First mead, 1 gallon Meadowfoam traditional. It started life as Meadowfoam BOMM but it isn't headed in that direction any more. I have a spreadsheet with all the details and graphs, but apparently I can't post attachments.
The original plan - Recipe is for one gallon. 3.5# Meadowfoam. 0.4tsp Fermaid K. 0.25tsp K2CO3. 0.8tsp Fermaid O at start, and added again at 1.110 and 1.070. Add water to 1/2 cup short of a gallon. Add smack pack Wyeast 1388. Target OG 1.140, FG 1.020, ABV 15.7%. Cold crash and bottle. Should take about 5 wks. Meadowfoam BOMM, basically.
Reality -
Bobbled between adding water and adding honey to hit OG. Based on the data, honey was probably not quite sufficiently mixed. I pulled samples from nearer the bottom of the bucket. OG was likely really about 1.125 to 1.13 and not the target 1.14 (based on back projecting the SG data in the spreadsheet that I can't post). Honey is about 11.85oz/cup, so counting the smack pack, held off 5 1/4 cups water from the gallon to start. But added more honey and water while trying to hit OG.
Used Deer Park spring water, and honey from two sources - MoreBeer and Ashville Bee Charmers. Used 2 gallon bucket for primary. Targeted low ferment temp for 1388. This slowed the ferment a lot apparently. Only used about two hours between smacking the 1388 and pitching. Inflation of the pack was low; it could have used a couple more hours. Note, tended to give the primary a good shaking when passing by, between degassing sessions. Degassed using wire whisk while in primary. Used OneStep for initial cleaning and sanitation, but afterwards just used water from the faucet until racking. pH test strips used ad-hoc, and Tilt Hydrometer used for monitoring temperature and SG via Raspberry Pi in the primary. The Tilt Hydrometer worked very well.
Siphoned to secondary. Siphon clip slipped off the edge of the bucket of course, so lost a little in transfer. Got nearly all the liquid out of the primary. Still wasn’t enough. Added spring water and honey in stages later, along with a little bit of Fermaid O. That got the ferment going strongly again, but not for very long. Used Foodsaver and universal cork to degas and this worked very well. Unfortunately the Tilt Hydrometer wouldn’t quite fit through the opening in this particular one gallon carboy. So I used Fluke IR thermometer and FG Hydrometer to make readings. pH meter and test strips giving different results by about 0.4 or 0.5. That’s quite significant. I think I’ll stick with test strips for the time being until I can verify meter calibration.
In the summary I'm leaving off lots of entries. Essentially degassed and aerated three times a day and recorded measurements for much of the time in primary.
Log summary -
11/17 20:00 1.140 72F Pitch. SG via hydrometer. Smells like frying pancakes, quite strongly. OG suspect? Mixed enough? Probably not quite, given how the data (following) looks over the first few days.
11/18 04:51 1.120 67F Measurements now via Tilt Hydrometer. Tilt SG limit supposedly around 1.12 so not completely trusting.
11/18 21:30 1.115 68F Degas + aerate. Dark amber.
11/19 08:54 1.111 69F Now smells like sweet beer
11/19 15:16 1.109 68F Degas. 3/4tsp Fermaid O. 60 seconds O2 via stone.
11/20 00:10 1.103 68F 3.8pH via test strip.
11/21 10:03 1.088 68F Medium amber. Low odor. Honey and beer smell balancing.
11/23 17:17 1.071 67F Vigorous degas. pH test strip. Smells more cidery.
11/23 20:20 1.070 67F 3/4tsp Fermaid O, Aerate. Temp reading taken late as aeration cooled to 66F.
11/26 14:12 1.046 68F 3.5pH via test strip. Degas. Taste is a little hot, delayed bitter aftertaste.
11/27 21:40 1.038 68F 3.6pH via test strip. Degas more vigorously. Increased temp. Ferment slowing.
11/28 20:50 1.033 69F Degas. Low foaming now during degassing.
11/29 23:50 1.028 69F 3.6pH. Heavy degassing under its foam blanket.
12/01 01:30 1.025 69F 3.6pH. Airlock activity nearly stopped so vigorous degassed. pH test strip. Taste improving. Still no hint of marshmallow. A touch too sweet. Decreased bitter aftertaste. Hinting it may end up tasting good.
12/01 23:53 1.022 69F About a minute between bubbles in airlock.
