strawberry mead

[newbiewinemaker]

Hi everyone.

So I was looking for a recipe for some strawberry mead and found a very good one. I have added my interpretation of the recipe and process below. I have never made mead and need some suggestions on the process or when to add sorbate or when to de-gas or if I even need to. Please anything is helpful.

I have never made mead before and this will be my first batch. I want to make a still sweet mead and I do not want any bottle bombs when I bottle this. The recipe thread I found on here did not even mention sorbate or degassing or the process they used so this is why I am posting this.

I am sure my timeline is way off! I also need a target SG and OG if anyone has any idea. I only want between 10-12% abv.



Here is the recipe:

Sweet Strawberry Mead:

Ingredients:

12 LBS Clover Honey
½ cup of raisins or 1tbs yeast nutrient and 1tbs yeast energizer
~4 Gallons Water (fill to 5 gallon level)
1 Pack of Wine Yeast.
12-14 LBS strawberries



Dissolve Honey in some warm water and add to primary fermenter. Add Raisins or nutrient and energizer and fill up to the 5 gallon level with about 4 gallons of honey. Make sure that temp of must is not higher than 90F or less than 75F. Add yeast and cover. Let ferment for around 10 days.

After 10 days check SG and see how much the must has progressed. Add the strawberries crushed to a strainer bag and add to primary. Check after 7 days. If fermentation has slowed remove strawberries and rack to secondary.

Once in secondary add the following to a hopps bag and add to the carboy.

Zest from one lemon
1 teaspoon of Thyme
2-4 Vanilla Beans

Rack after it has cleared some and add 1 oz of lightly toasted oak chips to hops bag for about 2 weeks to a month prior to clearing.

After 2 weeks to a month has passed remove oak chips and rack back into carboy and let clear.


Once clear backsweeten with 2 LBS of clover honey.

 

[WVMJ]

You are making strawberry flavored honey water, triple the berries to get a real good strawberry nose, one that will fill the room when you open the bottle. It will go well with backsweetening with your honey. Forget your timeline, the yeast wont care about it. Do you have your hydrometer yet? The oak chips are a good match, not so much for the thyme IMHO. Have you decided on what wine yeast to use yet, that makes a big difference to how you proceed. WVMJ

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Yes I have a hydrometer but I am not very experienced with it. I got this recipe from another forum and was told it turned out very well but I will increase the strawberries. As to yeast I am not sure what I should use. I was hoping for some suggestions on that.

Do I want to leave in the primary until fermentation slows completely? I know how to check this with a hydrometer.

I was hoping to get a basic process so I had a guideline to go off of. IS my honey to water ratio ok? I dont want honey flavored water. I want it to be sweet with slight undertones of vanilla.

 

[Matrix4b]

You are making strawberry flavored honey water, triple the berries to get a real good strawberry nose, one that will fill the room when you open the bottle. It will go well with backsweetening with your honey. Forget your timeline, the yeast wont care about it. Do you have your hydrometer yet? The oak chips are a good match, not so much for the thyme IMHO. Have you decided on what wine yeast to use yet, that makes a big difference to how you proceed. WVMJ

I disagree. I typically use 14 pounds of strawberries in the secondary in a 5 gal batch. It tastes very strawberry and has a good nose. I do 12 pounds honey in primary and backsweeten with 6 pounds. I think that Thyme would be ok in it but not much.

newbiewinemaker: I agree with WVMJ, forget timeline in days. The yeast does it's own thing. I have had a primary fermentation last up to a month. The only real way to determine if the primary is done is to test with hydrometer, same result over 3 different tests in 2 weeks time means it's done. As far as De-gassing. That can happen in the primary. Sometimes stiring the Lees helps speed up the process but not neccessary. Also, if you are using rasins for nutrient, chop them a bit to get to the flesh inside, makes it easier for the yeast. For a target ABV% that low, I recomend that you cut the honey on the primary to about 10 pounds. Backsweeten with 7-8 pounds. Strawberries do not have much sugar in them, dispite the taste.

