new batch any thaughts will be helpfull

[dougen]

new to making mead so i am trying a 1 gallon batch

3lbs wild flower honey
1lbs orange blossom honey
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 tsp yeast nurt.
1/2 tsp pectic enz.
1cc-d47 yeast
topped of with spring water

when should i rack and let sit until i can taste or bottle??

read rack after 3 weeks let sit for 6 months bottle and let sit another 6 months is this a good idea??

 

[Bhunter87]

You put sugar in there?

 

[dougen]

yes i did put sugar in there is that bad???

 

[Bhunter87]

I'm not sure???? I just started making mead but I was under the impression that honey was the only fermentable in mead?

Don't let me freak ya out though! Make sure some of the mead masters on here let ya know!

 

[fatbloke]

Not bad per se, but pointless as you might have just used more honey instead..... the sugar will just increase the ABV without any other discernible benefit...

oh, and I see D47.........don't forget to keep the ferment below 70F....

 

[Bhunter87]

Hold up. 1 gal batch, 4lb honey 2lb sugar? Holy balls what was your OG?!?!

 

[dougen]

no 2 cups sugar 4lbs honey and the ferment is 65-68F thats the temp in the room where all my primary and secondary takes place but took a laser temp on the carboy and it read 66F all my carboys are between 65-68F ( 4 - 1 gallon carboys of wine) didnt even bother taking a sg with the mead took a chance at it and the the yeast brawl with the sugar to see what happens( think thats how they did it back then)

 

[Tyrone]

"2 cups dark brown sugar"

/interrrrrresting...

that's gonna be hot like a jalapeno tamale in July...

 

[Bhunter87]

"2 cups dark brown sugar"

/interrrrrresting...

That's gonna be hot like a jalapeno tamale in july...

+1

 

[huesmann]

That is gonna be some sweet-ass mead. 2 cups of sugar plus 4 lb of honey in ONE gallon? Your yeast may even choke on it. In fact, I bet you can't even get it started.

 

[Bhunter87]

That is gonna be some sweet-ass mead. 2 cups of sugar plus 4 lb of honey in ONE gallon? Your yeast may even choke on it. In fact, I bet you can't even get it started.

I disagree. Maybe not with that yeast, but if he gets some dry mead yeast, it will survive up to 18% alcohol. If it chokes out, he can repitch with wyeast dry mead and take care of it. It will just get you plastered with a wine glass full

 

[Bhunter87]

That is gonna be some sweet-ass mead. 2 cups of sugar plus 4 lb of honey in ONE gallon? Your yeast may even choke on it. In fact, I bet you can't even get it started.

Oops

 

[ExoticMeadMaker]

according to your numbers, you should of had a SG of ~1.211, and a potential ABV of ~25%ABV (which is pretty much impossible as no wine yeast has that high of a tolerance).
As far as when to rack, bottle, and drink its hard to say with that high of an SG. Id recommend splitting it equally into 2 - 1 gallon batches, and topping with water. According to the got mead calculator that will give you a more manageable/common SG of ~1.106.

 

[Bhunter87]

according to your numbers, you should of had a SG of ~1.211, and a potential ABV of ~25%ABV (which is pretty much impossible as no wine yeast has that high of a tolerance).
As far as when to rack, bottle, and drink its hard to say with that high of an SG. Id recommend splitting it equally into 2, and topping with water. According to the got mead calculator that will give you a more manageable/common SG of ~1.106.

Genius. 2 for 1. Taste will still be there, and the heavy brown sugar won't be as concentrated!!!

And you won't need to re pitch!!

 

[Tyrone]

d47 will convert it for a while I bet... i think it might die off pretty early tho...

 

[Tyrone]

according to your numbers, you should of had a SG of ~1.211, and a potential ABV of ~25%ABV (which is pretty much impossible as no wine yeast has that high of a tolerance).
As far as when to rack, bottle, and drink its hard to say with that high of an SG. Id recommend splitting it equally into 2 - 1 gallon batches, and topping with water. According to the got mead calculator that will give you a more manageable/common SG of ~1.106.

Good call...

 

[Matrix4b]

Also, I would think that the pectic enzyme is not neccessary. True you are using orange blossum honey but no fruit. If you had fruit I would suggest reducing to a puree or juice and hitting THAT up with the pectic enzyme and waiting for an hour for it to work before adding it to the secondary fermentation. Secondary or primary fruit additions are a matter of taste.

Matrix

 

[Bhunter87]

+1^

Pectin is from fruit

It won't hurt anything though.

Split it, top off, an let it go.

If its too sweet, throw some lalvin 1118 in there and it will dry out lol

 

[GinKings]

according to your numbers, you should of had a SG of ~1.211, and a potential ABV of ~25%ABV (which is pretty much impossible as no wine yeast has that high of a tolerance).

Not sure why we are different, but I come up with a lower OG. Still crazy high, but still lower.

4 lbs honey in a one gallon batch gives an OG around 1.144
2 cups sugar weighs a little less than a lb, which should add about 40 points

I'd guess around 1.184 , but I do get a similar 25% ABV potential

I think doubling the recipe is an excellent idea. Getting D47 to ferment such a high gravity must could be pretty tough.

 

[Bhunter87]

Not sure why we are different, but I come up with a lower OG. Still crazy high, but still lower.

4 lbs honey in a one gallon batch gives an OG around 1.144
2 cups sugar weighs a little less than a lb, which should add about 40 points

I'd guess around 1.184 , but I do get a similar 25% ABV potential

I think doubling the recipe is an excellent idea. Getting D47 to ferment such a high gravity must could be pretty tough.

Dark brown sugar weights a ton more than cane sugar

 

[GinKings]

Dark brown sugar weights a ton more than cane sugar

To hit 1.211, you'd need about 1.5 lbs of sugar.
2 cups of cane sugar weighs about 3/4 lb
2 cups of water weighs one lb
I'd be quite surprised if 2 cups of brown sugar weighed 1.5 lbs

According to this website, it weighs about 14 oz.

http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/sugar_amounts.html

 

[Bhunter87]

No reason to argue. Guy got his calc a little off. Either way the d47 will poop out and leave a very sweet mead...

I just stated that brown weighs more than Cain.

What ever the case. Everyone agrees that doubling is the best shot at a drinkable mead

 

[dougen]

Ok it has been fermenting for 5 days now really foamed up the first 3 and been bubbling away since then

 

[ExoticMeadMaker]

I did get my calcs off, I re-entered the numbers and now getting SG of 1.198, based off of pure cane sugar. still really high

 

[dougen]

i do thank everyone for there helpful hints--been drinking for some time now--bored so i would post whats going on here-probly ranting on sorry for that--its been fermenting so i guess its good for now when it dies out i can repinch with ec-1118(have alot of packs of that here-no sence buying more)--dont know if it was a good idea to make this but at the time it was--back then it was tiral and error-but thankfull for the net where we can ask for help and get everyones opinion on the matter even the guys or gals that been doing it for what seams like forever( thank you very very much it does matter what you say)..umm ranting again lol sorry.... but i probly will repinch and see what happen will keep everyone up to date on what happens and how it does turn out--like i said before thank you very very much and will count on your skills again and again and again...lol thats the good part about everything ranting again sorry... my strong wine does that..sorry...will keep everyone posted

 

[dougen]

well its been 14 days and this mead is still bubbling away like crazy--this going to be a long time till i taste it june the earlist--so i made another mead

3 lbs orange blossom honey
1 tsp yeast nurt.
1 gallon water
1 ec-1118 yeast pack

at least i get to try this one in 2 months