Mead Recipe Helps Please - First Timer

[wolves63]

First I want to prefix this with the fact that I have never done meads. I have done many types of All-Grain brewing, but our farmers market just opened and has some fantastic wildflower honey I would like to try a mead with. It is raw honey that is unpasturized and seems like a good fit for what I am wanting to do.

My recipe is this:
3 gallon batch
7 lbs of wildflower honey
Staggard nutrient (Fermaid-K and DAP) a little less than 1 tsp 3 times, inoculation, fermintation, and mid point
3 lbs of raspberries (frozen and thawed)
WLP720 (maybe?? but I am up for suggestions)
water as needed to achieve 3 gallons of must.

I do plan on a yeast starter (something I have done many times), but how much of a starter do I need? I normally do 1L batches but since the OG is going to be high do I need to do a 2L?

Does this seem like a decent recipe or should something else be added. I want to stay away from juices and stick with just the fruit, but I would be ok adding some spices.

I plan on racking with SG gets close to 1.005 then keeping in a secondary for about 2 months (probably) then bottling after that for up to 1 year, but most likely will be 6 months or a little less.

Finally, anything I have read states room temperature for fermentation, but what is a decent fermentation temperature?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

First off. I think if your honey is something great, you should make a traditional from it. I have some Tupelo saved up that I'll be making a traditional from. The fruit will dominate your honey characteristics and kind of hide them.

As far as yeast selection, I don't have experience with it, but it is known to be a pain in the but as far as stalling goes. You can use any wine yeast really. A lot of people use 71B from Lalvin. I like Red star Cotes De Blancs and Pasteur Red. The pasteur red will leave a slight "white winey" note and CdB will leave some residual sweetness.

Your staggered nutrients seem fine, but instead of the last addition being at 1/2, move it back to when 1/3 of it has been fermented. Nutrients are far less useful after the 1/3 sugar break.

As long as your ferment temp stays below 70, you'll be in good shape. In regards to time frames of mead batches, it is very difficult to pre-plan when it will be ready for certain steps. Let the mead tel you when it's ready. Don't rack until primary is finished, then not again until there is either 1/3 inch of sediment or completely clear.

 

[One-T]

7 lbs of honey in 3 gallons will get you an OG of apx 1.086. There will not be a lot of sweetness left after fermentation. I'd cut back to 2 1/2 gallons and an OG of 1.103. I think you will be a lot happier with the end result. I am a big fan of the Lalvin 71B-1122 wine yeast for meads. Rehydrate 1 package, pitch and you're good to go.
As far as the fruit goes...there are 2 schools of thought. Adding in primary or secondary. I've done both and find the results very similar. I try to keep my mead fermentation temp in the low 70's to good result. Make sure fermentation is complete, clarify with Super Kleer and bottle. No need to wait 6 months.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I think he was just aging 6 months. Another option for you is backsweetening. It's a lot easier than trying to plan a batch to stop at your desired sweetness.

To do this, you ferment it dry, then kill the yeast with sulfite and sorbate, wait 24 hours and add your sweetener. This can be honey, sugar, raspberries, anything you want. You can also use artificial sweeteners which won't ferment if you want to skip stabilizing the mead.

 

[wolves63]

How about 2.32 gallons of water with 8.4 pounds of honey that should equal about 1.1 very close to it at least. And that should produce a 3 gallon batch. As for secondary fermentation that was associated with maybe a month or until it was clear and then transitioning to bottles for six months to a year after that for aging. The biggest reason why I chose raspberries as a fruit was because the waffles raspberries and I was trying to produce something she might be interested in.

The yeast I am looking for something that will produce a semi dry or semi sweet kind of in between there and I would prefer not to sweeten on the backend so I mean if it turns out drive that is acceptable. I just don't wanted to be too hot.






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[loveofrose]

If you want to have a drinkable mead faster, follow the Bray's One Month Mead thread. All the other yeast suggested will make good mead, but will need 6-8 months to be drinkable. It's up to you!


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[wolves63]

I don't mind waiting 6 months. As for raspberries is 1 lbs per gallon acceptable. They will be used in the secondary. Is this ok or should I just throw them in with the primary?

Also yeast starter sizes needed for such a high gravity?


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[MarshmallowBlue]

If you want to have a drinkable mead faster, follow the Bray's One Month Mead thread. All the other yeast suggested will make good mead, but will need 6-8 months to be drinkable. It's up to you!


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If you have good fermentation practices with most yeast (SNA, temp maintenance, keeping your batch under 16% ABV) can produce good meads in the 4 month range. Plus, once it's in bottles, I find it pretty easy to just set and forget while not tying up a fermenter.

However yes, Beer yeasts (Belgian strains in particular because of higher tolerances) and keeping your ABV at or below 12 will make a mead ready faster.

 

[BGBC]

I don't mind waiting 6 months. As for raspberries is 1 lbs per gallon acceptable. They will be used in the secondary. Is this ok or should I just throw them in with the primary?

Also yeast starter sizes needed for such a high gravity?

It depends what kind of character/flavor you want from the fruit. I just listened to an older Basic Brewing Radio podcast where they did an experiment by splitting a batch of mead and adding fruit (raspberries, actually) to the primary for one and secondary for the other. The primary was more tart, more 'cooked' fruit flavor. The secondary version was a big fruit bomb, sweeter with a higher FG. However, most people actually preferred a blend of the two.

You don't need to do a starter with the dry yeast. If anything, just rehydrate and you'll be good to go.

 

[wolves63]

I might do a 1/2 and 1/2 some in the primary and get the tartness and some in the secondary and get the fruitiness. I am looking for a good solid dry yeast Lalvin ICV - D-47 looks like it will work out the best for me then with what i am looking for. Thanks guys for all of the help. I am hoping to get this started either this coming weekend or the next for sure.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

* Just make sure with D-47 to keep it under 70 or it starts to throw fussel alcohols around which taste like hot booze, and will increase your aging time DRAMATICALLY

 

[wolves63]

I am planning on pitching around 65 and keeping it at that temperature for the fermentation process. I just built a small keezer and plan on using a digital controller to keep everything perfect for the temperature. After bottling that won't be an issue though correct, I will be able to keep them at 72+ (wife likes the house warm) without issues correct?