12/02 21:00 1.020 70F
12/04 21:00 1.017 69F
12/06 09:15 1.016 69F Put primary bucket in sink, tilted, in prep for racking this evening. Don’t want CO2 output completely stopped before racking. A few minutes per bubble now.
12/06 20:50 1.015 70F Racked about an hour later. A little less than 1/8” sediment on bottom. Got about all the liquid out. Medium brown, very cloudy. Can’t see through it at all. There wasn’t enough liquid to fill the one gallon carboy. Bubbling about once per two minutes now so should be fine. Debating adding some more water and honey. Didn’t take any readings after racking.
12/07 07:30 Added spring water to raise level about an inch. Will add some honey later. Figured to let the yeast have an easier time dropping SG for a bit with reduced ABV. Tilt Hydrometer won’t quite fit in this bottle.
12/07 13:50 1.012 Degassed by shaking a few times. Added 1/16tsp Fermaid O. SG by FG Hydrometer. Smell is slightly cleaner after racking, but smells like beer.
12/07 20:00 Added about an ounce of honey but it basically sank to the bottom and resisted mixing. Thats enough for about 2.5 points. Used the foodsaver vacuum for degassing with a universal cork. That worked very well. I pulled out much more CO2 than I expected. Water level ok now as I added a tiny bit more. Expect to have to add more honey in a few days.
12/08 21:15 It was bubbling about once every 15 seconds this morning. Down to about once per minute now.
12/08 22:05 1.013 71F 3.5pH pH test strip, IR temp, FG hydrometer reading, all after vacuum degassing. Taste test - relatively balanced sweet and bitter. Less bitter than before. Meadowfoam taste characteristics coming through better. Still needs mellowing, but would be drinkable. Still smells like a beer. Dropped room temp a little. Note, SG rise expected due to previous honey addition. I think it is now mixed and about half fermented.
12/10 22:00 1.013 69F Going to turn temperature up slightly. Mead has been bubbling slowly, but obviously the SG isn’t dropping much. It is a bit too sweet. Bitterness fading. Improving overall, but seemed less complex flavor this time. If gravity hasn’t dropped next check, I may add a little bit of spring water as there is room. That will drop the ABV and SG very slightly, and might help the yeast to go a little farther afterwards. Temp by IR, pH by electronic probe at 4.0. Large difference from test strip. Leaving data out of the graph due to differences, until probe is calibrated or I have independent check of pH. Vacuum degassed after temp reading but before the rest. Swirled when done to stir up lees. Note, weather temperature swings lately (and I suspect neighbor’s thermostat settings) making room temp hard to control.
12/11 12:30 69F Added a little spring water to top it up. It might have been as much as an inch in the neck of the carboy.
12/11 22:20 1.013 69.6F 3.6pH Milder vacuum degassing. pH test strip, IR thermometer.
I put some of the mead in a glass to get a better idea of how it is coming along. In a glass, one can smell some vanilla, a bit of honey, and perhaps a slight touch of beer. It smells fine. Taste, even less bitter than last time. The bitter is not objectionable. Some honey flavor, some alcohol but not at all hot. Smoothing out nicely. One would think it has much less alcohol than it does (about 15%).
I’d drink this in preference to any beer I ever tasted and in preference to some wines. The flavor is not complex and it may still be on the sweet side but not too bad.
So that's basically where it stands now. If one graphs the SG over time, the curve is flatter the last half of the elapsed time and essentially flat the last week. I guess it is either stalled or done.
It isn't quite where I think it should be, but it is already pleasant. So I don't want to hit the sewer while shooting for the moon if that makes sense... To my taste it should be slightly drier and a little more complex. Note, not a hint of marshmallow in the flavor. When I saw it was going in a different direction I quit paying attention to the rest of the Meadowfoam BOMM directions (cold crashing, etc).
It seems I have a few options on where to go from here:
A) Do nothing; call it done. Don't mess it up!
B) Hit it with something like K1-V1116 to try to dry it out, then stabilize and backsweeten. However I have no idea what that will do to the nose and taste, or how much that might extend the aging time.
C) Assume the remaining bitterness will decrease as it clears. Oak it to balance the semi-sweetness.
D) ??? No idea what to do otherwise.
It has a LONG way to go to clear, and by age of course it is quite young. By flavor it doesn't seem all that young to me.
Those with experience at this sort of thing, what would you do?
Thanks, and sorry about the overly long post.
Gerald
The original plan - Recipe is for one gallon. 3.5# Meadowfoam. 0.4tsp Fermaid K. 0.25tsp K2CO3. 0.8tsp Fermaid O at start, and added again at 1.110 and 1.070. Add water to 1/2 cup short of a gallon. Add smack pack Wyeast 1388. Target OG 1.140, FG 1.020, ABV 15.7%. Cold crash and bottle. Should take about 5 wks. Meadowfoam BOMM, basically.
Reality -
Bobbled between adding water and adding honey to hit OG. Based on the data, honey was probably not quite sufficiently mixed. I pulled samples from nearer the bottom of the bucket. OG was likely really about 1.125 to 1.13 and not the target 1.14 (based on back projecting the SG data in the spreadsheet that I can't post). Honey is about 11.85oz/cup, so counting the smack pack, held off 5 1/4 cups water from the gallon to start. But added more honey and water while trying to hit OG.
Used Deer Park spring water, and honey from two sources - MoreBeer and Ashville Bee Charmers. Used 2 gallon bucket for primary. Targeted low ferment temp for 1388. This slowed the ferment a lot apparently. Only used about two hours between smacking the 1388 and pitching. Inflation of the pack was low; it could have used a couple more hours. Note, tended to give the primary a good shaking when passing by, between degassing sessions. Degassed using wire whisk while in primary. Used OneStep for initial cleaning and sanitation, but afterwards just used water from the faucet until racking. pH test strips used ad-hoc, and Tilt Hydrometer used for monitoring temperature and SG via Raspberry Pi in the primary. The Tilt Hydrometer worked very well.
Siphoned to secondary. Siphon clip slipped off the edge of the bucket of course, so lost a little in transfer. Got nearly all the liquid out of the primary. Still wasn’t enough. Added spring water and honey in stages later, along with a little bit of Fermaid O. That got the ferment going strongly again, but not for very long. Used Foodsaver and universal cork to degas and this worked very well. Unfortunately the Tilt Hydrometer wouldn’t quite fit through the opening in this particular one gallon carboy. So I used Fluke IR thermometer and FG Hydrometer to make readings. pH meter and test strips giving different results by about 0.4 or 0.5. That’s quite significant. I think I’ll stick with test strips for the time being until I can verify meter calibration.
In the summary I'm leaving off lots of entries. Essentially degassed and aerated three times a day and recorded measurements for much of the time in primary.
Log summary -
11/17 20:00 1.140 72F Pitch. SG via hydrometer. Smells like frying pancakes, quite strongly. OG suspect? Mixed enough? Probably not quite, given how the data (following) looks over the first few days.
11/18 04:51 1.120 67F Measurements now via Tilt Hydrometer. Tilt SG limit supposedly around 1.12 so not completely trusting.
11/18 21:30 1.115 68F Degas + aerate. Dark amber.
11/19 08:54 1.111 69F Now smells like sweet beer
11/19 15:16 1.109 68F Degas. 3/4tsp Fermaid O. 60 seconds O2 via stone.
11/20 00:10 1.103 68F 3.8pH via test strip.
11/21 10:03 1.088 68F Medium amber. Low odor. Honey and beer smell balancing.
11/23 17:17 1.071 67F Vigorous degas. pH test strip. Smells more cidery.
11/23 20:20 1.070 67F 3/4tsp Fermaid O, Aerate. Temp reading taken late as aeration cooled to 66F.
11/26 14:12 1.046 68F 3.5pH via test strip. Degas. Taste is a little hot, delayed bitter aftertaste.
11/27 21:40 1.038 68F 3.6pH via test strip. Degas more vigorously. Increased temp. Ferment slowing.
11/28 20:50 1.033 69F Degas. Low foaming now during degassing.
11/29 23:50 1.028 69F 3.6pH. Heavy degassing under its foam blanket.
12/01 01:30 1.025 69F 3.6pH. Airlock activity nearly stopped so vigorous degassed. pH test strip. Taste improving. Still no hint of marshmallow. A touch too sweet. Decreased bitter aftertaste. Hinting it may end up tasting good.
12/01 23:53 1.022 69F About a minute between bubbles in airlock.
