Bray's One Month Mead

[butterpants]

High gravity stresses yeast and can put adverse selection pressure on them. If you guys are having success, more power to ya but when I dump 60$ on 6 lbs of Tupelo, I'll just spring for fresh yeast.

 

[estricklin]

Great thread!

I haven't had a chance to brew any beer lately because I've been working so many hours, but after sharing a bottle of mead with the SWMBO the other night I got to thinking "Hey I could make some mead".

I intend to follow the BOMM method next time, I'm convinced; even though I haven't tasted it yet, that it very well could make some good mead in a lot less time. I've been using D47 in the past and while I've made some decent meads, it took quite a bit of time.

Last night I used what I had laying around. I had 2 jars of "Mountain Ridge" raw honey that I found at Kroger for something like 8 bucks for 2 lbs. I used 4 lbs of it and added water (about 1.5 gallons total volume) for a SG of 1.10. I added DAP (SNA), 2 golden delicious apples, about 1/16 tsp of pectin enzyme, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of nutmeg and 1/4 tsp of ginger. I had an 1 gallon Irish Ale yeast starter that I was going to use on a beer, I drained as much beer off the starter as I possibly could and pitched it. I do not have any FK or potassium carbonate, I added 1/8 tsp of calcium carbonate, I realize that does not add any K BUT at least it will provide some pH buffer?

I parked it in the ferm chamber at 65F last night and this is what it looked liked after I degassed today.



Again, I understand this is not a BOMM but I was happy to employ a few techniques I had not previous tried, that I learned in this thread, and want to say thanks to Bray for inspiring me to make some more mead! SWMBO loves mead too and even helps me make and bottle it.

In a few days I'm going to start the "perfect" BOMM and follow it pretty much to the letter, I may alter the wood aging part a bit, and I may use a local honey or pure OB, haven't decided.

Will keep everyone posted and thanks again.

 

[Edbert]

Most breweries re-use yeast under very sterile conditions, but still start with new yeast after 10 rounds or so. I wouldn't go past 4 in my house.

I was able to see a small amount of slightly darker brown in the sediment, mainly at the bottom of the layer views up through the carboy after siphoning off the clear. There was not much and definitely nothing black, but I avoided the bottom 1/8th or so and pitched the rest.

After 24 hours there was a layer of matter on the top as one would see from hops although much thinner and a different color (no green) to it. I stirred it in and there was much less the next day, and almost none the 4th day.

My local HBS ran out of ferment-K (they were out of orange blossom honey too and it seems many other items, whoever is in charge of inventory at Austin Homebrew has been sleeping lately), I have some brewvint so I've substituted that using same dosage.

Any issues with using a different nutrient or changes in the process to compensate for the different product?

 

[Simon78]

This is my first attempt at mead. learnt a lot so far on the thread and included links. I couldn't follow the recipe exactly as some honeys are not purchased easily down here, I will continue to hunt for an orange blossom or something close to try.

The question i wish to clarify is the purpose of the swirl/degas. i do now know what you mean by a mead bomb tho. Does this swirl help the yeast stay suspended to increase yeast activity ( as it can in beer brewing when a ferment slows/stalls) or is loosing the gas the primary reason?

I have already got some clover sorted to try a blueberry melomel next and looking forward to try this in another three weeks

 

[kingboomer]

WOW!!! Just read thru this and I'm subbing to give it a shot. I didn't see if anyone tried this with a bochet yet tho (I may of missed that). I'm looking at the fat basset bochet cyser recipe and thinking this would be good to try with.

 

[Arpolis]

WOW!!! Just read thru this and I'm subbing to give it a shot. I didn't see if anyone tried this with a bochet yet tho (I may of missed that). I'm looking at the fat basset bochet cyser recipe and thinking this would be good to try with.

I have a gallon I dearly need to bottle. Just hadn't had the bottles to do so. I can give tasting notes later.

 

[kingboomer]

Sounds good Arpolis. I do like the process of mead making, but I'd like to have something drinkable sooner so I can wait for the long term ones with a little less anxieity

 

[loveofrose]

I was able to see a small amount of slightly darker brown in the sediment, mainly at the bottom of the layer views up through the carboy after siphoning off the clear. There was not much and definitely nothing black, but I avoided the bottom 1/8th or so and pitched the rest.



After 24 hours there was a layer of matter on the top as one would see from hops although much thinner and a different color (no green) to it. I stirred it in and there was much less the next day, and almost none the 4th day.



My local HBS ran out of ferment-K (they were out of orange blossom honey too and it seems many other items, whoever is in charge of inventory at Austin Homebrew has been sleeping lately), I have some brewvint so I've substituted that using same dosage.



Any issues with using a different nutrient or changes in the process to compensate for the different product?

Maybe. I can't guarantee anything if you change nutrients. Especially if the K+ is omitted. Might be fine, I just don't know.

You can use any honey with no problem however. I just worry about changing the nutrients.


Better brewing through science!

 

[loveofrose]

@ Simon78

Swirling/degassing is multifunctional. It drives off CO2, which is acidic and lowers the pH of the must. It also keeps the yeast in suspension as you suspected so they don't get lazy.

After the ferment is finished, it removes the CO2 so that the mead may clarify a bit faster.


Better brewing through science!

 

[loveofrose]

WOW!!! Just read thru this and I'm subbing to give it a shot. I didn't see if anyone tried this with a bochet yet tho (I may of missed that). I'm looking at the fat basset bochet cyser recipe and thinking this would be good to try with.

Somewhere is this thread is a Cyser BOMM recipe that is quite wonderful. I imagine replacing the honey with a cooked honey would be quite tasty... Yeah, it's on the list now.

I think someone over at gotmead tried a botchet, but I don't remember the outcome or if it was posted. Maybe search over there?

I do know that they use a slow cooker method that avoids the little honey lava bombs you get on a stovetop.

Better brewing through science!

 

[kingboomer]

I'll actually be doing it outside once I get my turkey fryer


EDIT: Here's the recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/fat-basset-bochet-cyser-cider-burnt-honey-253733/index4.html

I"m thinking it might need tweaked a bit, maybe add a hint of spice to it.

 

[Hidingfromyou]

Congrats on your mead. I'm loving the JAO BOMM as well. That stuff goes really fast when your friends discover it!

I would really like the full recipe for your Acerglyn. Sounds like something my SO would like as well.

Sorry about the blackberry honey, but I do have a suggestion. Blackberry honeys generally need about 3 lbs of blackberries added to secondary as well as a FG in the sweeter range. At least for my taste anyway. Blackberries are very off balance on tartness without some sweetness. Alternatively, it could be a bad batch of honey. I've had a batch contaminated with pesticides that was beyond help.

Cheers!


Better brewing through science!

First, thank you so much for the thread! Amazing stuff you've done. I very much like how you've used the scientific method to uncover the secrets of yeast in honey fermentation.

I stumbled upon it b/c I'm making my first mead now - from S-33 (it's all I had available). It's going great so far

I've been eating up this thread - one question, one guess. Above - how do you know when honey has been subjected to (or ruined by) pesticides?

Second - in one of your posts, you said that re-using yeasts provides for higher alcohol tolerance. I have three guess for this. The yeast have:

1. adapted to high tolerance, producing whatever chemicals to deal w/high alcohol already
2. had their epigenetics primed for high alcohol, so their subsequent generations will be primed for high alcohol
3. been selected to survive better in high alcohol environments, since those who aren't good at high alcohol levels would have died (although I think this would only apply to the extreme end of their alcohol range)

 

[loveofrose]

First, thank you so much for the thread! Amazing stuff you've done. I very much like how you've used the scientific method to uncover the secrets of yeast in honey fermentation.



I stumbled upon it b/c I'm making my first mead now - from S-33 (it's all I had available). It's going great so far



I've been eating up this thread - one question, one guess. Above - how do you know when honey has been subjected to (or ruined by) pesticides?



Second - in one of your posts, you said that re-using yeasts provides for higher alcohol tolerance. I have three guess for this. The yeast have:



1. adapted to high tolerance, producing whatever chemicals to deal w/high alcohol already

2. had their epigenetics primed for high alcohol, so their subsequent generations will be primed for high alcohol

3. been selected to survive better in high alcohol environments, since those who aren't good at high alcohol levels would have died (although I think this would only apply to the extreme end of their alcohol range)

1. I know pesticides were in it because the dry mead tasted like bug spray. A bee keeper can't always control if a treated field is being pollenated by the bees, but I gave this company multiple chances and failure everytime. If you live in Texas, avoid the fluorescence orange label. You know the one.

2. I would go with a combo of 1 & 3 heavy on selection.


Better brewing through science!

 

[Hidingfromyou]

1. I know pesticides were in it because the dry mead tasted like bug spray. A bee keeper can't always control if a treated field is being pollenated by the bees, but I gave this company multiple chances and failure everytime. If you live in Texas, avoid the fluorescence orange label. You know the one.

2. I would go with a combo of 1 & 3 heavy on selection.


Better brewing through science!

Just imagine the poor baby bees eating that stuff!

 

[AdamHasser]

I'm thinking of racking my mead out of my 1 gallon jug into a 3 gallon Mr. Beer bucket. (It's the next smallest fermenter I have and I can use it to bottle.) It's been in the jug for 3 weeks and I'd like to rack it atleast once and let it sit for another 5 weeks. That said, should I be worried about the excess head space?

 

[nickwoo]

why not rack into 3 gallon, clean the one gallon, and put the mead back in there?

 

[AdamHasser]

I guess with it still fermenting that's probably the best option. I tend to worry about oxidation so I didn't even consider moving it back into the jug since I typically only rack my beers once.

Not sure why I didn't think of that. It's Friday, my brain is mush and I need a beer!

 

[LLBrewer]

I just made my first 2 batches of bomm. My LHBS is getting $9+/1388 smack pack, I will be re-using the yeast in my next batch. Thanks LOR for this thread!

 

[kingboomer]

Yeah that's the ONLY downside I see to this recipe: the cost of yeast

Still not gonna disuade me from making it tho

 

[decoleur]

Things I want to do with honey #87563, subbed.

 

[nickwoo]

For a 6-6.5 gallon recipe would I just add a bit more honey and water to get the SG to 1.096-1.1?

 

[buzzerj]

Nickwoo, yes loveofrose (Bray) is using 2.5 lbs. of honey per gallon so if you use 2.5 to 3 lbs. more honey and the balance with water to 6-6.5 gallons you should be fine.

 

[loveofrose]

Agreed. Maybe bump up the nutrients a bit to be sure the yeast are happy.


Better brewing through science!

 

[nickwoo]

Thanks for the info. Just got the complete mead maker and all ready about 1/4 way through. Now to get some more honey.

 

[Arpolis]

Few... I have been procrastinating reading this thread for a while now and just sat down to read it all. Great stuff LofR. I have a couple one gallon meads going now that I want to contribute the findings for in this thread.

Basically the same as BOMM bit with 3 & 4 changes so I guess they actually are nothing like BOMM lol.

First mead is mead is made to a gravity of 1.06 with orange blossom honey. I have potassium bicarbonate so I upped the addition but probably by too much that I now have read everything correctly. I used 3/4 tsp in the batch. Finally I did change the yeast and went with a 100g slurry of Lalvin 71b-1112 from a previous white grape peach wine.

The second one used everything the same but I Caramelized the honey on a medium heat for 1.25 hours.

Ok so this is the story of my life. So many things get in my way and I have many carboys going un touched and in bottles for months on end. Near 4.5 months now and I bottled and back sweetened these batches. OMG soooo good. Now this was the first time using solely orange blossom honey and I almost thought I mis labeled my meads and mistook my traditional for a lemon mead that I also have going. But nope! There is a super nice citrusy character to the mead. It is super smooth.

The traditional finished at .990 gravity and the bochet at .992. I liked the traditional so much I decided to back sweeten it less than intended and only went to 1.008. The bochet was sweetened to 1.018. These are truly some of the best meads I have made. I am super excited!

 

[IJesusChrist]

Awesome Arpolis.

Can't wait to get back home and start a new batch (and taste my others - Ginger/ginseng mead awaits!)

 

[kingboomer]

OK, so I've read the 1 and 5 galon recipes, and I have a question on the nutrients. I'm going to be doing a 3gal variation on the cyser. What I'm wondering is how much nutrients I need to pitch at the start and sugar breaks?

 

[loveofrose]

OK, so I've read the 1 and 5 galon recipes, and I have a question on the nutrients. I'm going to be doing a 3gal variation on the cyser. What I'm wondering is how much nutrients I need to pitch at the start and sugar breaks?

Sorry there was a typo for the 5 gallon recipe. Units for 5 gallons was supposed to be tablespoons.

For 3 gallons with a starter, I would go with 3/4 TBSP DAP, 1.5 TBSP Fermaid K, and 1/2 TBSP K2CO3. Add the first two again at 2/3 and 1/3 sugar break.

Cheers!



Better brewing through science!

 

[kingboomer]

Thanks man. I'll deffinitely be making about a 1qt starter for this with some of the must watered down to about 1.050 or so, nothing too heavy. Now I will be carmelizing some of the honey and useing that in place of the brown sugar as well. I'll let you know once I get this going!

 

[Gidet]

Perhaps I missed this but..

When it comes to the Cyser recipe (post #166) instead of using a slurry is it ok to use the a new 1388 smackpack? Also would you use the entire pack in a 1 gallon brew (I mean batch sorry brewing has me trained)?

 

[loveofrose]

Perhaps I missed this but..

When it comes to the Cyser recipe (post #166) instead of using a slurry is it ok to use the a new 1388 smackpack? Also would you use the entire pack in a 1 gallon brew (I mean batch sorry brewing has me trained)?

Yes to both questions.


Better brewing through science!

 

[Gidet]

Yes to both questions.


Better brewing through science!

Great, thanks again.

 

[Lamplover]

This will be my first mead so I've got quite a few questions

How much Go-Ferm do you add in grams or Tsp? I ordered 10 grams and was thinking I would add 5 grams (~1Tsp) to each step of the starter I make.
Would it even be worth it to do a 2 step starter?
Should I boil the honey I'm using for my starter?
Do you only add the potassium carbonate once?
When I'm degassing do I have to be careful not to oxygenate the must? How often and how long to I have to degas for using a stir stick?
I plan to use a little over 12lbs of honey which will give me an OG of 1.084, will it finish too dry or cause any other problems?

Sorry for all the questions I just want it to go smoothly and it's a lot of information at once, thank you in advance for any help!

 

[Hidingfromyou]

Hey, thought I would let you know what I did and how it worked. I took all my ideas from this thread - thank you! - and it's my first mead.

I did not have access to yeast nutrients, so I staggered the addition of honey. This is for a 7.5 liter batch, which is roughly 2 gallons:

s-33 yeast (and yeast cake for nutrients, from ale)
1.1 kg honey
300 g tea leaves
500 g akashiso turned into juice (red shiso - has nitrogen and lots of trace nutrients, a kind of tart taste)
2 lemons

I mixed it vigorously for 5 minutes every day for the first week for aeration and added honey after the kraussen fell the first and second times (500 grams, then 500 grams).

I won't say it tastes great, but there are no off flavors at 24 days. I racked to a secondary only because I am out of bottles - but still enjoyed a glass last night. As it's my first, I'm pretty happy. It is dry, no sweet flavor whatsoever.