So here is my suggestion on process:

Put together your Primary as you have it. Take a hydrometer reading at start, that's your OG or Origional Gravity. Let it go for a couple of weeks, stiring it up a little bit once every other day (de-gassing and the like), then test it every 3 days, when you get 3 tests in a row with the same result then rack it. Rack it on to your strawberries as you have it. Freeze and thaw your strawberries first. Put it down in your bucket in the mesh bag and mash it up with a potato masher or something. Then you rack onto the strawberries. Leave it alone for at least 2 weeks, I'd go a month. Then remove the strawberries and mesh bag, let it sit a week to settle out some of the pulp and then rack onto the spice bag you suggest. Leave spice bag in about 3 weeks. Take out the spice bag and rack. Let it clear out naturally. When it is looking clear, Put in your Potasium Sorbate or what ever you are stablizing with. Let that take effect for a day or so. Mix up your backsweetening honey with the same amount of water (50/50 mix honey/water). Then rack onto that honey mix. (Racking onto the honey water will mix it without needing to stir. I also like to mix in a little potasium sorbate into the honey/water mix just to be sure of the honey. The Mead will Fog up again with the new honey. Then let clear. Racking about 2-3 months down the line. If it hasn't settled then mix in some clairifyer such as Sparkloid. Then let clear, when it's almost clear put in your oak, your time looks good. Though I have rarely found the need to rack it after I oak it. Then let clear til you can read through it. Bottle, age about a year. I have found that Strawberries does take the full year to age. At 6 months it will have a strong strawberry taste but it will also have a bit hotness and burn going down. The full year smooths it out.

Hope this helps.

Matrix

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Matrix4b: Thank you so much! I have another question(s) however! What do I top up with each time I rack and when you say rack onto my strawberries do i mash them up and then dump them in the bottom of my carboy? I wouldn't rack back into my primary bucket would I? Or would I not use a carboy for this process. Sorry for the newbie questions like I said first shot at making mead here.

Thanks!

 

[Matrix4b]

Matrix4b: Thank you so much! I have another question(s) however! What do I top up with each time I rack and when you say rack onto my strawberries do i mash them up and then dump them in the bottom of my carboy? I wouldn't rack back into my primary bucket would I? Or would I not use a carboy for this process. Sorry for the newbie questions like I said first shot at making mead here.

Thanks!

Well, racking is the process of transfering from one vessel to another leaving the lees or sediment behind. I know a definition was not necceary but I wanted to be clear.

Me, I have found that sometimes I lack the Carboys or Brew Buckets and I have a large stock pot that I put the batches of brew together with. So sometimes what I do is rack to the Stock Pot, then clean out the carboy/bucket and sanitize it, then transfer back to the now cleaned and sainitzed vessel that I started with. Now what I mean by "rack onto" is that prior to putting the proto-mead back into the now clean and sanitized vessel, I put in the strawberries, spices, backsweetening 50/50 mix, and then transfer the proto-mead onto it. This mixes it evenly as you are transfering it and yes the fruit juices that are squished out will get mixed well. This also dampens any lighter items so that they don't float. (See Punching down the Cap in other posts here or on Gotmead.com/forums.) Then you leave the fruit in the bottom or what not. Obvoiusly this is easier if racking to an open top brew bucket. If I am dealing with liquids only then I just go ahead and put that liquid in the stock pot prior to racking to it from the carboy/brew bucket, then it gets a chance to mix throughly twice. And if you are using an autosyphon or even just your sypon tube you minimize the oxydization by racking it and having it mix the juice or what ever by simple pressure of the mead flowing with no stiring needed.

To simply answer the question: Yes you transfer back to the origional bucket/carboy or other vessel each time you rack. You make sure that what you are transfering TO is clean and sanitized prior to the transfer.

I typically do not, "Top up" but you can with just clean water. Keep in mind that yes you are loosing some volume but when you back sweeten you are ADDING volume. If you are adding 6 pounds then you are adding a full gallon. That should take care of any loss in the rackings. I would also recomend keeping a gallon carboy on the side in case of overflow for any time you rack on to juice or fruit or backsweeting fluid, just to be sure you don't over fill your carboy/bucket and have to toss out perfectly good mead and then end up shy later. You can always use the gallon to "Top Up" on addtional rackings.

I like starting primaries in glass, then secondaries in the brew bucket with the fruit or what not, then when fruit is removed, and it has a month to settle, racking back and finishing in the glass. That's my process. Others have theres. And other processes are no less valid.

Hope this clairifies things.

Matrix

 

[newbiewinemaker]

With mead do you have to worry about oxidation? That is why i was asking about topping up. I know after the yeast has died out if you have a lot of headspace in your carboy you have a chance of oxidation in your wine. Like I said I am a wine maker and have never made mead.

I think that will be my last question! Thank you so much for helping me out on this!

 

[Yooper]

With mead do you have to worry about oxidation? That is why i was asking about topping up. I know after the yeast has died out if you have a lot of headspace in your carboy you have a chance of oxidation in your wine. Like I said I am a wine maker and have never made mead.