12/02 21:00 1.020 70F
12/04 21:00 1.017 69F
12/06 09:15 1.016 69F Put primary bucket in sink, tilted, in prep for racking this evening. Don’t want CO2 output completely stopped before racking. A few minutes per bubble now.
12/06 20:50 1.015 70F Racked about an hour later. A little less than 1/8” sediment on bottom. Got about all the liquid out. Medium brown, very cloudy. Can’t see through it at all. There wasn’t enough liquid to fill the one gallon carboy. Bubbling about once per two minutes now so should be fine. Debating adding some more water and honey. Didn’t take any readings after racking.
12/07 07:30 Added spring water to raise level about an inch. Will add some honey later. Figured to let the yeast have an easier time dropping SG for a bit with reduced ABV. Tilt Hydrometer won’t quite fit in this bottle.
12/07 13:50 1.012 Degassed by shaking a few times. Added 1/16tsp Fermaid O. SG by FG Hydrometer. Smell is slightly cleaner after racking, but smells like beer.
12/07 20:00 Added about an ounce of honey but it basically sank to the bottom and resisted mixing. Thats enough for about 2.5 points. Used the foodsaver vacuum for degassing with a universal cork. That worked very well. I pulled out much more CO2 than I expected. Water level ok now as I added a tiny bit more. Expect to have to add more honey in a few days.
12/08 21:15 It was bubbling about once every 15 seconds this morning. Down to about once per minute now.
12/08 22:05 1.013 71F 3.5pH pH test strip, IR temp, FG hydrometer reading, all after vacuum degassing. Taste test - relatively balanced sweet and bitter. Less bitter than before. Meadowfoam taste characteristics coming through better. Still needs mellowing, but would be drinkable. Still smells like a beer. Dropped room temp a little. Note, SG rise expected due to previous honey addition. I think it is now mixed and about half fermented.
12/10 22:00 1.013 69F Going to turn temperature up slightly. Mead has been bubbling slowly, but obviously the SG isn’t dropping much. It is a bit too sweet. Bitterness fading. Improving overall, but seemed less complex flavor this time. If gravity hasn’t dropped next check, I may add a little bit of spring water as there is room. That will drop the ABV and SG very slightly, and might help the yeast to go a little farther afterwards. Temp by IR, pH by electronic probe at 4.0. Large difference from test strip. Leaving data out of the graph due to differences, until probe is calibrated or I have independent check of pH. Vacuum degassed after temp reading but before the rest. Swirled when done to stir up lees. Note, weather temperature swings lately (and I suspect neighbor’s thermostat settings) making room temp hard to control.
12/11 12:30 69F Added a little spring water to top it up. It might have been as much as an inch in the neck of the carboy.
12/11 22:20 1.013 69.6F 3.6pH Milder vacuum degassing. pH test strip, IR thermometer.
I put some of the mead in a glass to get a better idea of how it is coming along. In a glass, one can smell some vanilla, a bit of honey, and perhaps a slight touch of beer. It smells fine. Taste, even less bitter than last time. The bitter is not objectionable. Some honey flavor, some alcohol but not at all hot. Smoothing out nicely. One would think it has much less alcohol than it does (about 15%).
I’d drink this in preference to any beer I ever tasted and in preference to some wines. The flavor is not complex and it may still be on the sweet side but not too bad.
So that's basically where it stands now. If one graphs the SG over time, the curve is flatter the last half of the elapsed time and essentially flat the last week. I guess it is either stalled or done.
It isn't quite where I think it should be, but it is already pleasant. So I don't want to hit the sewer while shooting for the moon if that makes sense... To my taste it should be slightly drier and a little more complex. Note, not a hint of marshmallow in the flavor. When I saw it was going in a different direction I quit paying attention to the rest of the Meadowfoam BOMM directions (cold crashing, etc).
It seems I have a few options on where to go from here:
A) Do nothing; call it done. Don't mess it up!
B) Hit it with something like K1-V1116 to try to dry it out, then stabilize and backsweeten. However I have no idea what that will do to the nose and taste, or how much that might extend the aging time.
C) Assume the remaining bitterness will decrease as it clears. Oak it to balance the semi-sweetness.
D) ??? No idea what to do otherwise.
It has a LONG way to go to clear, and by age of course it is quite young. By flavor it doesn't seem all that young to me.
Those with experience at this sort of thing, what would you do?
Thanks, and sorry about the overly long post.
Gerald