Noob question . . . I'm making my first mead/melomel/wine - wildflower honey, frozen figs, raisens, lemon peel & juice - and I don't think I calculated the initial gravity correctly. My initial gravity reading was 1.062, but I figured a lot of sugar was locked in the fruit, but now I'm not so sure. The fermentation is only a day old, can I add more honey to get the initial gravity that I'm looking for?
Adding more honey once fermentation starts
- Thread starter wjhunter3
- Start date
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Yep, sure can.
There's not enough headspace in the fermenter right now, so I'm considering adding more honey when I pull the muslin bag of fruit flesh out, about 2 weeks after starting the batch. I'm guessing this will kick the fermentation back into high gear, is that a bad thing to do?
I'm planning to:
1. pull the fruit bag and strain the must out of it, using santized bowl, strainer, etc.
2. add strained must back into the fermenter
3. measure out honey into a clean carboy, adding enough warm water to thin it and replace the volume lost from the fruit bag
4. add #3 that to the fermenter
Anything else I should be wary of, besides the obvious risk of over oxygenating, allowing bad things to get in, etc.?
Nope, not a bad thing to do. You can add honey anytime.
Sounds like a good plan. I have done the same a few times when I errored on the initial amount of honey.
The only concern would be in trying to mix it well. As you mentioned too much air at that point would not be good. The yeast will find the honey and consume it evem if not mixed well.
Sounds like a good plan. I have done the same a few times when I errored on the initial amount of honey.
The only concern would be in trying to mix it well. As you mentioned too much air at that point would not be good. The yeast will find the honey and consume it evem if not mixed well.
