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Mead Calculator Assistance

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painthappy

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 23, 2005
8
0
0
So I'm trying to play around with the mead calculator, but I'm not 100% sure what I'm supposed to extropolate from it...

I'd use the mead calculator help button, but it sends me to a non-existing page... so... here I am. So any help would really be appreciated.


I have a mini batch that's currently bubbling away right now.

3 Gallon
~ 10 Lbs Honey
32 Oz Unsweetened Cranberry Juice
1 Pkg Red Star Pasteur Yeast
3 Tsp Yeast Nutrient

All looks good, smells good, and it tastes even better.

But I'm not sure if I needed to add MORE honey? I'm trying to use the calculator using this recipie to learn how to use it.

My first reading was off my Hydrometer chart, I had the wrong hydrometer (used for beer.. not mead..) so I'm guessing the OG was 1.13 to 1.14


So, how can I learn to use this usefull too?


Thanks in advance to all the guru's around here. This is only my second batch, but I'm already hooked!


Carter
 

davarm

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 6, 2005
107
0
0
61
The calculator is a great tool to figure out what your Original Gravity (OG) will be with given ingredients (fermentable sugars & water), or you can tweak the quantity of ingredients to achieve a desired OG. The calculator is not always precise because the sugar content in anything can vary enough to impact the gravity.

To use the calculator, check all of the "known" so they are part of the equation. Even though it's optional, make sure the current gravity is set to 1.0, which is water with nothing added. On the bottom of the page, check "Target Volume" and plug in 3 gallons.

You have two items with fermentable sugars; honey and cranberry juice. You will enter these values in "Additional sugars 1 & 2". Plug in 10 lbs of honey, and the calc will automatically assume 79.6% fermentable sugars. You can change this value if you know it to be different. The cranberry juice has a default of 4.17% which may be a bit low. You can calculate this percentage from the label. Look at the sugar content per one 8 oz. serving, and divide by 240 ( = milli-Liters of fluid per one 8-oz serving). This ratio gives you the % sugar content.

Under target gravity, you can see the "approximate" gravity per given sugars, in this case 1.123.

I wouldn't add any sugar until you are ready to add to the secondary, after the bubbling stops. It all depends on how sweet you want your batch to be. The two variables you can control from the start are the OG and they type of yeast you used based on alcohol tolerance. I'm not sure of the tolerance of Red Star Pasteur.

I could keep writing, but it's late and I need to hit the sack. Hope that little bit of info helps.
 
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