I think that will be my last question! Thank you so much for helping me out on this!

Yes, oxidation is still a concern. It's not as much as with regular wine, but still a big concern once fermentation slows down.l You want to top up all carboys, or rack to a smaller container.

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Thank u everyone for all ur input! I will be leaving the country for 3 weeks but once I get back im definitly going to get this going!! I want to bottle in captain morgan private stock bottles 750 ml and are having my friends save me the bottles. By time it comes to bottling I should have quite a few (I hope)!

 

[Matrix4b]

Personally, I have not see oxydation be much of a factor in taste with my methods. Ofcourse I am in colorado, so less oxygen to worry about. I also tend to leave the mead mostly undisturbed, so not much of a problem. Only when I am racking does oxydation come into play. And that is over very quickly, I try to be careful.

I have heard one Mead Maker over at Gotmead.com/forums that "splash racks" her mead and purposely oxydizes it. Not on all of her meads but some.
So over all, I don't really worry about it.

Matrix

 

[WVMJ]

There is a different taste when you ferment the fruit in the primary vs just adding it to the secondary. If you ferment the fruit its flavors become a base part of the mead, the fermentation changes the flavor into more winelike qualities. For strawberry meads we like to put all the fruit we can in there during the primary. Right as the gravity hits about 1.02 I like to then add 10 pounds of whole strawberries or sliced if that is all I have and let that set in the bucket for a day or 2 so they yeast can get the flavors out but not totally eat up the strawberries, they are then removed and not pressed, I really want them to just work on getting to the red stuff on the outside. This boosts the nose a good bit, so if you open a bottle on one side of the house the people on the other side can smell it and come looking for the bottle and their share. Just adding fruit to the secondary is to me like just flavoring it a little. You do have to be careful that the honey flavor still comes thruough loud and clear. WVMJ

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Any suggestions on what type of yeast I should use? or if I should use 2 packets?


Thanks

 

[chickabeelane]

I like lalvin k1 v1116 for anything fruity. It's also super forgiving to temperature variation. Check out this page for an idea on the different types, keeping in mind that they are made for wine not mead:
http://www.lalvinyeast.com/strains.asp

One packet will be enough for 5 gallons.

 

[Matrix4b]

I like Lavin D-47 for it's clean fermenting nature. Same with Lavin 71b. With 71b, it's more forgiving of higher ferment temps (up to 82F is ok) but you need to rack it when the sediment is over 1/4 inch each time to prevent it from producing off flavors.

I like using 2 packets for a 5-6 gal batch. One would be fine but it will take a little longer to build up a colony.

Matrix

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Is that the same for the primary? I have a solid white bucket and cant see the sediment.

 

[Inkdrop]

Just posting to subscribe

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Ok guys so I have decided since this is going to be my first mead I am only going to make 3 gallons and not 5. I have modified my recipe a bit for this. Thoughts? I have also decided to use strawberry concentrate from midwest supplies in the secondary instead of fresh fruit as this time of year in South Dakota Strawberries are expensive!

Thanks in advance! :rockin:

3 gallon recipe------------

Primary:
6 lbs clover honey
½ cup of chopped raisins (or yeast nutrient and energizer)
~2 gallons of water
k1 v1116 wine yeast


Secondary:

~48 Oz of strawberry concentrate
Zest from one lemon
2-4 vanilla beans
Rack onto ½ teaspoon of thyme in hops bag for 3 weeks
Lightly toasted Oak French Oak Stick for 3-4 weeks


Backsweeten with 4 LBS of honey.

 

[Matrix4b]

I like the addition of Thyme. It is a good fragrant spice. I did a Raspberry Thyme that was to die for. It had such a wonderful aroma with the raspberries and thyme. I mean Wow. I am sure you will get a good flavor.
The Lemon I can see is to punch up the acidity a little and give the strawberries a good showing.

I think you will be very pleased with the results. You can put the vanilla beans and the thyme in at the same time. I would wait until it is nearly clear to put in the oak though. I have found that it is best if you put that in last. And if you are using fresh thyme then be sure to bruise it or I think the term is muddle it before putting it in. It helps to open up the skin of the leaves a bit.

I can't wait to hear more.

