• PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.

~10% ABV dry mead for a friend

Barrel Char Wood Products

Toxxyc

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Dec 21, 2017
377
12
18
Pretoria, South Africa
Heh, my friend just stopped by. Dropped of 9kg more honey, he wants more, but this time including a dry sparkling. They killed 5 bottles of mead over the weekend with some friends, and they all loved it, but said it packs more punch than they expected haha!
 

Toxxyc

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Dec 21, 2017
377
12
18
Pretoria, South Africa
And the second batch is under way. I mirrored the completed batch with one difference - I played with the water chemistry a very small amount. I use RO water very low in Calcium, so I added Calcium Chloride to boost the Ca levels in the water so I can maybe get a cleared mead a little faster.

Otherwise exactly the same. Same gravity (I'm 1 point out, which I consider to be very close), same temperatures and I just pitched the harvested yeast cake directly into the must after reaching the same temperature. So far, so good!
 

Toxxyc

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Dec 21, 2017
377
12
18
Pretoria, South Africa
Good, active fermentation. Apart from a break-in at my house that took up some of my time yesterday afternoon, I got to feeding the little beasties some Fermaid O as per instructions. Got good smells from the fermenter, and all looks to be going well.
 

EricHartman

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 4, 2019
498
162
43
Indiana
As an update, since I know you had some clearing issues on this one, I used bentonite followed by sparkolloid with fantastic results to clear my OB traditional mead. It is in a 2 gallon vessel and I can read print through the mead! Sorry to hear about the break in!
 

Toxxyc

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Dec 21, 2017
377
12
18
Pretoria, South Africa
Fermentation is still going good. Feeding on schedule. Last feeding to be done tomorrow morning early. Then it's standing for a week while I'm going on holiday. Whoohoo!
 

Squatchy

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Nov 3, 2014
5,542
261
83
Denver
As an update, since I know you had some clearing issues on this one, I used bentonite followed by sparkolloid with fantastic results to clear my OB traditional mead. It is in a 2 gallon vessel and I can read print through the mead! Sorry to hear about the break in!

Next time try adding the bentonite a couple of days after you have pitched your yeast. That works great
 

EricHartman

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 4, 2019
498
162
43
Indiana
Next time try adding the bentonite a couple of days after you have pitched your yeast. That works great

I am doing that in my cyser. I gave the pectinase 72 hours to do its thing then added 1/2 tbsp of bentonite per gallon of must (made the dose up myself... any thoughts there?). Lots of pulp in the cyser mind you so the bentonite might have its work cut out for it! Hoping the bentonite will help compact the pulp and reduce racking losses.
 

Toxxyc

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Dec 21, 2017
377
12
18
Pretoria, South Africa
OK so I've been gone for a week, but I'm back. Mead has done fermenting and it's currently crashing to cold. I'll be getting zeolite (a form of bentonite, as I have it) hopefully soon so I can give it a swirl to see how it clears up the mead. Batch seems identical to the last one, so I'm pretty glad about that!
 

EricHartman

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 4, 2019
498
162
43
Indiana
if the bentonite doesn't clear it on its own then hot sparkolloid is an excellent counter charge fining agent which will finish the job!
 

Squatchy

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Nov 3, 2014
5,542
261
83
Denver
I actually have 2 different bentonites. There are pH specific. SO I use one in low pH and the other in higher pH levels accordingly
 

Toxxyc

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Dec 21, 2017
377
12
18
Pretoria, South Africa
I'll be using a form of Bentonite called Zeolite for this batch. I have it apparently readily available and I've done some research that indicates it might work well, and also give additional benefits to the wine (like acid stability, etc.). If it doesn't work, eh, that's what testing is for, and it's fun!
 

Toxxyc

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Dec 21, 2017
377
12
18
Pretoria, South Africa
Alright, so a bit of time has passed since I made my last mead. I clocked a few litres in at 11% ABV for the lot of them. I bottled a few and went through them, but took some samples and ran "tests" on them. One was bottled as is, and has been aging/sitting since. I haven't tested it since. Waiting for a moment to open it, really.

Another one was put in glass, and I did something to it. I don't know what, I can't remember. However, I bottled it today and took a tiny taste from the bit that didn't fit the bottle. It tasted...bland. Very very light in flavour and colour. Yes, the alcohol is there (it's lightly detectable), but it's bland. Don't get me wrong, it's far from bad, but I'm severely disappointed. I don't know what I did to it so it's not a train smash, but man, a bit of a bummer, really.

Last one I stabilized and after a few weeks I backsweetened it with a tiny bit of cranberry concentrate. I was worried I used a bit too much, but the bottle was placed way back in the pantry and left there. So over time I've seen the mead drop clear (almost crystal clear, to be honest) and I noticed a lot of the colour drop out of suspension as well. I started worrying about the content of the concentrate and went back to the manufacturer. Spoke to their technical side and was promised again - there's nothing other than pure cranberry concentrate and a tiny bit of Sorbate in the mix. So I guess the cranberry "powder" that was in there dropped out.

Anyway, I bottled it. Colour is FAR from the classic cranberry red, in fact it's closer to a light golden copper colour. Didn't think much about it. But then I tasted the leftover. Sweet mother of honeybees! This stuff is amazing! It's been in the larger bottle for about a year now, and it's simple astonishing! It's sweet, smooth and slightly warm in the throat (but in a good way). It may be a tiny bit too sweet, but I'm very happy with it. I think I'm going to be making a big batch once I can get my hands on some affordable honey. This stuff blew my mind, wow!
 
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns