forgot to record the OG, can I...

[MSW13Brewing]

I read the Mead appendix in Charlie Papazan's book years ago, when I started to brew beer, and have wanted to try it. I found some from the liquor store (wich was actually dry white wine flavored with honey and spices, It wasn't very good by itself, but quite good mixed 50/50 with ginger ale)

This summer I had the pleasure of sampling some REAL mead, "Harvest Cyser" and Warm Hearth" (mead) from Four Quarters Wine (Artemas, PA...fourquarterswine.org) WOW! what a difference!!! I simply had to try making some!!!

I went to my homebrew shop and inquired about making mead, one of the Owners asked me "Why the hell would you want to do that"?. The other Owner, being a winemaker and store owner for at least 30 years (I actually went there as a kid, in 1978, with a friends dad) claimed he didn't know anything about it, except that if mead had fruit in it it was Melomel. I told him I was going to make Cyser, he laughed and acused me of making the word up. Discrimination, Snobbery and Shenanegans, I say!!!

Anyhow, I used the easy mead recipe
1 gallon apple juice
1.5 lbs clover honey
1 tsp acid blend
1tsp yeast nutrient
25 raisins
lalvin EC-1118 yeast

The second batch was the similar, except (feeling a bit silly) I substituted Watermelon juice for the apple juice.

All went well and after I got it into the primary fermentor, I realized in my excitement, I had neglected to take an initial gravity reading. Can I figure it out somehow? Does it really matter? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mark

[ken_schramm]

Sounds like you need to find a better homebrew shop. Or, phrased as piquantly as the one shop owner did, "why the hell would you want to shop there?"

I'd estimate your OG at around 1.110, but the moisture content in your honey and the gravity of your cider could move that a few points in either direction. It is a moot point now, and I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Given the EC-1118, you're going to finish up pretty dry, and it will take a while to age. How it's going to end up is up to the yeast. You could sweeten after it's done fermenting, if you'd like. You'll find instructions on this site if you do a search, I'm sure.

It was that same appendix in Charlie's book that got me started. Good luck.

[Fisher kel Tath]

Originally Posted by ken_schramm

Sounds like you need to find a better homebrew shop. Or, phrased as piquantly as the one shop owner did, "why the hell would you want to shop there?"

I'd estimate your OG at around 1.110, but the moisture content in your honey and the gravity of your cider could move that a few points in either direction. It is a moot point now, and I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Given the EC-1118, you're going to finish up pretty dry, and it will take a while to age. How it's going to end up is up to the yeast. You could sweeten after it's done fermenting, if you'd like. You'll find instructions on this site if you do a search, I'm sure.

It was that same appendix in Charlie's book that got me started. Good luck.

Yea, I had a clover trad that started at 1.100-1.110 range and finished at around .950 with K1V-1118, and that used 3.5lbs of honey. So really it depends on the honey a lot.

[jayich]

Originally Posted by MSW13Brewing

I read the Mead appendix in Charlie Papazan's book years ago, when I started to brew beer, and have wanted to try it. I found some from the liquor store (wich was actually dry white wine flavored with honey and spices, It wasn't very good by itself, but quite good mixed 50/50 with ginger ale)

This summer I had the pleasure of sampling some REAL mead, "Harvest Cyser" and Warm Hearth" (mead) from Four Quarters Wine (Artemas, PA...fourquarterswine.org) WOW! what a difference!!! I simply had to try making some!!!

I went to my homebrew shop and inquired about making mead, one of the Owners asked me "Why the hell would you want to do that"?. The other Owner, being a winemaker and store owner for at least 30 years (I actually went there as a kid, in 1978, with a friends dad) claimed he didn't know anything about it, except that if mead had fruit in it it was Melomel. I told him I was going to make Cyser, he laughed and acused me of making the word up. Discrimination, Snobbery and Shenanegans, I say!!!

Anyhow, I used the easy mead recipe
1 gallon apple juice
1.5 lbs clover honey
1 tsp acid blend
1tsp yeast nutrient
25 raisins
lalvin EC-1118 yeast

The second batch was the similar, except (feeling a bit silly) I substituted Watermelon juice for the apple juice.

All went well and after I got it into the primary fermentor, I realized in my excitement, I had neglected to take an initial gravity reading. Can I figure it out somehow? Does it really matter? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mark

If you have some of the original apple juice,- like another bottle-
you could determine its' SG . The average SG of honey is 1.416. Since honey weighs about 11.8lbs. per gallon, you used about 0.127 gallons of honey. Your OG could then be calculated approximately from the following sum:
0.127(1.416) + 1(SG of apple juice), divided by 1.127, which is the approximate total volume in gallons.
Good luck,
Steve

[MSW13Brewing]

Originally Posted by ken_schramm

Sounds like you need to find a better homebrew shop. Or, phrased as piquantly as the one shop owner did, "why the hell would you want to shop there?"

I'd estimate your OG at around 1.110, but the moisture content in your honey and the gravity of your cider could move that a few points in either direction. It is a moot point now, and I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Given the EC-1118, you're going to finish up pretty dry, and it will take a while to age. How it's going to end up is up to the yeast. You could sweeten after it's done fermenting, if you'd like. You'll find instructions on this site if you do a search, I'm sure.

It was that same appendix in Charlie's book that got me started. Good luck.

The next closest brew shop is about 100 mile round trip. Besides, I sometimes ENJOY making a nuisance of myself! I'll make them accept me, and hopefully get others interested in mead making and refer them to the shop for advise...

MUUU-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA...

(ahem) sorry. They're actually OK, they're just purists I guess. I'm sure I've annoyed the hell out of them on more than one occasion! Live and let live, so on, and so forth.

Anyhow, thanks for the Info on the OG, I wasn't overly worried about it, but it's nice to have the info to learn from. I'm not a big dry fan, so I recon I will have to back sweeten a bit, especially on the "Mellow Melon Melomel" (almost makes me wish my name is Mel!).
I'm already formulating the next batch for a more traditional, semi-sweet with a hint of vanilla.

Mark