Mead recipe formulation

[Double_D]

Is there a general rule of thumb for this sort of thing? I'm just getting into mead for SWMBO after many years of brewing and don't know where to start exactly. I have something I took a shot at that's got 12# orange blossom honey and 2# of dried strawberries.

What I did was warm up 5 gal of water then dissolve the honey in it. I added the dried fruit to the primary (will add to secondary next time I guess) and then let it ferment out. But I know I started with more than 5 gallons because of the displacement of the honey. What do you guys do? Just mark the carboy and top it off?

Is there a "Complete Joy of Homebrewing" or " How to brew" for mead? Just trying to get going in the right direction.

What do you do about the alcohol tolerance of the yeast? Vary the amount of honey based on the desired sweetness of the finished product? I've used D-47 and I really like what I've got but don't know what to do for the next one.

 

[bob1852]

Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm is the How to Brew of mead.

No real rules for mead. Many will say ~3lbs of honey per gallon of must. Some primary fruit, some secondary, some both.

Experiment and have fun!

 

[Double_D]

Thank you sir! I guess one other question is if there is a beginning and final gravity for the different styles/sweetnesses? What is the difference between and dry/demi-sec and a sweet? How do you plan for that?

 

[huesmann]

Beginning gravity doesn't really affect sweetness, except in choice of yeast--some yeast can chow down on all the sugars, some won't get it all and then you end up with more sweetness than you planned.

Sweetness is a personal matter. I find meads with a FG of 1.030 to be overly sweet. My sweet spot (pun intended) is about 1.020 for sweetness.

 

[Double_D]

@huesmann- What's your OG when you try to finish at 1.020? And which yeast do you use?

I understand what you're saying. But, you have to start somewhere. I you start 1.103 and end at 1.020 versus starting at 1.080 and end at 1.002 you'd have something that's got some residual sweetness vs. totally dry and they'd have about the same ABV. I know the sugar content varies some in the honey and I'm not trying to compensate for that. If I used D-47 every time I could keep it consistent. Do I just need to do a bunch of test batches starting at different gravities to see where they go? I can't believe there's no rule of thumb for this.

Would it be as easy as finishing at .030 is sweet, .020 semi dry, and .010 and below are dry meads? I can do the math based on attenuation of the yeast and then figure where my OG should be based on it's alcohol tolerance. With the relative length of time it takes to get a batch of this aged and ready to drink I'm just trying to shorten the learning curve a little.

 

[bob1852]

Remember that wine yeast attenuation data is based on grape musts, so it's not apples/apples for honey must (it's litetally comparing grapes/honey ).

I still plan ~14% for D47 and wind up pretty close quite often, though it will often surprise me and go a little higher.

I agree with huesmann about sweetness thresholds varying. For me, 1.010 is semi-sweet, though I've have many judges ding me for calling that semi-sweet when many consider 1.010 and below to be dry; but I also had a meadery owner say that I hit semi-sweet spot on at 1.010.

If you pitch the right amount of yeast, use staggered nutrient nutrient additons (see the mead sticky by hightest), aerate/degass until roughly the 1/3rd sugar break, and ferment between 62-65*F, you can wind up with a much shorter aging curve and have a good mead in a much quicker time. The whole "mead takes years" is based on older techniques (boiling must, no or little nutrients, etc.); though aging of a year often does still produce a superior product compared to just a couple months.

 

[Double_D]

Good point! It hadn't occurred to me the must was actually different. It looks like I'm over thinking all this.

 

[fatbloke]

If you're aiming for something at a "normal" strength (about the 13/14% ABV), then its relatively straight forward. Whereas higher strengths, care is needed not to go over the top with honey, initially at least, as excessively high gravity starts can cause problems. Lower strength ones usually start fine, but can ferment very dry and need some sweetening.....

Too many people compare the differing methods and technique of wine and beer. It's often the smaller differences that count.

I've learned its usually easiest to just make a batch, ferment dry, then back sweeten.

That's only varied for step feeding of high alcohol batches or if I want to carbonate.