First batch bottled!

[jthmeffy]

Also, first post!

I started my first ever batch of any ferment-able drink on August 17th. It was bottled on September 23rd, a little over 5 weeks from start to finish. I plan on letting it age a couple of months before opening a single one for consumption, and track how the aging changes the taste as the months go by.

Here is my recipe/method:

I used 15 pounds of local sourced mixed flower honey (Fall harvest from last year and pretty dark), 4 gallons of water, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, and Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast. I step-fed the honey and staggered nutrient additions as follows:

• Day 1 - 4lbs of Honey, 4 gallons of water, 1/5 of total nutrients/energizer, yeast
• Day 2 - 1/5 of total Nutrients/energizer
• Day 3 - 4 lbs of Honey
• Day 4 - 1/5 of total Nutrients/energizer
• Day 5 - 4 lbs of Honey
• Day 6 - 1/5 of total Nutrients/energizer
• Day 7 - Last bit of honey (3 lbs)
• Day 8 - Last bit of nutrients/energizer

I degassed/aerated every day when I added the honey or nutrient and energizer and a day after that. By day 9, the gravity had gone from 1.108 to 1.002. I racked the mead into a carboy, where it quickly finished out to .996. A week later, I racked the mead off the lees (about an inch had formed) and added k-meta and k-sorbate. Last week, I racked the mead again (it was starting to get decently clear) and threw the carboy in the fridge. I cold-crashed the mead for 6 days, racked it into a primary bucket, and bottled it. I got 19 bottles total, all crystal clear.​

One question, though. I know my ullage is off. I bottled the mead when it was still pretty cold, so I expected it to expand up the neck a bit (maybe as much as a half inch). It only expanded about 1 or 2 millimeters. Should I pull the corks and top the first 18 bottles off? If I do that, should I just throw rest into beer bottles or could I top off the donor bottle with wine preserver spray? I plan on letting at least a couple of bottles age 1 year+.

I've really enjoyed starting to brew my own beverages. I currently have a 6 gallon batch of cyser (3 weeks old at this point), a 6 gallon batch of hard cider, and three 1 gallon batches of Welches concentrate wines going. I'm also brewing an extract kit (my first beer!) this weekend. Thanks for reading all of this!

 

[Arpolis]

Gratz on the bottled mead and welcome to the forum. If all the bottles are as full as the one pictures then you have nothing to worry about. Let them age, it will be fine. Sounds like you had all the basics down and did a good job with the traditional. Did you back sweeten it at all or leave it dry? Usually the point of stabilizing with the k-meta and sorbate is to add additional sugars and keeping them from fermenting. Mead changes a lot in the bottle month over month. Try one at three months and then try and stay away at least a month or two before opening more. Take notes and be thorough. You will be surprised how the notes change from 3 months to the 1yr mark. Keep posting and let us know how your other brews are doing.

 

[jthmeffy]

Did you back sweeten it at all or leave it dry? Usually the point of stabilizing with the k-meta and sorbate is to add additional sugars and keeping them from fermenting.

I left it dry. I know now that it was unnecessary. Oh well, shouldn't affect the flavor too much.

 

[Arpolis]

Naw it should not be bad. Sounds like you used a good honey and you used a good process. Ill bet you will be all smiles popping the cork for the first time.