02 I would stop fermentation with sulfites or cold stabilization, and then hit it with sorbate to keep fermentation from starting back up.

Other than that it sounds good. I've never heard of the honies you are using, so I must assume that you areen't in the USA. (Metric units of measurement are another clue...)

Good luck with it, and if you have access to some toasted Oak, it really adds a nice touch to the AO recipe.

David
 
Why the hot plate?
-It’s winter going on spring here and the temperatures are anything but constant we can have a frost in the morning and a 20C sunny day that follows. The heat plate is just a brewing matt designed to keep the must at a constant temperature (it is designed for beer, wine etc)

What brand or strain of yeast did you use?
-Id like to know the exact strain myself, however the home brew shop I was at recommended it for the statement (I want to be able to get to about 15% with some sugar still left) and they recommended this yeast, simply referred to as ‘Champaign yeast’ (no strain)

I will test the SG this Friday (Im in Australia by the way, and those are local honeys produced by a local apiary)

I have been looking for Oak, but haven’t been able to find any locally, so I may have to mail order from a larger city (Melbourne for me).

I will take it of the plate this Friday (unless anyone has anything to add, I think 2 and a bit weeks at a constant temperature of 22C should be fine to get most of the fermenting done)

Thanks for the reply.

Mu.


EDIT: the SG is at 1.040, so I will probably leave this another week before racking, incidentally the mead is tasting very nice.
 
Sorry Mu, I should have picked up on that!

I've been so busy keeping the air conditioning running at work that it never occurred to me that the Southern Hemisphere might not be in the 80's Farenheit like we are here. (Michigan, USA)

It's been a hot summer here, and I've been worrying about my basement getting too warm!


I've done the hot pad for my winter meads. I'll box up some of our warm weather and email it off to you!

David
 
Oh no I’m quite happy with the cold weather (our summers are far to warm for my liking). How long did you leave your meads on the heat plate for? I was going to wait for mine to get to about 1.010-1.015 and then rack it of to a secondary and let it sit in slightly cooler conditions to finish up. Does that sound like a fair plan?

Mu.
 
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