Matrix

 

[WVMJ]

I think a better approach would be to add the can up front and ferment the puree, then when you rack off into the secondary to add a pound or two of frozen strawberries to freshen up the flavor. Dont think that just because its your first wine its not worth putting in some extra effort, if you have the attitude its only my first wine so its probably not going to work well then it wont. Your wine can pick up on your positive attitude and makes it bubble along a little happier. If a problem pops up step back, post on here and see how many different ways it can be fixed before fixing it. Have you got your hydrometer yet? Your strawberries may or may not need acid added in the lemon juice, a simple acid test kit can tell you that. I also like vanilla bean and oak in strawberry meads and backsweetening with more honey, but beware when you backsweeten it the proteins in the honey will precipitate out and cloud the mead so you may have to use a fining agent like sparkaloid or superkleer to make it clear again or you can start the mead will almost all the honey and step feed it more honey as it ferments until it cant take anymore and you end up with your sweetness already in there and clearing as the yeast drops. Have fun! WVMJ

 

[newbiewinemaker]

I think a better approach would be to add the can up front and ferment the puree, then when you rack off into the secondary to add a pound or two of frozen strawberries to freshen up the flavor. Dont think that just because its your first wine its not worth putting in some extra effort, if you have the attitude its only my first wine so its probably not going to work well then it wont.

Yes I have a hydrometer and an acid test kit. This is my first mead and not wine. I have made quite a few wines now. Someone stated earlier in the thread that adding fruit to the primary gives it more like a wine quality. I want this to be a mead not a wine. I want to be able to tell the difference. I have read about some people putting fruit in the secondary and some in the primary. If I add it to the primary I would get a higher ABV and I want to stay in the range of 11-14%. I do not want it to be HOT. I only ask all these questions so I don't invest in Honey (which is expensive) and I make a rookie mistake and have to dump it out. I want this to have a good strawberry nose on it and to have good vanilla flavor and to be sweet.

Thanks for your input!

 

[WVMJ]

We do the exact same thing with wines to, ferment fruit up front then add some in secondary. Your goal seems to be to make a strawberry flavored mead, you are going to have to be able to stop the fermentation somehow before or soon after you add your puree so it doesnt keep fermenting and you will have less control. If you do it up front, you control all the fermentables at the begining and can make it to exactly the ABV you want, then add some frozen ones when its all done to really boost the nose plus backsweeten with some of your honey. This is a much better whole strawberry wine plus fresh strawberry nose then just dumping in some puree at the end. If you already know how to make wines you are good to go, you are not really starting out on rookie level, making mead is just as fun as making wine and there is hardly any difference in making mead and wine vs a big difference in how to make beer or wine. Good luck, no matter what way you make it its going to be good. WVMJ

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Your goal seems to be to make a strawberry flavored mead, you are going to have to be able to stop the fermentation somehow before or soon after you add your puree so it doesnt keep fermenting and you will have less control. If you do it up front, you control all the fermentables at the begining and can make it to exactly the ABV you want, then add some frozen ones when its all done to really boost the nose plus backsweeten with some of your honey. WVMJ

If I did add the fruit up front which I am leaning more towards, I think my target SG should be around 1.08? Would I want to cut back the honey a bit then to keep it in this range? Any suggestions on how to get the SG to stay that close? Would I keep that much honey and cut the concentrate? Any suggestions on this would be awesome! Thanks so much!

My recipe says for 3 gallons:

Primary:
6 lbs clover honey
½ cup of chopped raisins
~2 gallons of water
k1 v1116 wine yeast
48 Oz of strawberry concentrate



Secondary:

Zest from one lemon
2-4 vanilla beans
Rack onto ½ teaspoon of thyme in hops bag for 3 weeks
Lightly toasted Oak French Oak Stick for 3-4 weeks

 

[WVMJ]

People can either follow a recipe to the letter or learn to make wine and use the recipe as a guideline of what to add and about how much. With no idea of the nature of your strawberry concentrate nobody can really answer your question. It sounds like its going to be nice combination of ingredients. If you get comfortable with your hydrometer you can determine all these things yourself, or, you could just follow your recipe, see how that turns out for you, and if you think maybe a little more oak, or a little higher alcohol, you can modify the recipe for yourself. THat is one of the fun things about making your own wines, its YOURS! WVMJ

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Ok thanks for all the help! I plan on giving this a go next week. I have to pic up my honey from a friend! :rockin:

Thanks!

 

[newbiewinemaker]

I have yet another question. When it comes to putting the ingredients together for the primary, do I want to heat up some water and dissolve the honey in it first? Any suggestions on this?

 

[bwhupp]

Seems that is up to you... I don't heat it up while my friend is a firm believer in heating it all up. Depends I guess how energetic you are.

I just dump 2 or 3 gallons of spring water into my fermentor bucket and dump in my gallon or more honey and stir the heck out of it for a solid 5 minutes until it is all thoroughly mixed.