I think I need to dramatically increase the akashiso, decrease the tea and increase the honey (not to get it sweet, just to increase ABV) - and I'm just about to try that for the next month.

 

[buzzerj]

This will be my first mead so I've got quite a few questions

How much Go-Ferm do you add in grams or Tsp? I ordered 10 grams and was thinking I would add 5 grams (~1Tsp) to each step of the starter I make.
Would it even be worth it to do a 2 step starter?
Should I boil the honey I'm using for my starter?
Do you only add the potassium carbonate once?
When I'm degassing do I have to be careful not to oxygenate the must? How often and how long to I have to degas for using a stir stick?
I plan to use a little over 12lbs of honey which will give me an OG of 1.084, will it finish too dry or cause any other problems?

Sorry for all the questions I just want it to go smoothly and it's a lot of information at once, thank you in advance for any help!

You are using Go-Ferm only to get your yeast started so you use only 1/4 teaspoon or 1 gram. Save the rest, it's golden.
I wouldn't do a two step starter, make it easy on yourself. if you wish to hit the must with a good quantity of active yeast, make a larger starter 18-36 hours prior to pitching.
Don't boil the honey for the starter. For the quantity of honey you are using ~ 6 oz., the chance of contamination is negligible if you are using cleaned/sanitized equipment. Honey has such a high concentration of sugar, it is an effective antibacterial agent itself. Honey can actually be used on wounds to prevent infection if you don't mind getting sticky and having dogs lick you.
Add potassium bicarbonate KHCO3 once yes. It's functionally similar to the potassium carbonate K2CO3 that loveofrose suggests.
Yes be careful to not oxygenate the must after the lag phase when the yeast are working anaerobically (it's called fermentation). You are trying to degas the must not re-gas it. Give it just short smooth stirring to evolve bubbles in solution not to agitate the must to drive oxygen into solution. Otherwise just carefully swirl the fermenter back and forth on a level surface to dislodge bubbles out of solution.
For a 1.084 O.G. for a 5 gallon batch, you are dialing it in for a 12% ABV if it finishes at 0.995, maybe a bit more if it finishes lower. It will finish as dry as the yeast takes it. That's ok. You can sweeten the final result as long as the yeast has hit the top end and doesn't restart fermentation or sulfite and sorbate it then sweeten it. But taste it first and see if it needs sweetening to your taste at all. Have confidence. You will be amazed at the result. Be sure to use DAP and Fermaid K for the staggered nutrient additions. The Wyeast 1388 yeast needs these to make sure it's not too stressed and to ensure the mead achieves the final result earlier rather than later. Follow the recipe loveofrose suggests and you will have a good result.

 

[Lamplover]

Wow thanks Buzzerj! Do you have any experience making dry fruity meads? I've had mead before and it was too sweet for my tastes, it had 26g/L of residual sugars so that would put it around 1.010 FG. I want it both drier and I want to experiment with adding different fruits. I'm planning to dry it out to an FG of .0995-1.000 and then stop fermentation, and rack onto some fruits. Would such a dry mead be very hot tasting? Would the sugar from the fruit restore some mild sweetness to it without it being too sweet? And would a dry mead with fruit be a bad combination?

 

[buzzerj]

A melomel at 12% is a good thing to shoot for. You can sulfite and sorbate your mead when dry and add back some fruit or fruit juice. Natural sugars are the best. Wait a awhile, taste, rack then bottle. Age a bit and enjoy. Experience is the best teacher.

 

[JoshWithrow]

Has anybody tried WLP545? I read that WLP570 isn't ideal for this, and Wyeast is hard to find in these parts (not sure why). Willing to mail order, just prefer not to.

 

[loveofrose]

Not that I am aware of. Good luck!


Better brewing through science!

 

[estricklin]

Started my BOMM about 3 weeks ago, its clearing out right now, haven't checked the gravity or tasted yet.