 

[WVMJ]

Get one of those drill mounted wine stirred with the little folding wings on the end and stir it all up with that, no reason to heat honey up unless its crystalized, and then warm tap for a while should fix it. Start on low, those stirrers are very good. WVMJ

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Perfect! I already have one for de-gassing. Although it never gets the wine de-gassed all the way. I prefer shaking the snot out of it!

Thanks again!

Starting this next week hopefully as soon as my primary is empty! I have a blue moon Beer clone in there now!

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Ok guys I need some quick help with this. I started this last night and this morning I didnt see any fermentation and I normally do after letting it sit over night with wine. I opened it up and added 3 tsp of yeast nutrient to this. I added chopped up raisins last night as well. I gave it a good stir and put the lid back on. When I rehydrated the yeast, I messed up and stirred it before I put it in the microwave for 15 seconds as the yeast instructs. It clumped together pretty bad. I got most of it off the spoon and into the cup and got it in the microwave. I then poured it over a spoon and let it :cascade" into the mead and did not stir. Is there something wrong or should I just quit worrying and let it go? My SG was 1.110. Thanks!

 

[WVMJ]

You microwaved your yeast and wonder why it wont start? Where did you get such instructions? Of are you heating up bread yeast to use as a nutrient?? WVMJ

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Oh no! i miss read the back of the yeast package. It says in 50 ml of water dump in water 104-109 degrees. It has a 00:15 symbol as well on it. I assumed it needed to be microwaved for 15 seconds. I have never rehydrated yeast before. It does seem to be fermenting now tho. There is a slight bit of foam around some of the strawberries and you can here it fermenting. (the bubbling sound) you think I might still be ok???

 

[newbiewinemaker]

I just checked the gravity and it is down from 1.110 to 1.108 and it didnt start foaming until I added the nutrient

 

[newbiewinemaker]

scratch that 1.110 to 1.080

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Would it hurt to add another pack of yeast and just add and stir? Or since it seems to be fermenting just let it go and hope for the best?

Thanks

 

[WVMJ]

Add another pack of yeast just in case your first one is not what is fermenting your wine now, it might be a wild yeast good or bad you wouldnt know until the end. Who knows, you might have just found a better way to make a starter WVMJ

 

[newbiewinemaker]

Ok I just added another pack! Thanks for all your help! I am traveling for the holidays to my folks and this is coming with me so I can stir it every couple of days and keep an eye on it haha The things I do for my homebrew!

Thanks!

 

[WVMJ]

You show great promise newbie! WVMJ

 

[chickabeelane]

I think the 00:15 on your pack of yeast is probably to let it stand for fifteen minutes before you stir into the must to give it a chance to rehydrate.
I am sure everyone does this a little differently, but this is what I do:

Heat up one cup of orange juice in the microwave usually about 30 sec. Check to see if temperature is correct (about 40 C) as per yeast instructions.
I read in a book to use OJ instead of water because it has some good nutrients in it to help the yeast out. It has also worked well for me, so I keep doing it.
Pour the yeast into the heated up OJ and let stand for fifteen minutes. This is an important step that let's the yeast rehydrate.
Stir into the must and viola!

 

[newbiewinemaker]

So this is underway about a week and two days in now. I started with an SG of 1.110 and its down to 1.000 now! And in just over a week! It does have a pretty harsh taste right about now. I am going to add the remaining of the Vinters Harvest Strawberry Concentrate to the secondary when I rack I think. I am gonna give it till Sunday and then rack it if I do not see any more signs of fermentation. I am guessing its about to slow down real quick here. I will be just racking to strawberries this first time. Then after about two-three weeks, I will rack off the strawberries and add my two vanilla beans, lemon zest, and thyme. I will leave that on there for about two - three weeks and then remove. If needed I will rack one more time before clearing. I will add my oak after I rack that last time for 2 weeks. I don't want too much oak flavor.

I have a question tho. When I rack this first time after adding extra strawberries I will have some extra and I plan on saving that in a 3 liter glass jug for topping up. My question is 1) will it stay good in that jug even if its only half full and will I need to use an airlock and 2) what if i run out of that? Can i just top up with water? I am going to be back sweetening with more honey so I think any body lost would be added back in at the end!

Thanks!

 

[Newsman]

Newbie -- it probably won't hurt anything to leave it sitting in there for a week or two more after fermentation has "finished." Sometimes the yeast needs to "clean up after itself" and if you leave your finished product on the yeast it's more likely to be better. Besides, Mead isn't meant to be drinkable immediately after the fermenting is done anyway... it's got to age.